A local Salt Lake City music store that sells exclusively heavy-metal and hard rock music? Sounds like a recipe for financial disaster. But that hasn’t stopped Kevin Kirk, the sole owner of The Heavy Metal Shop (THMS), which has been “Peddlin’ Evil Since 1987,” according to the store’s slogan.
Although a fan of many music genres, harder and heavier music has a special place in Kirk’s heart. When he opened his first store, The CD Shop, in 1986, the most popular genres at the time were jazz and new age — not his shot of whiskey.
“I’d rather know about everything I sell,” he said.
The Heavy Metal Shop was born in 1987, when Kirk changed the direction of his shop and re-branded.
Living in an age of digital music and piracy makes survival difficult for music stores, especially local music stores selling specific genres. In 1994, Kirk ordered 1,000 copies of Slayer’s “Divine Intervention” and sold them all in a matter of weeks. Today, he would be lucky to sell 50 copies of any big band’s release.
Kirk doesn’t dwell on what should be done to combat piracy, though.
“I think it’s too late to fix that problem,” he joked.
The logo of the store, a classic skull, came from a former customer from The CD Shop. Not knowing much about heavy metal (Kirk payed him with old jazz CDs), the illustrator originally drew half a record as part of the logo, which was a great idea — for a normal record store. After hearing Kirk’s feedback, he changed it to a half-skull logo.
Kirk sold store T-shirts with the logo to his customers and other businesses. Tom Araya and Jeff Hanneman of Slayer, the pioneers of thrash-metal, were among the first to wear THMS shirts, and the store’s phone line was flooded with orders after Araya represented the shop on the cover of the September 1991 issue of Kerrang. The increasing popularity of the logo led to the creation of an entire line of merchandising, including hats, coffee mugs, sweatshirts, sweatpants, patches and even booty shorts.
Perhaps the biggest metal celebrity to wear the store’s shirt is Alice Cooper, Kirk’s favorite musician of all time. Kirk first met Cooper when he came into his shop in 1987 and met him again in 1991 during the “Operation Rock ‘N’ Roll” tour with Judas Priest and Motörhead. Kirk went backstage on the night of the concert to meet his hero again, and Cooper casually mentioned that he wore a T-shirt with the store’s logo during an interview with KUTV. Kirk contacted the news station immediately after the concert and got a recording of it.
“That was probably one of the biggest thrills, you know, in all the years I’ve been in business … that was really cool,” Kirk said.
Cooper continues to wear the shirt and sees many of his fans in the audience wearing the shirts as well. This speaks to the die-hard loyalty of metal heads.
“Metal people are real loyal to their bands, and it seems like they’re loyal to me too,” Kirk said.
Customers who have been around since the store’s opening still come in to buy the latest album releases — a tradition they pass down to their children, probably helping to keep THMS in business.
Despite being smaller than a gas station convenience store, there is just enough room for a small band performance; the original shop was a combination of a record store with a small venue in the back.
“I’d have ‘open for biz,’ and then the back room would be for shows,” Kirk said. “And then when I moved to Sugarhouse we started doing a lot of in-stores with bands where they would do signings.”
After the landlord sold the property and the new owners tore the building down, Kirk relocated to where the shop has stood since 2001. Moving to 63 Exchange Place, the heart of downtown Salt Lake City, turned out to be a blessing in disguise. He again built a small stage and continues to have local groups perform a short concert for people and sell their records. He attributes the shows to the recent rise of record sales in his shop.
“It’s funny how that works, because things come back around,” Kirk said.
The spirit of record stores will always live on. Those who are “old school” will continue to shop the stores and will make it a tradition for their children as well. As a record store that plays live concerts for local bands, THMS will undoubtedly continue to thrive for many more years to come.