How Urban Lights, one of the country’s last Black-owned record stores, changed with the times

By Reg Chapman, CBS

Tucked away in the Midway neighborhood in St. Paul is a community treasure many have come to love and respect.

Urban Lights is one of 35 Black-owned record stores in the country and one of the only ones left in the Twin Cities. The cultural institution has survived when other independent stores were forced to close their doors. 

Owner Timothy Wilson has seen some of the industry’s giants visit the St. Paul record store in its 32 years.

“We’ve had everyone from Beyoncé walk through the door when she was with the original Destiny’s Child,” said Wilson. “The Fugees, Wyclef, Naughty by Nature, Run-DMC. The list goes on and on.”

He says Urban Lights was known as a place to get your vinyl, CDss, and dive into hip hop culture.

“At one point a great percentage of music purchased across the United States came out of Minnesota because all the corporate companies — your Targets, your Best Buys all the big boxes, Musicland, everybody — had offices here. Because of that every record label had offices here so every artist at one time had to come to Minneapolis to pitch their music,” said Wilson.

Changes in the industry, shifts in the Midway neighborhood and periods of uncertainty forced Wilson to change with the times.

“We fill hard drives, mp3 players, we put playlists together for events, we provide DJ services so those were the types of things that helped us ease that, “said Wilson.

And he’s built the store into a community space.

Learn how the store has become a musical home to local artists.

Find music events in our events calendar.

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