Save Pink Elephant Records

Help me continue to provide a safe & welcoming space for all music lovers!


My name is Danielle Frazier and I am the owner of Pink Elephant Records, an inclusive record store in Tempe, Arizona.

I opened Pink Elephant Records after having negative experiences as a female record collector who was assumed to be inexperienced by older collectors. Gate-keeping is a well known problem in niche communities like ours & it's frustrating because if we want vinyl to live forever, we need new people to get involved!

My  vision for Pink Elephant Records was to not only provide a clean, bright, friendly, & well stocked shop but to especially provide this to those who may have felt like outsiders in this community, much like I had for a long time. We all deserve to be able to enjoy music without judgement from elitists or gate-keepers.

While it's been a joy to build this store & meet so many amazing people in the process, it hasn't been easy. The money I used to start this was left to me when my father passed away two years ago and it got ate up by city fees and rental costs faster than I had planned for. We started to build up an amazing following of loyal customers, many of whom became good friends, but by this time last year we were already struggling.
We scraped by with help from a few microloans and and a cash gift from a friend to help us buy stock but then summer hit.

Anyone who has spent time in Arizona during the summer knows that it can be a ghost town, especially in a college town like Tempe where a lot of the student population, as well as a lot of university staff, leave town. There were days where I didn't see a single customer. It wasn't a total surprise, I've lived here for most of my life, but it was worse than I expected and I hadn't had the chance to set aside money in reserve like I wanted to. The proceeds from the sales I did have were going to bills that were getting more and more behind rather than restocking my inventory. To get by, I brought in about half of my own record collection to add to the inventory.

In the fall, the students returned and so did my sales, but not to the point where I need them to be. In September, we were named as the Best New Record Store by Phoenix New Times in their yearly Best of Phoenix issue.


It is such an honor that wasn't expecting at all. This did lead to an increase of customers, but in addition to struggling to catch my bills up, I wasn't able to keep the shelves as stocked as they should be, especially with the new releases people were looking for. I finally had customers again but they were leaving empty handed.

Throughout all this I've had a very patient landlord. They're the only reason I've been able to stay open until now. Unfortunately, the complex Pink Elephant calls home was recently sold to another firm and they are not as understanding.
We are severely short on rent this month and have been presented with a 5-day notice to pay or vacate the premises  & surrender property within. We need $3,000 in rent + late fees by this Monday (12/9) if we want to stay open.
Unfortunately, this is just the immediate cost we're looking at if we want to stay open into the new year. Everything is behind and we need about $20,000 to get things caught up, restock the shelves with new records, and get back on track in order to take advantage of our title as Best New Record Store.

Any funds raised will be used towards the following:
- Rent
- Taxes
- License renewals for 2020
- Pay off the remainder of our sign costs, the sign company has been very patient with us
- Catch-up our microloan payments
- Restocking the store with new records, turntables, & vinyl accessories
- After these expenses have been met, anything left over will be put towards more stock & working with a local printer to create Pink Elephant stickers, tote bags, & t-shirts since we get a lot of requests for these items

Pink Elephant Records obviously means a lot to me but it means something to this community too. I want to continue being a welcoming and safe place for all music lovers, but especially those that may not have anywhere else. I have a lot of young regulars who know they have a place here that accepts them as they are and I am forever grateful to anyone who will help me to keep providing this to them and more.

Please help save Pink Elephant Records!