Built for music lovers

Our story

From Strip Mall to Street Closures: The Lou’s Records Legacy

Lou’s Records first opened its doors on February 15th, 1980, in a small, nondescript strip mall in the beachside community of Cardiff by the Sea, California. As our inventory expanded, so did our reputation for having hard-to-find releases. We quickly grew, and in 1982, we moved to a larger storefront in downtown Encinitas. Foot traffic and our inventory continued to grow throughout the 80s, and in 1990, we needed even more space and moved to our present location.

There have been many performances and events held at the store over the years, notably the Mazzy Star display contest-winning event, when the store was transformed into an invite-only nightclub extravaganza. A series of Jack Johnson events over a number of years that started small in 2001 in a corner of the store and concluded in 2005, where an estimated 3500 people filled the parking lots, streets, and, unfortunately, the area near the train tracks just across from the store, which had the event shut down by the sheriff within 20 minutes of starting because of safety issues.