3-D Record Mart

01 / The story of this place

Make time for these

In the summer of 1953, twenty-three-year-old Berry Gordy used his Army discharge pay and a loan from his father and brother George to open the 3-D Record Mart, a jazz record shop at 588 Farnsworth Street. Gordy stocked bebop and swing by Charlie Parker, Stan Kenton and Thelonious Monk, the music he loved, while his working-class customers kept asking for Fats Domino and other rhythm-and-blues records he had little interest in selling. The mismatch between his taste and the market proved fatal: the store went bankrupt in 1955. Gordy later said the failure taught him to give customers what they wanted rather than what he liked, a lesson he carried into Hitsville U.S.A. and Motown Records five years later. The Farnsworth Street storefront's exact fate is unclear, but the block now lies within Wayne State University's Midtown campus.

1. Berry Gordy's first business, opened in 1953 with his Army discharge pay
2. Sold jazz records by Charlie Parker and Stan Kenton, not the R&B customers wanted
3. Went bankrupt in 1955, a failure Gordy credited with shaping Motown's pop instincts
4. Stood on Farnsworth Street, now part of the Wayne State University campus