Allison Wasilewski/Photo: Dee Fabricattore
Logan Square is finally getting a record store. Not that we were expecting it, really, but local music label and distributor Carrot Top Records thinks it’s the perfect neighborhood to open their new 1,300-square-foot retail space, Saki. So, why the location?
“Because there’s nothing else here,” jokes Carrot Top general manager Allison Wasilewski. “Being in West Logan Square, there’s nobody out here to directly compete with.”
Saki will carry a mish-mash of music, magazines, turntables and other knick-knacks for the indie-music lover. Behind the retail floor, the store stocks more than 500 different labels and 18,000 records. One thing’s for sure: these guys support Chicago’s music community full force.
“Three years ago, we were sitting down and thinking about how the music industry was changing with the advent of digital sales and coming up with ideas of what to do to continue the business,” Wasilewski says. “Everybody wants to work in a record store so we were like, let’s do it.”
Saki throws another shout-out to local talent by displaying aspiring musicians’ and artists’ new artwork every month, starting with that of Steve Krakow of Plastic Crimewave Sound. This weekend through June 6, Saki will kick off its opening with live sets from bands like Hollows, Poison Arrows, Love of Everything and Sadhu Sadhu, along with guests on the turntables like DJ Todd Novak of HoZac Records and DJ Joel Leoschke of Kranky.
Saki is named after Carrot Top president Patrick Monaghan’s deceased Siamese cat, whom he also considers his guardian angel. Local musician and artist Jon Langford is even working on a mural of the beloved feline painted among angels of musicians past to go above the store’s fireplace. (Dee Fabbricatore)
Saki, 3716 West Fullerton, sakistore.net, (773)486-3997.
