Front of Beverly Phono Mart, seen boarded and scaffolded on Jan. 26 The Xavierite
At around 2:30 a.m. on Jan. 1, the storefront of Beverly Phono Mart (1808 West 103rd Street), an independently-owned record shop in the Beverly neighborhood, was struck by a speeding vehicle, demolishing a large portion of the facade of the store.
Despite the collision, although a significant portion of the store’s merchandise was damaged, the vast majority of it remained untouched.
“Luckily, we only lost a few crates of records, which is, you know, a couple hundred records. Similarly, [we also lost] a couple hundred CDs, but the vast majority of our record inventory is still safe and in good shape,” Mallory McClaire, co-owner of Beverly Phono Mart, recounted. “We also lost some of the other things that were positioned at the front of our store–we carry a selection of, like, band t-shirts, gifts, things like [decorations].”
According to McClaire, businesses surrounding Beverly Phono Mart also suffered damages–next door to the shop is the Ephemera Gallery (1810 West 103rd Street), run by the Beverly Arts Alliance, which lost their windows and suffered structural damage due to the crash.
The Funky Monkey Juice Bar (1806 West 103rd Street), also next door opposite the Beverly Arts Alliance gallery, also had a window break from the crash. A bench in front of the store was also bent out of shape upon collision.
McClaire owns the store with her husband, Chantala Kommanivanh–the two have run the business at its current location for four years.
Despite the damages, there has been an outpouring of support for the shop from the Beverly community and beyond since the crash. McClaire shares: “We’ve had a lot of support, which has been really encouraging for us. You know, we had people who showed up as soon as they got the news and, like, jumped in to help us clean up. We had people reach out to help in any way that they could over the days and weeks to follow, and of course, people who have been sharing what’s going on and are making purchases online.”
“[The support] has been one silver lining–just seeing how this shop community has really stepped up to support us, and it’s just, like, a reminder for us of why we’re doing this in the first place,” said McClaire.
McClaire particularly expressed gratitude to the SXU community.
The driver of the vehicle has been identified as 41-year old Reginald Fisher of Blue Island. According to CBS News, Fisher was alone at the time of the crash, was taken to the hospital with serious injuries, and afterwards was cited for aggravated fleeing from a crash causing bodily injury, failure to reduce speed, driving on a suspended license, driving an uninsured vehicle, and operating an unregistered motor vehicle.
According to McClaire, it will be at least “several months” before the store is open again. However, the store does operate online, and can be visited at www.beverlyphonomart.com.
*Article Updated on 01.27.26 to include: “,’ said McClaire.” in line 33 and a period at the end of the sentence in line 35.