The Iowa Music Store will have its grand opening during the Maximum Ames Music Festival. The store is located at 300 Main Street in Ames.

Special deals will be available in the store for the grand opening. There will also be numerous live shows on a regular basis that are a part of the festival.

“We’re going to be having a grand opening celebration each day of the festival,” said Nate Logsdon, president of Maximum Ames Records and co-director of festival.

“There’s going to be special deals and there’s going to be a couple [of] short presentations before the shows.”

The Iowa School of Burlesque is connected to the Iowa Music Store by a shared office. The school will also have an open house during the grand opening of the store.

Nova Labs, an Iowa record label out of Ames, is partnering with Maximum Ames to finance and run the Iowa Music Store. Nova Labs will be playing a free showcase Sept. 27 at Deano’s as part of the festival.

As for the content of the Iowa Music Store, there will be records, CDs, cassettes, posters, T-shirts and an array of other merchandise from various Iowa bands.

Only Iowan music and art will be sold in the store. There will also be a display for Bi-Fi records, an Ames record label that ran from 1999 to 2004.

The Iowa Music Store works on a commission basis for many of the things it sells.

“The overwhelming majority of stuff we sell there is on commission. When you buy something from a band, we take the majority of that money and we mail it to the band,” Logsdon said. “You’re not only supporting the Iowa Music Store, you are directly buying something from a band. You’re supporting artists at the same time that you are supporting this local business.”

Near the Iowa Music Store at 330 Main Street is an all-Iowa zine distro known as Roach Motel. A zine is a self-printed magazine that usually focuses on a specific topic such as politics of crafting.

“If you love zines, there’s an all Iowa zine distro called Roach Motel,” Logsdon said. “It’s curated by our long-time collaborator Kristin Roach, who is a local artist and organizer.”

Alcohol will be prohibited on the premises of the Iowa Music Store for a variety of reasons. However, one of the biggest reasons alcohol is prohibited is because the venue is meant to be for all ages with attendees ranging from children to grandparents.

“No alcohol [is] allowed on the premises at all,” Logsdon said. “That’s going to be strictly enforced because … by not having alcohol there, not only do you make it accessible to people that are under 21, you also make it accessible to people that don’t care to be in a bar.

“It’s not only young people that aren’t able to experience music in bars, it’s also people that are recovering alcoholics or people that don’t care for that type of environment.”

The space in the store is pretty limited, with a maximum capacity of only 30 to 40 people, but large bands are still going to be taking the stage at the Iowa Music Store.

“On the opening night, we’re having a seven-piece band,” Logsdon said. “When you consider that we can probably only get 30 or 40 people in the room, that’s a lot. We’re going to pack them in and it’s going to be awesome.”