2983 to 2987 West 3500 South — Granger Utah History

Starbound opened it's doors on April 6, 1982.

The original Starbound opened up in the existing building the we later had converted into one huge store. We opened up in a 700 square foot location that was directly behind Doug's TV and appliance (which was the front of the building that is in your picture).

After a few years in that small store, we moved to the building directly to the east, that was occupied by A1 Vacuum in the very front. There were 2 other spaces directly behind A1 Vacuum that were vacant. We talked A1 Vacuum into taking over half of their space at the north end of that building, Starbound taking the half that was on the east side. We put a wall between the two stores, and we also leased the middle part of that building.

The first thing I did was to paint that building in bright Yellow paint with Large 32 inch Red Plastic Letters that read: STARBOUND RECORDS. This sign was on the east side of that building. I purposely painted the building in yellow with the red signage, so anyone traveling westbound on 3500 south would notice it, AND NOTICE IT, THEY DID! Business skyrocketed, and within a year we added the remaining available space in that building for several more years.

Our record collection grew so fast, we added a 40 foot trailer onto the back of that building, and opened up two doors inside so customers could browse the vinyl records that we had in that trailer. West Valley City was not keen on having that trailer added to the building, so I negotiated with them to give me a bit more time, because I was working on leasing the entire building, now, that was to the west of us, the same building where we had opened in 1982, using 700 square feet.

I secured a purchase for that entire space, which was 10,000 square feet, plus the entire building that Riverton music and a few other businesses were located. I purchased the shopping complex, moving tenants that were in the 10,000 square foot building we occupied, over to space that was behind the Riverton Music frontage.

We did all this without closing our location in the yellow building. I am still amazed today, when I think back on those times, how lucky we were that everything seemed to fall into place....but this never would have happened if it wasn't for terrific employees and absolutely loyal customers, who came from all over the state to shop at that store.

Cindy Petrovich (now Cindy Wagstaff) managed the store for all those years we were open, with the exception of the first 9 months we opened, and a dear friend of mine, Scott Muir helped me ring up those sales (I should say, write down those sales), because we didn't even have a cash register when we first opened because cash on hand was scarce.

I seriously have had withdrawal pains since that store was closed in 2005. I miss it and the people everyday. It is a breath of heaven when I run into former customers and employees when I'm out shopping, or going to a wedding reception, etc.

Written by: Matt Limburg