On this installment of the Record Store Spotlight, we had the pleasure of speaking with Charles Hale, owner and founder of Driver 8 Records in Fort Collins, CO.! Read on below to learn more about his journey so far.

1. Can you tell me a bit about yourself?

My earliest memories of music revolve around the radio. I don't know what attracted me to radio as a little kid but I think it had something to do with feeling like the music was all mine. I have been involved with radio on and off since I was a freshman in college in 1996. I host a weekly show on KRFC and it was radio that really led me into record collecting. I always loved record stores but didn't really think about opening one until one day in late 2020. It then took me a year and a half to figure out how to make it happen.

2. Can you give me a bit of a backstory on Driver 8?

I opened Driver 8 Records in July of 2022. Before that I owned a residential window cleaning business but I was very tired of climbing a ladder every day. I had always been disappointed with the record options in Ft. Collins, I was driving to Denver or Boulder to buy the new records I wanted and I felt like whatever used records I could find in Ft. Collins were overpriced. It seemed to me that every large city, small city and college town in America had a cool record store. Since I didn't think Ft. Collins had one I set out to fill that need.

3. Can you tell me about how your process for sourcing records? Anything you feel like is a “must have” for your store?

We are about 50/50 new and used but our used section has been growing a lot in 2025. I didn't start with a large inventory of used records and I felt like what we could bring to Ft. Collins was a well curated new section. I also felt that the best way to source used records is to open a store and let them come to you. It takes time to build momentum but I feel like our hard work, ethics, and luck are starting to pay off. The must haves for us in the used bins is clean records. I refuse to fill the store with records in rough shape. I have been learning over the last three years what the must have new releases are for our customers. It's a challenge but a fun challenge.

4. Have you noticed any customer trends in your store? Genre’s people gravitate to, etc.?

We have a healthy inventory of Americana records and people really seem to respond to the curation there. I used to write for a website called Nine Bullets and we specialized in Americana so I am familiar with many of the significant artists in that genre over the last 20 years. But we also sell our fair share of punk records. Ft. Collins has a bit of punk history, the Descendents are based here as is their recording studio The Blasting Room.

5. What is your favorite record store? How did your experiences there shape what you do now and your tastes?

I grew up in Athens Georgia going to Wuxtry and Big Shot/School Kids Records. Those stores showed me how much music there was in the world and how little of it was on the radio or MTV. As a high schooler I had an understanding that those stores had a history and had played a significant part in the Athens music community. When I go back to Georgia now I often visit Low Yo Yo Stuff, they seem to often have records that I didn't know I wanted.

6. What is something you’d like to see more of in the record store/music scene? Both nationally, and locally.

I would like to see the price of used records go down. I know this answer is totally an inside baseball answer but I would love it if distributors allowed stores to return unsold records. This used to happen and still happens in bookstores. This would allow stores to carry a larger and larger variety of releases. People can't buy a record if it isn't in the store.

7. If you were going record shopping for yourself right now, what’s the one release you’d be looking for?

This is a great question. One answer is that I would know it when I saw it. A more specific answer is I would love to find Vic Chesnutt's album About To Choke. The UK pressing from 1996. That would complete my Vic Chesnutt album collection. I would also love to find the Centro-Matic album Fort Recovery. I think that would also complete my Centro-Matic album collection.

8. Is there anything else about Driver 8 you want to share? Any special events coming up?

I would just like to encourage people to listen to their records. Listening to records makes you a better person.