Electric Fetus

The Electric Fetus is a record store with locations in Minneapolis, Duluth and St. Cloud in Minnesota. It was started in June 1968 by partners Dan Foley and Ron Korsh. Minnesota Public Radio said of the Electric Fetus that it is "widely regarded as the pre-eminent indie record store in Minnesota."ref|mpr

The store was conceived of and created by Dan Foley and Ron Korsh. Several months after opening Korsh sold his half of the store to Keith Covart, who also obtained Foley's half about ten years later. It began in 1968 when Korsh rented a storefront in the Cedar Riverside area of the West Bank (of the Mississippi River), then the Haight-Ashbury of Minneapolis , and moved to its current location at the corner of 4th Avenue and Franklin in 1972. ref|mplsstpaul A definitive actual history of the store was written by historians Penny Peterson and Charlene Roise in their account titled, "A History of the Electric Fetus" as prepared for the Greater Twin Cities Blues Music Society, in July 2006.

Owner Keith Covart estimates that the store has an inventory of approximately 50,000 titles. ref|mplsstpaul

The Electric Fetus Onestop is the wholesale distribution portion of the Electric Fetus. It has "a huge emphasis on local music and aim [s] to provide an outlet for local musicians/bands to consign their CDs or records to be available for distribution through the One Stop. The One Stop's primary focus is local indie record stores and secondly national Independent Record Stores." The Electric Fetus Onestop is located in the basement of The Electric Fetus in Minneapolis, and is not accessible to the public.

Trivia

*"National Lampoon", among others, singled out the Electric Fetus as the worst name for a business.ref|sounding-board
* "Bazaar" magazine called the Electric Fetus one of the "best places in America to shop."ref label|sounding-board|2|a

References

#cite news
first=Chris
last=Roberts
url=http://news.minnesota.publicradio.org/features/2004/02/03_robertsc_indierecords/
title=Whither the indie record store?
publisher=Minnesota Public Radio
date=2004-7-3
accessdate=2006-01-01
#note label|sounding-board|2|acite news
url=http://www.narm.com/publications/sb98/0798/fetus.htm
title=Electric Fetus Serves Eclectic Customers For 30 Years
publisher=Sounding Board
date=July, 1998
accessdate=2006-01-01
#cite news
first=Brian
last=Lambert
url=http://www.mspmag.com/entertainment/music/50715.asp?ht=
title=House of Music
publisher=Mpls St Paul Magazine
date=February, 2007
accessdate=2007-06-26

External links

* [http://www.efetus.com Electric Fetus Homepage]
* [http://www.myspace.com/electricfetusonestop Myspace: Electric Fetus Onestop]
* [http://www.myspace.com/electricfetussaintcloud Myspace: Electric Fetus, Saint Cloud]
* [http://www.styluscity.org/ElectricFetus/ Electric Fetus' page on StylusCity]