Wax World is a new DJ-centered record store in south Minneapolis
April 09, 2025
Rosa Garcia has deep roots in Minneapolis and years of involvement in the local music community. It could be argued that Garcia, who performs as DJ Madre, owes their entire existence to Purple Rain. Garcia’s parents met on set while appearing as extras in the film. After founding the “DJ skill-sharing/support community for Black/Indigenous women, queer, femme, and non-binary people of color” DJ-U in 2016 and curating various spaces such as Mothership and The Artery, Garcia has moved on to their next endeavor, a record store.
Located in the Longfellow neighborhood of Minneapolis, Wax World is a small but cozy DJ-centered store. Formerly known as Wizard Wax, which sold vinyl and comics, the store now has inventory mostly from their own collection and from other DJs connected to Minnesota. The Current stopped by on a warm Thursday afternoon to learn more about Garcia taking over the business in November and their future plans. Below are some highlights of our conversation.
Tell us about how the store transitioned from comic books to full-on record retail.
So, before I got the shop, it had been a record store for maybe about five years. But it was a record store, comic bookstore and toy store. And it was owned by Ben [Menas], who was around the corner and now owns Time Bomb Vintage, and he's cool. Then Jex [Arzayus] got it from Ben and was here for at least a year. There was also somebody named Cal [Woods], who was here, and Jex also had another partner. I came here to DJ one time [through a friend Angel Beloved from MPLS House]. When I came and DJ'd, I was really feeling like, "Oh, I really want to do something like this. I really like this place. I want to open up my own record store." I didn't think it was going to be here. This was one or two years ago.
What were you doing prior to having a record store?
I was doing big event stuff for the last 10 years. DJ-U started in 2016, so next year will be 10 years. We shared a studio space in the Robert Shoes building and that burned down. So basically, DJ-U has moved around a lot since then. Most recently, I had built a space over the last five years since COVID to have events, and people are still having events there. I was planning on just doing DJ-U, and we were in the middle of classes, but COVID hit, so we had to stop, we did stuff online to finish it up. But then after that we didn't really do much for an entire year. Plus, everything that was going on at the time around here, with George Floyd being murdered and all that. I focused more on building that space, and that space still exists, it's called The Artery. People are still doing stuff there, so I was just getting grants to build bathrooms and build a stage and we did do some events. And hopefully, I'll get a grant in May and we'll be able to start doing DJ-U again.
How did you decide you wanted to own a record store?
It was my “plan B.” I was still focused on DJing and doing events. Honestly, I reached out to everybody I knew, but nobody was hiring me to DJ. And it really hurt my feelings, you know, especially because there's only so many people who are actually born and raised from here, playing house music and stuff like that, and all vinyl, too. I think I'm the only person born and raised here playing all vinyl who's not a dude. That was my “plan A.” People not hiring me hurt my feelings especially because of all the grants I had brought in. I was paying a lot of people and helping a lot of people in the community, which I'm very happy about, but when I needed [work as a DJ] people really weren't there. So I was like, “OK, well, guess what? I don't really like being up late anyway. I don't like to drink. I don't like to do hard drugs. I don't like to be at the rave.” I'm a rave type of DJ. I can do long sets. So, I also listened to my body, and thought, “You know what? I just want to do stuff during the day anyway.” That was all happening during COVID.
Was it hard to let go of all those records and grieve the DJ life?
Not really. I feel like I kind of already grieved, and this feels kind of like a new life. … So, with this record store, I feel very much like I'm seeing other people be inspired now about this, which is kind of fun. I can still be cool and inspiring when I DJ my vinyl, whenever I get a chance to do that, which is mostly at the record store. People are still like, "Oh my God, that's cool!" which is kind of why I started DJ-U. Everybody wants to do vinyl. I got it all here, everything you want. I've also been DJing vinyl for over the last five years, you know? So, I do teach people in the shop. And it's a sliding-scale fee, especially for the first class. But if I get the grant money, then I'll be able to get other DJs involved and do stuff for free, basically, and hopefully do some stuff out in the parking lot.
What separates Wax World from other stores?
Similar to the queer underground scene, which is where I started DJing, I'm aware of the record stores that came before me that aren't around anymore. I try to honor them. I just love seeing their stickers on the records. I've gotten a lot of collections from DJs from here who have left town so I try to honor them, too. Let It Be Records was a big deal. One of the vinyl DJs that inspired me to do vinyl is E-Tones, who was also one of the first queer DJs in the house and techno scene earlier on. He used to work at Let It Be, and he used to be able to help you find anything. And then there was Vital Vinyl and Flashlight Vinyl. Vital Vinyl used to even be a checkpoint for raves and stuff. You had to go to Vital Vinyl to figure out where the raves are, what the address is. So, you know, just bringing that back a little bit, just trying to carry on a legacy, trying to carry a torch from the past, so that they don't actually die. It’s still alive here.
It's kind of like bringing all of these parts of your life together in one place.
And I love to travel and buy records, and really, that's the only thing I want to do in life: travel and play records. A lot of this stuff I get from all over the country too, so that's fun.
When someone visits Wax World for the first time, what can they expect?
I just got the shop halfway through November., It's half organized. And then the other half is the stuff I brought that was organized, but not priced. But half of that stuff is priced now too. So that's kind of my job, but I buy records as well. Last week, I bought about, geez, like at least 500 hard house and techno records from the U.K. that had been in storage for 10 years. For being a new store, I thought I should just put stuff out on the shelves to look like a record store and then price it as we go. But some people are weird about that. If they're like, “This doesn't have a price,” and then I ask, “Well what do you want to pay?” And then they'll be like, "Whoa, that's weird. Let me get out of here." I had somebody do that one time, and I was just like, “OK, did I do something bad?”
Did you have previous sales experience?
Yeah, a little bit. I've done a little bit of everything. But for a long time, like 15 years, I was working with youth. I was working in the HIV field. I was working with people who didn't have stable housing, stuff like that. So I did that for a long time.
Tell us a little bit about the spaces you curated, like Mothership.
Yeah, Mothership and Madame. [Madame of the Arts] is right off 34th and Chicago and I think there's still artists there. And that was a queer group of people who were doing these weird parties, and they kept on getting kicked out of places like the Bedlam and Medusa. So, it started off with Madame and then we had one or two events at Licorice Beach, which also burnt down. And then after, we went to Mothership, found that spot and was on the lease, and helped start that up. And then it was The Artery.
It sounds like you're still in touch with that part of yourself in a healthy way. You're inviting DJs here to play sets?
Yeah, and I'm gonna start doing events with the Southside Preservation Society to do pop-up record store and vinyl sessions, because it's a bigger space. So it could have people dancing, you know, voluntarily dancing, not like “fire marshal” dancing.
Sounds like it's good start!
Yeah. Last week, I had at least 15 DJs come to the shop and they all said, "This is what the city needs." So I was like, “Well, good, and I'm glad I'm doing it then.” We're gonna be successful, I think. I hope so. And who knows? Maybe we'll expand one day, space-wise or location-wise. Another thing I'll add is that we are one of the few places that is a Orofon dealer in town. Orofon sells needles, vinyl cleaning kits, brushes, styluses, slipmats and that kind of stuff. So I get to give everybody the best price in town.
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