As We See It

Firehouse Subs fills the old Big B’s space, but memories of the record shop remain

Image
The space where you could once find Miles Davis on vinyl now houses the Valley’s latest Firehouse Subs location.

For the past seven years, the drive past 4761 S. Maryland Parkway has been a bittersweet one for longtime music fans. Despite the closure of Big B’s CDs & Records in December 2006, its sign remained up, a reminder of how many of us built up (and pared down) our CD and vinyl collections there—and how its carefully curated stock helped update and deepen the collective musical pedigree of Las Vegas. It’s where super-managers Alex Vaughan and Marco Brizuela sold me the import versions of what would become Sigur Rós’ and The Strokes’ breakthrough albums, respectively, and where owner Brian Snyder—who died in 2009—steered me away from Bitches Brew and toward the underrated Miles gem, Get Up With It.

But this past September, the University Square plaza finally found a tenant for the space: Firehouse Subs #960, its iconic logo replacing another—the neighboring Baja Bar & Grill has repurposed Big B’s banner—and leaving this musicphile with one less catalyst for bin-picking, wax-sorting nostalgia.

Share
Top of Story