We were saddened to learn of the passing on Eddie Grudynski on Saturday Sept 12, 2015 at age 92. Ed was the general manager-operator of Walt's Record Shop Syracuse's top independent single record store from March 1951 through July 1980. First called "The Record Shop' its first location was at 114 West Jefferson Street ( Loew Building) when it opened in March 1951. It then moved around the corner to 352 So. Salina Street just two stores north of Loew's Theater (now called The Landmark Theater) in 1959. Owned by Walt Kandziela but operated by his brother-in-law Ed Grudynski. Walt's Record Shop finally closed in July 1980.
Other key employees who worked at Walt Record included- Gary Grudynski (Eddie's son), Dave Ridgeway, Don Libensky, Gary Podsiedlik, Larry Liberman, Don Bombard, Guy Capone, Mark Kalsuga, Dan Elliott, Steve Wasnick, Louie Everding, Kevin Adams and Gary Bennett.
All major acts would stop by Walt's Record Shop when in Central New York including- Johnny Cash, Tony Bennett, Gene Pitney, The Rascals, Al Martino, The Lettermen, Buck Owens, Jerry Vale, and many more. Walt's was Syracuse last record store where customer could audition 45 & 33 vinyl recordings before buying them. More records were sold by Walt's employee influences than any store I known of. And that sales technique even influenced me.
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