New Bedford Guide Your Guide to New Bedford and South Coast, MA
Here is another installment in our Who Remembers? series. You can browse previous articles by using the search bar on the right or by clicking here. These articles are strolls down memory lane. In some cases the buildings, but new businesses have replaced them. In other instances, the buildings or even the properties have been razed. Instead of a building, it may be a TV show, personality, or commercial that no one longer exists. Either way, it can’t stop us from taking the Memory Lane stroll!
As always we would rather this be a discussion. No one knows this area better than those who grew up here! Please, leave constructive criticism, feedback, and corrections. We’d love to hear your anecdotes. Please share!
Words & Music was a local institution that provided atmosphere, staff with astounding musical knowledge and all the music you desired at a very affordable price. One wouldn’t even think of any of the other local music chains – there was only one place to shop: Words & Music at 12 Fairhaven Commons Way, in Fairhaven.
Owner John Lopes didn’t just sell CDs, cassette tapes and records. He also offered collectibles, games, sports and non-sports trading cards, and memorabilia. One of the things he offered that generated a lot of the initial buzz when he opened his flagship store in 1987: used media. It was a chance for those of us who were broke to get access to our favorite bands. Broke one week and didn’t have the $10 for a brand new cassette of “Seasons In The Abyss”? Get it used for half that! The songs on both cassettes sounded the same, and the few extra bucks meant you could buy a second cassette for what it would have cost for a brand new one.
Lopes offered the same with his movies and some of the collectibles. It didn’t take long for word of mouth to make ‘Words & Music’ THE place to go in Fairhaven. It didn’t take long for the rest of the South Coast to get wind. Having a place jam packed with fellow music lovers milling about made an atmosphere that was almost akin to “hanging out.” Besides, John and his crew were some of the easiest going people you would meet. You never had the feeling that they were “customer service.” It felt like you were visiting your friend while he or she is working.
The genius behind this is that wallets open up when you feel relaxed, comfortable and amongst friends. One of the fondest memories I have of John is that he would get so excited about new releases – he remembered what you had bought in the past and when you walked in he’d rush to tell you about it. “Joe, Testament’s newest album “The Ritual” just came in. Alex’s solos are sick!” Then John would proceed to rip open a brand new cassette and pipe it through the P.A. system for me to sample – which meant it would land in the “used” section, but he just didn’t care.
It wasn’t unusual for a release day to come around and a bunch of us would load up a car and head to Words & Music. We would hang out for a good 30-45 minutes, buy what we came for and then some, before piling back into the car and spending the next few hours cruising and listening to all our new music – likely cruising “the Ave.” Ah…those were the days.
I missed the whole reason for Words & Music’s relocation to State Road in North Dartmouth. Not sure if rent was too high, Lopes felt he would prosper better in a higher trafficked area, or something else. Surely, some reader knows. Regardless, the move turned out to be the beginning of the end. The Dartmouth location just didn’t have that same vibe, mojo or huzzah. It had lost its charm and simply wasn’t the same.
I believe that they closed their doors permanently some time in 2011, leaving us with music chains and department stores. Yes, the music industry has been moving more and more into digital, but for some of us there is something nostalgic about buying an album, cassette tape or CD. For others they are collectibles – for us it’s “normal.”
Now we are doomed to the chain stores where we have no name, the music piped through the P.A. is typically muzak, and the customer service person is part of the turnover cycle and is replaced with each passing week.
I miss having a name, seeing the passion, hanging with friends and mostly the cruising that followed. I’d love to do that again.
What is it that you remember most about Words & Music? What do you miss? Did you stop going when it relocated to Dartmouth? Why? If Words & Music reopened back in its original spot would you go?
They moved to Dartmouth because the lease was ending in Fairhaven and the landlord was trying to force them into a new 10 year contract. However, they knew that the industry was declining and they probably wouldn’t be around in 10 years to come. So they had to quickly find a new place to go-so Dartmouth it was. It probably would have lasted a little longer had they stayed in Fairhaven since everyone knew the location but they would’ve closed within a few years even if they had stayed there.
Words and Music was a place like no other. While i worked at the transworld stores in the mall, i would shop at Words and Music.
One day, John offered me an extra 25 cents an hour, and the opportunity to be his “alternative” music buyer and curator, in a time when that genre was just beginning to creep into the mainstream. it’s the job that eventually let me into the music business.
I have alot of old cassettes of different genres that I am interested in selling. Any idea who may be interested in taking a look?? I am in New Bedford..
I really miss this place. I spent nearly every dollar from my 1st job, wash/n dishes at barbero/s, in there. so many good deals, a great selection & great people.
I am 44 from central Massachusetts, my Azorean Parents bought a cottage on Sconticutneck Rd. In 1983 (Fairhaven is the blue collar Portuguese version of the cape, haha).. I spent summers there and lived in the cottage for a few years when I went to SMU/UMD…I loved this place, i remember when cassettes were starting to be phased out buying the entire Iron Maiden, Pink Floyd, Black sabbath, Ozzy albums on tapes for peanuts!!
and ‘words & music’ used to always be on the radio – the friday night kix-mix.. sponsering guest dj’s, and vinyl…
something that was unheard of in many locations, states.. i still have their adds recorded on tape between songs.. used to remember the tele number like it was my own…
now the snowflakes are just realizing what music can be… like yuppies ordering pasta with mussels – when before it was pauper food….