Criminal Records dance music record store, Dayton, Ohio

Criminal Records was a dance music record shop run by John Bard and Todd Robinson in Dayton, Ohio, from late 1988 or early 1989 until sometime in 1990, when I was in my late teens. This shop changed the lives of many who visited it, and to my knowledge, there hasn't been anything quite like it since.

John and his partner had a living space in the back of the tiny converted warehouse/machine shop. The front had all the walls lined with records in metal racks. A low DJ booth faced outward. Customers were welcome to sit at the booth's custom metal barstools and chat with the proprietors, who would play anything in the shop except the sealed remix service records. The rest of the floor was open and custom-decorated, like the booth & stools, with spattered paint. I believe there were many private parties held there.

Going to Criminal Records was an adventure and education in electronic music. The proprietors were very friendly and were eager to figure out exactly what their customers liked. At the time, I liked extended remixes of mainstream pop music, and I liked moody, melodic instrumentals from Italian and Belgian artists, and I liked my longtime favorites The Art of Noise. John made sure I never left the store without something I loved in-hand, even if it was something he couldn't stand, himself.

I once phoned him on a Sunday morning and said I was in town "with a wad of cash and itchin' to buy". He agreed to open the shop for me, and indeed met me at the door, hung over and wearing a bathrobe, hair mussed since he clearly just rolled out of bed after a late night of partying. Scratching his head, he put on a pot of coffee, and started playing some records while I browsed. Before long, he was full of energy, bobbing and pumping his head as he started selecting and mixing more tracks he thought I might like. He didn't care if I bought them or not; he was having a great time just playing records and exposing me to music. Despite his best efforts to get me to buy some Italo Disco, I walked out with Janet Jackson's "Alright". I don't regret getting Janet, but man, I really wish I had his entire Italo section now.

Since I was a teenager living an hour away with no money, I was only able to visit Criminal Records less than 10 times before it closed. I probably only bought about 10 records there, total.

My friend Dan Smith in Springfield, Ohio, told me sometime around 1995 that he had run into John at some point, somewhere else in Ohio. When Dan suggested reopening the store, John said "No way! I lost a fortune on that thing!"

I've tried in vain to find John or evidence of Criminal Records ever having existed. All that's left is memories, apparently. Until now. Here's my complete Criminal Records ephemera collection.

1. Part of a letter from a friend, telling me about the shop. He taped a newspaper ad to the front of the envelope.



2. The ubiquitous Criminal Records yellow flyer distributed with newsletters and tucked into shopping bags throughout 1989.



3. The December 1989 Criminal Records newsletter. Page 1 was a late-1989 feature from the Dayton Daily News. Page 2 was "background investigations", an overview of new stock.

Page 1: HTML version (recommended)
Page 2: 816x1056 PNG

Alternative versions of page 1:
1000x1138 PNG · very large 2.7 MB TIFF (for printing)

4. The May 1989 Criminal Records newsletter.

Page 1 · Page 2 · Page 3 · Page 4 · Page 5 · Page 6
(816x1056 PNGs only, for now)

5. The June 1989 Criminal Records newsletter.

Page 1 · Page 2 · Page 3 · Page 4 · Page 5 · Page 6

6. January 1990 sales charts.

816x1056 PNGs: Page 1 · Page 2

Do you have any more info, photos, or other ephemera related to the Criminal Records record shop? Please leave a comment if you do!