Arlington's CD Warehouse keeps physical media spinning on South Cooper Street

On a recent Friday, which is release day for new records and CDs, co-owner Ben Oberg was going through boxes of vinyl that had just arrived at CD Warehouse Records & Tapes in Arlington. Albums by Bring Me the Horizon, Alanis Morissette, Michael Jackson and Dolly Parton were in the stack, and Oberg and his team had hours of sorting and cataloging ahead. Oberg estimates the South Cooper Street shop now holds about 100,000 items.

Oberg started at the store in 2005 as a part-time employee and became store manager about six months later. The previous owner had started the business with a partner around 1993. As he headed toward retirement, he closed stores when their leases ran out, and eventually the Arlington shop was the last one left. Oberg and co-owner Andrew Kocher took it over. The Arlington Sentinel reported that the change in ownership came in spring 2012, along with a move to the current location. The new spot is closer to college and high school campuses.

People moved from albums to downloads and then to streaming, but the store kept going. It bought used collections and grew its online sales. Today, CDs are becoming more popular again. "We knew there would always be a niche for the collectability of physical media and just the desire for it," Oberg told the Fort Worth Report.

Online orders are a big part of the business. Oberg told the Arlington Sentinel that the store ships around 20,000 records, CDs and cassettes a year. Most international orders go to Japan, Canada and Europe, and the store has shipped to every continent, including one order to Antarctica.

CD Warehouse Records & Tapes is at 1213 S. Cooper St. in Arlington and can be reached at 817-460-2392.

This story is based on original reporting by the Fort Worth Report for its Made in Tarrant series, with additional details from the Arlington Sentinel.