Spec's Music Inc.
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| Industry | Retail |
|---|---|
| Fate | Merged with Camelot Music |
| Successor | Camelot Music, now f.y.e. |
| Founded | 1948 |
| Defunct | 2013 |
| Products | Music retail, video rental |
Spec's Music was a South Florida-based retail music and video rental chain headquartered in Miami. At its height of popularity, Spec's Music operated 49 stores, including 20,000-square-foot (1,900 m2) "superstores" in Miami Beach, West Palm Beach, and Sunrise. The company's stores were located in malls, strip centers, and free-standing locations throughout Florida. Four of the company's stores were located in malls in Puerto Rico.
Spec's was incorporated in 1948 by founder Martin Spector. The company's first store was a 1,500-square-foot (140 m2) structure in Coral Gables, Florida, situated on South Dixie Highway on the outskirts of Miami. Inside, the store carried a collection of big-band melodies, recorded on then-standard 78 RPM vinyl discs, and other assorted merchandise.
By the 1950s, Spec's expanded their sales line to include Kodak Brownie cameras, Magnavox television sets, washing machines, and refrigerators. By the 1960s, Martin Spector dropped the concept of selling other electronics in favor of selling just music, and with the birth of rock and roll the stores were now finally able to support themselves by selling music alone. Spec's stores became so popular during this time that Spector expanded his chain to both Broward and Palm Beach counties by 1967.
Between 1968 and 1980, Spec's expanded at a rate of two stores per year, all located in South Florida. Many of the stores in the 1980s were given a flashy new wave look to them, a style which can still be recognized in many former Spec's locations that are now occupied by f.y.e.. The company went public in 1985 after making $16.6 Million in sales from its then-16 stores. During this same time, Spec's took advantage of the emerging VHS rental market, and added tape-rental divisions to each store.
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