The Record Exchange

The Record Exchange traces to 1977, when Michael Bunnell, recovering from a logging injury in McCall, Idaho, used his settlement money to open a record store on the Boise Bench with business partner Al Benton -- the initial inventory was largely Bunnell's own vinyl collection, and the idea was modeled on the Tower Records he'd grown up visiting in Sacramento. The shop moved the following year to the Hitchcock Building at 11th and Idaho, and its ownership shifted repeatedly over the following decades: Bunnell bought out Benton in 1981, later partnered with Kathleen O'Brien (who ran an adjacent poster shop) and merged the two businesses, then bought out O'Brien in 1992 alongside his wife and business partner Jil Sevy. Bunnell and Sevy bought the building outright in 1996. After 44 years under Bunnell's ownership, The Record Exchange changed hands to new owners in 2021, who have kept the format intact -- new and used vinyl, CDs, and turntables alongside Downtown Boise's first espresso bar. The shop still hosts in-store performances and concerts, continuing a role in Boise's music culture that predates almost every other business of its kind in the city.