Record store owner aims to preserve memories through music

Helen Caldwell, who recently celebrated her 80th birthday, has been running Mr. C’s Rare Records located in Old Towne Orange almost on her own since her husband, Everett Caldwell, died two years ago. Photo by Orion Huang

Helen Caldwell has been running Mr. C’s Rare Records in the Orange Plaza nearly on her own since her husband, Everett Caldwell, died two years ago. It hasn’t always been easy for Caldwell, who recently turned 80, to run the store, but she gets by through her love of music and help from her record-store “family.”

“The store brings back a lot of memories of my grandpa, so it’s really hard for her, but the merchants are great. It’s a whole other family that we wouldn’t have if it wasn’t for the store,” said Amy Whetsel, granddaughter the Caldwells.

People from all over the world visit the store with a list of records they’re looking for and will spend days browsing the classic records, Whetsel said.

The inspiration to open a store began when Everett Caldwell started coming home with records because the artwork was ‘really neat,’ Helen said. Whetsel said her grandfather started the collection to keep her mom and aunt, Everett and Helen’s daughters, listening to music at home “instead of going out to parties.”

The collection got out of control fast, Helen said, and she had to start cataloging the records in a shoebox in alphabetical order.

“(Everett) wasn’t really musically inclined, but he learned a lot by opening the store,” Helen Caldwell said. “Customers would come in and talk about how knowledgeable he was and said he was fun to talk to.”

Mr. C’s Record Store carries 45 vinyls, which have two songs on each side, and 33 and one-third vinyls, which have multiple tracks. Their inventory comes from purchasing peoples’ collections.

“There are so many different records you can pick from,” Whetsel said. “You can listen to a new genre or a new person every single day that you’re there. It doesn’t ever get old, hearing the vinyl and especially smelling them.”

Helen’ Caldwells personal favorites are Johnny Cash, ‘60s music, country western and surf music, like Dick Dale and The Beach Boys. She likes older music, she said, because it reminds her of a time when “a record told a story.”

Whetsel said that Helen Caldwell has “a mind of her own.”

“My grandma is a very unique person and she’s set in her ways. I get my stubborness from her,” Whetsel said.

Curt Blevins, who volunteers at the store, said he noticed that Helen needed some help since the store has no official employees other than Helen Caldwell. He had wanted to work at Mr. C’s ever since he moved to Orange, so he asked if he could help out around the store.

There are some perks to being a volunteer at the store, he said, like finding a “cool” record from time to time that Helen lets him take home.

“This is a special kind of store,” Blevins said. “There’s nothing online and it’s all secondhand. When we buy records, we have to make sure they’re in good condition so we can actually sell them and keep up our name of ‘Mr. C’s Rare Records.’”

Whetsel sometimes helps out her grandma at the record store on the weekends, usually Saturdays, the store’s busiest day. She loves taking out random records and put them on the record player at the store, she said.

Cesar Cortez, an Orange County resident, musician and customer of the record store, collects records and has been going to Mr. C’s Rare Records since he was in his early 20s, he said. Now in his 30s, the store is his go-to when shopping for The Beatles’ albums.

“They have first-edition records from back in the day,” Cortez said. “Mr. C’s is one of the few staples of Old Towne. Those record stores are hard to find.”

For Helen Caldwell, a typical day in the store is “fun” because she meets and talks with a variety of people, she said.

“Without music, life would be a mistake,” she said. “I think you need music in your life. If you’re down, music brings you up.”