NOW DIGGING
Sweat Records
LITTLE HAITI, MIAMI, FL • 5505 NE 2nd Ave, Miami, FL 33137
Last week we climbed a staircase in Pittsburgh. This week we’re in Miami, at a store that has been through more than most shops ever will.
Sweat opened in March, 2005 in Edgewater, started by Lolo Reskin and her best friend Sara Yousuf. Reskin got the idea after a trip to Portland, where a record store handed out a pamphlet listing every other record store in town. Miami had nothing like it.
Then Hurricane Wilma wrecked the building in October, and the store camped out in the back of Churchill’s Pub, the Little Haiti punk club, before moving in next door in 2007. It’s still there. It’s also survived two recessions and a pandemic, to have a 20th anniversary party last March that was headlined by ViV favorite Adrian Quesada.
It started out about half CDs and half vinyl. These days it’s roughly 95% vinyl. In 2018, after thirteen years of selling other people’s records, Sweat started its own label, Sweat Records Records. The roster leans local and strange in the best way: Las Nubes (the band formerly known as SMVT), electronic and psych producer Richie Hell, a never-released Miami freestyle 12-inch from Debbie Deb called ‘Everybody’s Jammin’’, and more.
Inside, you’ll also find a plant-based coffee and pastry counter and an event space, so a quick stop turns into an afternoon.
Reskin has said the store is maxed out and she’d love a bigger building someday. Until then, when you’re in Miamia, swing by, buy a record, a vegan empanada and a plant based latte to fuel your digging.
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