In recent years, Vinyl’s have been garnering interest with music consumers. This increase in Vinyl popularity has allowed local business owner George Noble to share his passion for Vinyl’s with the world.

Noble is the owner of Vintage Vinyl & More. Vintage Vinyl & More is a Vinyl, Record Player, and Magic store located in Ames North Grand Mall.

“Years ago, the frequency band width that would be produced was wider than it is with digital recordings”, says Noble.

Noble credits the recent increase in Vinyl popularity to the better sound quality Vinyl’s provide over their digital counterparts.

“I try to find what it is the customer is looking for”, says Noble.

With nearly 50 years of exposure to Vinyl’s and Record Players, Noble has learned that the most important part of running a business you are passionate about is the customer.

Vintage Vinyl houses a collection of records organized into groups including Country, Jazz, Motown, and more. 

“I get certain artists that people are after like the Beatles, Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix, Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson and if I get enough requests, I start to pull those into groups”, says Noble.

Noble, not only sells Vinyl’s, Record Players and Magic equipment, but also buys and repairs them as well. Taking a more personal approach, Noble handles all repairs himself at his home office.

Noble credits his success to his childhood and how him and his father are very much alike, in the sense that problem solving seemed to come naturally to both of them.

Starting at 17 years old, Noble has actively engaged with electronics. Since then working on Ground Radio Repair in the United State Air Force during the Vietnam War, Iowa State Universities Media Resources, Arcades, and Cable TV.

Vintage Vinyl & More, is not Noble’s first Vinyl business.

Noble opened his first store in 1986, then called Noble’s TV & Appliances, which ran until 1994 when he decided to get out of the industry due to climbing popularity in CD’s.

Noble, fortunately, got out early, even managing to lease the store space to another business to continue making money.

After the closing of Noble’s TV & Appliances, Noble went on to work for the Post Office for 22 years until he retired and decided to open up Vintage Vinyl & More.

Noble says running Vintage Vinyl & More has been easier than running his first store, due to the increase in popularity with Vinyl’s and also because he does not have to balance raising kids while building a business.

Noble has even worked with local Vinyl store Vinyl Café, occasionally doing repair services and even referring people over to his competitors store.

Outside of his store, Noble is an active member of the Des Moines Magic club, of which he has previously held every position on the board of directors.

Noble has performed magic shows for all age groups.

“I enjoy watching the reactions and smiles on the kids faces when they do the magic and have no idea how they did it,” says Noble.

 Magic caught the eye of Noble 25 years ago when he saw an infomercial at a birthday party.

“The infomercial was more interesting than what was going on at the party”, says Noble.

Memorizing the phone number that appeared on screen, Noble called the number the next day to start developing his skills as a magician. 

“It’s like any hobby, it has almost become an obsession,” says Noble.

After his magic performances, Noble’s wife would tell him “You are the biggest kid up there”, to which Noble agrees, “It’s true, I have fun doing it”.

Noble remarks, however, that he enjoys running his store as long as it does not consume his life.

Noble’s lease will run until the end of December when he will decide whether or not he wants to keep his store open.

If you are interested in Vinyl’s or Magic, Vintage Vinyl & More is open from 2pm-8pm Wednesday and Thursday, 2pm-9pm on Friday, 10am-9pm on Saturday, and 1pm-5pm on Sunday.

You can also reach Noble for more information on Vintage Vinyl & More or for record repair assistance at 515-708-1707 or email [email protected].

“If I’m not here, that phone number still works,” says Noble, “As long as I am still around, I will continue to do it”.

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