All birds have hollow bones; that is what makes them light enough to fly. Jerrod Woll, founder of Hollow Bones Records, associates this concept with a more personal meaning. Growing up while attending Revere High School, Woll’s close friends referred to him as J-Bird. J-Bird eventually evolved into Birdman, a tag that stuck for nearly twenty-five years. A couple of months ago, Woll was finalizing his plans to open his new business, a record store set to open on September 1, 2015. Woll’s friend presented him with a logo design: a bird resembling an owl. Woll just had to name the business, and he already had an idea: Birdman Records, in honor of his high school nickname. Woll discovered a company in California with that same name, unfortunately. He then looked for bird imagery to coincide with the preexisting bird logo and found an admirable quality in the phrase ‘hollow bone’. Thus Hollow Bone Records opened under Woll’s ownership, along with three employees and a significant collection of records.

Situated at 2721 W. Market St. in Fairlawn, Ohio, Hollow Bones Records focuses on the belief that people who shop for records embody a genre of people with certain cultural characteristics. Constantine Perantinides, store employee and high school friend of Woll, reflected upon this idea.

“People who come to buy records are record people, and I was unaware there was such a culture of people who just focus on what they want to listen to. . . I listen to music and so does everybody, but there is a unique niche within record people,” Perantinides said.

Woll grew up listening to Firehose, REM and The Replacements as opposed to Vanilla Ice and TLC, who premiered in the mainstream industry at the time. Woll emphasized music’s impact on him over the years.

“[I] throw in a record and it can take [me] back to a day when [Perantinides] and I were fifteen or sixteen years old, driving around in a parking lot doing things we should not have been doing [and having] a good old time. [People] hear that song or that album, and it immediately takes [them] back to a time in [their] life. Music is part of the chronology of life,” Woll said.

Woll continued by stressing the importance of records.

“I think kids of [today] are an Mp3 era. They want instant music. They are more about the song then the album and [there is] something about an album. . . It is a presentation from an artist. They are giving you something to experience from the very first song all the way to the second side to the very last song,” Woll said.

Woll did not always have a deep aspiration to open a record store. He commented on his journey, as well as his decision to take control of his future.

“I spent twenty years in sales working for my family’s business. It was sold, and I found myself acquired by a much larger, publicly traded company. Instead of hating my life, I decided to make a change,” Woll said.
Founding employee Kyle Cook performs live with his band, Three Legged Chairs, the first Saturday of every month. Cook explained the influence music has on his life.

“[Music] puts me in a place where I do not really have to worry about anything. If there is a problem I am going through, I can just listen to music, and it really just drowns out what I am going through,” Cook said.

Though the business is young, Woll is very confident regarding its success.  Woll plans to focus more on the store’s live music, despite the fact that coordinating with bands has been a challenge. Woll stated that he plans to take a look at the success of the business in five years and consider opening a second branch. The store celebrated five months of business on March 1, 2016.