HISTORY

A little background:

Lunchbox Records was started as a label to focus on the Atlanta punk scene in 1990. We were hoping to emulate the kind of label that represented a singular scene in the way that a label like Dischord does. For a while I guess it was like that around 1995. The label was originally started by Christopher Foley and a couple of guys who then passed it on to my brother, Steve Wishart. When he took it over in 1991 it was him and Doug Ahern running things, but eventually Doug moved to Athens and it just became Steve. I helped with ads and artwork. A bunch of records got put out, bands toured, and it was loads of fun. By 1997 Steve had moved to Philly, I had moved to South Carolina and things slowed down quite a bit. After the Fields Lay Fallow LP it pretty much stopped. There was talk of Car Vs. Driver and Scout discography cds, but until Gavin at Stickfigure stepped in to help do the CVD one, it wasn't going anywhere.

After college, I got a job at a record store (Manifest) and continued working there for a long while and played in bands all that time. I worked for Manifest for 8 years. I was the manager of the Charlotte store for 3 years. In March of 2004 the store was bought by a company called Value Music Concepts. This company owned over 60 stores most of which were in outlet malls. Myself and these folks didn't really see eye to eye on anything. A little stubbornness on both ends. After a year and a half I couldn't take it anymore. I couldn't sleep. I was getting ulcers. I dreaded every day of work and what I would have to deal with and the petty micromanaging. It was making me miserable so I had to change something. The money wasn't worth the stress.

So anyway, I had enough and started my own store because I feel that Charlotte deserves better. I needed a name and thought it would be a good time to dust off Lunchbox since a few people still remembered it and I already had logos designed. With the help of some friends we opened the store on the day after Thanksgiving 2005. Not really a great day to open, but we made it out alright.

I have been buying records, playing and booking shows since I was 15, helped run the record label, and have been to hundreds of record stores. I've tried to take the best aspects of each store I've been to and combine them into something unique, uncluttered, and cheap.

In 2007 I got the itch to start putting out records again since like Atlanta in the early '90s, Charlotte has some great bands that routinely get overlooked. While we aren't going for that singular scene thing anymore, I guess you could say it's still focused in the south. Anyway, we're still having fun and despite having to work way more, I have a lot less stress now.

In 2016 we moved half a mile down the street to our current location which is three times the size of the original.

-Scott