Rainbow Records, Hoover Vacuum buildings on the market

By: Molly M. Fleming The Journal Record February 23, 2017

OKLAHOMA CITY – Gary Parker looks at the Rainbow Records building a little differently than most people.

He’s able to look past the boarded-up windows and peeling paint. When he looks at the buildings at NW 23rd Street and Classen Boulevard, he’s transported back in time.

He can remember when he had to work next door at his parents’ Hoover Vacuum shop. Starting at 10 years old, he would spend his summer breaks with his brothers, repairing vacuums. He was paid 25 cents per hour.

“My dad put three kids through college with that vacuum shop,” he said. “We had a lot of commercial accounts. We had the Capitol’s vacuums.”

He remembers hanging out with The Flaming Lips and other bands that came through town and stopped at the record store.

He’s still friends with people who once worked at the store.

The shop was a drugstore in its early life. The apothecary cabinets and ice cream machine from the soda fountain are still in the building. And there’s a lot in the three buildings owned by Parker’s parents, Carlin and Velma Parker. More than 50 vacuums are inside the record store. The building’s original exterior neon lights sit in stacks around the space.

Vacuum parts fill the record store’s storage space. Besides vacuums, the building is stocked with stuff that Carlin Parker would trade for his repair work. The vacuum store’s storage area is filled to the brim with boxes, full of the traded items.

Parker is selling the three properties, which include the Rainbow Records building, the Hoover Vacuum shop and a third building between the two – 2401, 2405 and 2407 N. Classen Blvd. They total more than 6,000 square feet with a listing price of $1.59 million.

“We were waiting for what we felt like was the right time,” he said.

But other people were tired of waiting for something to happen with the properties. Parker said potential buyers had tracked down his parents at their home. They would even shove contracts under their door.

They didn’t sell. The highest offer they heard was $900,000.

Newmark Grubb Levy Strange Beffort office broker Brad Rice took a different approach. He called the Parkers and visited with them politely. He sent them a letter and told them what he thought about the property and its selling potential. It took a year for him to secure the listing.

“I love the corner,” he said. “With what’s going on at Classen and Uptown, I just wanted to see it redeveloped.”

That’s what Parker said he would like as well but knows there’s a possibility that some or all of the properties could be demolished. His parents have owned them since the 1970s. They’ve operated their vacuum shop there since 1953. They leased the Rainbow Records building to the owner. The record store closed in 2003.

Rice said the Parkers are willing to take offers on the building, but there won’t be a formal call. There’s no timeline for when a closing will occur. Rice said he wants someone local to make the purchase.

“Someone local will respect the character,” he said, giving mention to The Pivot Project team and its work on restoring historic buildings.