** The record store is temporarily-closed until springtime. Hummingbird is making updates to their store and music catalog. **

Attention vinyl lovers! Hummingbird Music & Art is now open at 106 W. Bishop St, Bellefonte, weekends from noon to 8 p.m., with plans to expand its hours in the future.

The store features an extensive rock, New Wave and soul collection and a good deal of country and folk music, plus an outstanding selection of hard-to-find jazz records that any jazz-hound would love to pore over. In addition to 33-1/3-rpm vinyl in all genres, Hummingbird boasts thousands of 78- and 45-rpm records, too, many of which date back to the 1950s and earlier.

Hummingbird gets its name from Owner John Fulmeras favorite, now-defunct restaurant in New Orleans, where he attended Loyola University and majored in journalism. The records, posters, and music and movie memorabilia come from a record store in the French Quarter that sadly could not go on after Katrina. Because he knew the owners, John was lucky enough to move the stock to Bellefonte and keep the business alive.

aIave often been asked, aWhy choose Bellefonte instead of State College?a for the store,a John said. aI always explain that when I was a teenager, going shopping on Saturday, with just a few bucks in my pocket, I could score a Beatles, Stones or Dylan album. You could buy albums at any department or appliance store, not to mention record stores. It was an impulse buy. Now if you love vinyl, you have to search it out, and I think people will come to Bellefonte to do just that.a

John also has plans to eventually showcase local artists in the store along with an area to serve coffee and listen to vinyl. He believes the additions of new restaurants and gathering spots also make Bellefonte the perfect spot for Hummingbird.

aThe future looks bright here. I hope Hummingbird can be a part of that renaissance,a he said.

** The record store is temporarily-closed until springtime. Hummingbird is making updates to their store and music catalog. **