Anchored since 1955 in the Tabacalera neighborhood, Discópolis is a little family store that professes love not only for the thousands of vinyl records it keeps inside, but also for the accumulation of diverse objects that record the passing of time in this city. Behind the antiques, however, there is also a personal story. The founder of Discópolis, Guillermo Aguilar, together with his brother Luis, found in the records a way to distract themselves, to forget that their father had abandoned them, that their sister had just died and that their mother did not have much money to give them.
This story is told by Jorge Guillermo Aguilar, Guillermo's son and current owner of Discópolis. But he not only tells how the store has found its way into the CDMX. The store is also a testimony of his family's, his father's and his uncle's wanderings in the Tabacalera neighborhood. What he tells is a legend that can be seen and touched.
A store with the spirit of a mausoleum
Guillermo and Luis were music nerds. At only fifteen years old, they produced and performed the musical selection for a radio program of the time. The Aguilar brothers' original batch of vinyl records is displayed on the walls, where black and white photographs of their mother also hang. Each object in their showcases is a fragment of what they were and what they continue to be today.
When you enter Discópolis you find an unusual decoration for a vinyl store. In addition to boxes and boxes full of plastic sleeves for the records, there are framed posters of José José; from Kubrick's film, 2001: A Space Odysseya couple of old computers reminiscent of the pre-internet mobile era; a saxophone hanging right in the middle of the room, as if jazz was the beginning of everything; books such as the Encyclopedic Atlas of Civil Aircraftan anthology of the Beatles, a copy of Gotta Sing Gotta Dance: A Pictorial History of Film Musicals or the guide 1000 Record Coversby Michael Ochs. Surprising to know that almost everything is for sale.
Its record collection is intimidating. Discópolis is made up of almost 150 thousand vinyls of genres such as rock, metal, pop and even indie. From the Crazy Boys to Lana del Rey; from the early years of Luis Miguel to the last years of Taylor Swift. Nor are rarities such as the complete Spanish-language narration of Star Wars, with the original music and effects from the film, or the beautiful series of illustrated records from the Vogue label, from the 1940s, forgotten. Not everything is on display or easy to find. In fact, not even the store itself contains its entire catalog.
A totalizing vinyl collection in the Tabacalera colony
"There was never an inventory, we had to start from scratch when Guillermo passed away [six years ago]," confesses Dinorah, Jorge's wife. Thus, the work of classifying vinyl seems inexhaustible. It makes you want to spend hours dusting your hands to find some hidden treasure. Although most of the records are found in this store in the Tabacalera, there is also a warehouse in Coyoacán that Jorge and Dinorah visit from time to time, especially if a collector asks them for a specific title that for some reason they have not moved to the store.
The Aguilar brothers also loved el beisbol. For this reason, the store has a corner with baseball paraphernalia. There are several little balls that are battered from so much use, photographs with Jorge Pasquel ("the Carlos Slim of the 50's"), who brought several foreign baseball players to the national fields, especially from Cuba when they were not accepted by the United States. There are also pieces of cloth with the logo and name of multiple teams, such as the Cleveland Indians (today known as Cleveland Guardians) or the Aguila de Veracruz.
This place is, above all, a universe of seemingly insignificant objects, but full of meaning. Toys from Star Wars or Coca-Cola bottles, old typewriters, first generation iPods, ceramic teapots, posters of México 68 or soccer balls. All the pieces tell stories of the city, the colony and of a family united by the love of music. "What you see here are highlights of my dad's life," says Jorge Guillermo about one of the shelves that adorn Discópolis. A store with the spirit of a cabinet of curiosities.
Although vinyl aficionados will be the first people to be interested in this place, Discópolis is of general interest. Any inhabitant of the city can come and spend a few hours rummaging through its shelves and boxes in search of unknown stories of a metropolis hidden in records and objects.
@discopolismx Insurgentes Centro 72-E, Tabacalera
Saturdays and Sundays | 10:45 am - 5:45 pm