Mills Record Company

Mills Record Company is a woman-owned, independent record store at 4045 Broadway Blvd in Kansas City’s Westport neighborhood, founded by Judy Mills in 2013 and built around an unlikely pitch for its era: selling new vinyl.¹²³

Description

Mills Record Company is an independent record store located at 4045 Broadway Blvd in the Westport neighborhood of Kansas City, Missouri.¹⁴ The shop describes itself as “a woman-owned, independent record store” and a “zero-judgment zone where first-time vinyl buyers and lifelong crate diggers shop side by side.”¹ It occupies a 6,000-plus-square-foot historic building.¹

The store’s core offering is vinyl records, spanning new releases, reissues, rarities, box sets, and budget bins, alongside CDs and cassettes.¹ When it opened in 2013, its defining strategy was selling new vinyl — a deliberate complement to Kansas City’s existing used-record shops — with competitive pricing on recent and catalog titles meant to compete with online retailers.³ The shop also carries music and art from local Kansas City artists.³

Mills Record Company hosts in-store events regularly, including listening parties and other community gatherings.¹ The store maintains regular retail hours: Monday through Saturday 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., and Sunday 12 p.m. to 6 p.m.¹

Ownership and history

Mills Record Company was founded by Judy Mills, who left a corporate retail career to pursue a business in recorded music.²⁵ Mills had been buying new vinyl in other cities and bringing it back to Kansas City, and conceived the store to fill that gap locally.⁵ The shop opened on May 3, 2013, originally at 314 Westport Road, next to Dave’s Stagecoach Inn, and was co-founded with Chris DeLine.³ It has since relocated to its current, larger home at 4045 Broadway Blvd, also within Westport.¹⁴

The business is consistently identified as woman-owned and locally independent, and Judy Mills remains its public-facing owner.¹²

Links

• Official site: https://millsrecordcompany.com/
• About page: https://millsrecordcompany.com/CustomPage/7591

Sources

Disputes

None at this time.

See also

• _Tier1-Non-Service-Local-Businesses

Footnotes

1. https://millsrecordcompany.com/CustomPage/7591 — asserts: woman-owned independent record store in Westport at 4045 Broadway Blvd, founded 2013; sells new vinyl (new releases, reissues, rarities, box sets, budget bins), CDs, cassettes; 6,000+ sq ft historic building; “zero-judgment zone”; hosts in-store events including listening parties; current hours. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹

2. https://www.inkansascity.com/arts-entertainment/contemporary-music/behind-the-music-judy-mills/ — asserts: Judy Mills as owner of Mills Record Company; left corporate retail to pursue recorded music. ↩ ↩² ↩³

3. https://www.thepitchkc.com/streetside-mills-record-co-arrives-in-westport-with-an-unlikely-pitch-new-vinyl/ — asserts: opened May 3, 2013 at 314 Westport Road next to Dave’s Stagecoach Inn; co-founded by Judy Mills with Chris DeLine; pitch built on selling new vinyl to complement used shops; carries CDs, cassettes, local art; competitive pricing. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

4. https://www.yelp.com/biz/mills-record-company-kansas-city — asserts: business at 4045 Broadway Blvd, Kansas City, MO 64111; listing updated May 2026 with current photos and 79 reviews (operating status confirmation). ↩ ↩²

5. https://redballoonkc.wordpress.com/2013/09/27/judy-mills-of-mills-record-company/ — asserts: Judy Mills founded the store after buying vinyl in other cities and bringing it back to Kansas City; left corporate retail. ↩ ↩²