He used to be River Falls Chamber CEO. Now he runs a record store

Once the Executive Director of New Richmond’s Chamber of Commerce, Russell Korpela helped start Willow River Blues Fest. In 2008, he organized Willow River Blues and Brews Fest as it combined with the Park Art Fair to host a weekend event that featured breweries, art vendors and live music at Mary Park in New Richmond.

This year, Korpela, 62, announced his departure from his more recent position as River Falls Chamber CEO to combine his business and musical know-how in a different way. He formed a vinyl record shop, Grooves, off Main Street in downtown River Falls that opened Thursday. While area thrift shops and antique stores sell vinyl, Grooves is the only business mainly devoted to selling records in River Falls, a college town. A vinyl record collector himself, Korpela said that partly inspired him to open the store.

He took the inventory from his house — moving records and CDs from his collection, pricing the product, storing items on bins and racks at the brick-and-mortar — and he’s working with online sellers for added stock. 

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