(upbeat music) - I'm Starla Sampaco in the Crosscut KCTS 9 newsroom.

A new Sub Pop Records store opened recently in South Lake Union across from Amazon Spheres.

If you're of a certain age the very idea will make you light up.

If you aren't, you're asking what's a record store.

It made veteran music journalist, Charles R. Cross nostalgic.

As a teenager he would haunt the many outlets in Seattle's U district, particularly Cellophane Square.

Cross remembers that the clerks were all knowing, if opinionated on what to buy, and that the record store was a music community the internet will never duplicate.

Of course, most record stores gave up long ago but some have evolved and survived.

There's the Stalwart Easy Street Records in West Seattle, Fremont's Jive Time and Hi-Voltage in Tacoma, just to name a few.

Sub Pop is a recording label first and retails music related merchandise as a side.

But Cross says every store that opens gives him hope.

I'm Starla Sampaco find nonprofit Northwest news and culture every day on Crosscut.com (upbeat music)