Macon record shop will soon expand with listening bar. Take a sneak peek

A popular independent vinyl shop is expanding and expected to open a listening bar soon in downtown Macon.

Fresh Produce Records at 567 Cherry St. is flooded to its brim with an abundance of analog media, from floor and wall to ceiling, making it difficult to browse through the shop.

Co-owners William Dantzler and William Rutledge recently rented out a storefront next door so Fresh Produce can double in size. It’s currently under construction.

“The goal is to hit something along the lines of like an Amoeba (Music) that’s out in like L.A., Berkeley,” Dantzler said, referencing the largest indie record shop in the world.

The new side will have a full service bar with alcoholic and nonalcoholic beverages, refrigerators full of drinks, current and new inventory, more events and possibly a small couch or lounge area.

“Very much like come in, you want to crack a beer and browse the CDs, fine, just don’t spill it,” Dantzler said, chuckling.

The 37-year-old’s girlfriend, a bartender at JBA, will whip up drinks at a small wooden bar top toward the back of the shop, which had a handful of high top chairs while under construction Friday. It’ll mostly still be a store though, without much seating.

The shop will make space for more performances and DJ sets, which they previously held at other local venues such as Grant’s Lounge, Vice Bar and Amici Macon. Dantzler still plans to collaborate with those venues.

“Either of us (co-owners) will be DJing, or maybe we’ll have an open deck kind of situation where you can pick up a record and put it on,” Dantzler said.

The Macon native described it as a sort of listening bar and “a really good happy hour type spot.”

The two ends of the business will not connect through a hall or door. Each side will have a separate entrance, which may open at different hours. The new side might stay open later than the current space, but new hours were still unclear.

Some of Fresh Produce’s inventory was held in a storage unit because everything didn’t fit inside the current shop. Much of its existing products were moved to the new side.

The current end will mostly hold vinyl records, while the new side will hold everything else, including new and used CDs, DVDs, VHS tapes, posters and merchandise. The shop carries new and used products, and all kinds of genres.

Vinyl sales have garnered the most revenue, with CDs next-up, according to Dantzler.

“We’ve had a big uptick in CDs, which is one reason we want to add more and make them more browsable,” he told The Telegraph.

A variety of Fresh Produce-themed merch including pins, shirts, drink koozies, stickers and vinyl sleeves has also increasingly brought surprising customers.

“We’ve been seeing a lot more merch sales,” Dantzler said. “Even if they don’t collect records or have a record player, they can still find something cool or just have fun looking around.”

Prices aren’t expected to rise, thanks in part to Rutledge, the other half of the William duo.

“He’s very dedicated, he’s one of the most fair and equitable business people I’ve ever met,” Dantzler said. “So our prices will be fair.”

They hope to open the expansion by mid-August, but the co-owners were still organizing licensing, building crates and shelves, and organizing the new space Friday.

Dantzler and Rutledge rented the space, which used to be an event hall, from Saranya Kusawadee, the owner of that building and Tokyo Alley.

Since Fresh Produce first opened on Martin Luther King Jr. in 2013, it became a Macon staple, and woke up Cherry Street with music that reverberates down the block.

“The vibes haven’t changed since 2013, other than getting a little more professional, I don’t know, maybe more professional,” Dantzler said, laughing.

This story was originally published August 7, 2025 at 6:00 AM.