Hyde Park JuiceLand Location to Close, With Exploded Records Relocating

JuiceLand's Hyde Park location at 45th and Duval (Photo by John Anderson)

At the start of May, eclectic vinyl emporium Exploded Records will be relocating from its current home at JuiceLand’s Hyde Park location.

Alongside record store manager Andrew Brown’s announcement of the move, JuiceLand employees confirmed to the Chronicle that the smoothie shop at 45th and Duval will also be closing. The store has also placed a sign on the counter reading, “This shop is closing at the end of April!” with a discount code for nearby JuiceLand shops. Workers at the Duval location attributed the shutter to a "substantial hike" in rent prices and said they’ve all been given the option to transition to any other JuiceLand of their choosing.

One employee said the party that has now stepped in to occupy the space is “a high-end gelato shop.” When the company was reached for comment via email, a JuiceLand rep wrote: “The move for exploded records is permanent, but the Juiceland location is in a stage of transformation. More details to come soon.”

Not a freestanding shop, but instead a free-floating annex with contractual ties to JuiceLand, Exploded Records is transitioning to the juice shop’s 29th and Guadalupe location. Exploded Records has existed as a bastion for local crate diggers since its founding nine years ago by Brown. One of Austin's signature electronic music figures through his work co-producing events with Exploded Drawing and hosting KUTX’s Soundfounder, Brown said he learned of the move a couple of weeks ago, when he was taken aside by JuiceLand management.

“It was a little bit of a shock, but it's also something that had been building up over the years. ... And as far as haggling with landlords and stuff, that's not really what I do,” Brown said. “It's always been kind of an odd, huge space because there's a big kitchen in the back, which means a lot of square footage that nobody really used. As good a fit for us as it was, it became clear during COVID that the landlord was going to want to raise the rent considering the size – and that was kind of this dark cloud over the last few years.”

Exploded Records first moved into the 45th and Duval JuiceLand at a time when the chain only had two other locations in Austin. Brown, a smoothie maker at one of them, came into the gig when founder Matt Shook texted him asking for creative ideas to fill the space. There was a lot of room to fill – for the first two years of Exploded Records, vinyl and tropical drinks shared the space with milkshakes and sundaes from Sweet Ritual. (The ice cream shop moved to Airport Boulevard in 2016 before closing last year.)

“It's definitely kind of a bummer,” Brown said. “The Hyde Park space was really cool, but it was also tucked away in a more residential neighborhood. Compared to a lot of situations with people getting priced out of stuff, this one’s working out really well. I’m feeling really optimistic about what Exploded Records can do in the wide open.”

Brown said the new location has more potential for in-store performances, as the Duval location hosted shows from acts such as Broken Keys and Clear Soul Forces. He also noted the community-building promised by a captive audience of college students closer to the UT-Austin campus and the Ballroom. He’s not worried about any competition with nearby Antone's Record Shop, either.

“I think that we serve different crowds. Antone’s is known for their classic selection of blues, rock, and old Austin music, whereas we prioritize newer stuff and electronic music and kind of a weird assortment of things.”