Stan Stack, the owner of the Headstand has owned El Paso’s “rock and roll department store” for almost 40 years. A man with the brains, determination and guts to own and run a business that eclectic in Texas, in a successful fashion, is a rare breed indeed. Stack’s interests are far more varied than simply running a business, no matter how eclectic. A “walk the walk” environmentalist, Stack is member of a number of local conservationist groups. Stack is also a world traveler, an air force retiree and has imported more music from more places than anyone in El Paso’s history. Stack is truly a Renaissance Man: a man determined to leave the world a better place than he entered it. He was gracious enough to spend some time with this Fusion correspondent and I want to say this was the rare interview where the person being interviewed gave rehearsed, canned answers designed to enhance a career. The act of interviewing Stack made me a more thoughtful, reflective person and I would like to take this opportunity to thank him for it.
How did the Headstand come about?
I got out of the Air Force in 1973 and started driving around the country in a VW van, starting near the Canadian border. My brother was here in El Paso and after a few months of driving around visiting friends and family I ended up in El Paso visiting my brother. I decided to go back to school. An opportunity came up to pick up some really unique merchandise and with my $600.00 in life savings at the time I bought it and found our first location. It was $60.00 a month, no water, no gas. It was cold at times so I kept it open, you know daylight hours. My friends told their friends and pretty soon we were doing OK. It’s been that way pretty much ever since. We had some tough spots, but we got through them. We advertise but people found something they liked, they enjoyed the time they spent here and more people came. That’s why we survived. We were lucky. We are the American dream.
So the initial development was sort of organic and when the idea was proven to have legs it was hard work and determination that proved to be the key ingredients?
I think so. Luck, too. (laughs) My wife was so important to our success, she paid the rent and I was there from about 9am to 9pm. It took about three years for us to become really solvent, and we moved three times, all in the same neighborhood. This is I think our fourth location. Yeah. So each of those was the result of good choices, made with the advice of good people, going and looking at places, bringing someone with me…It was luck…amazed me.
It is amazing to hear about the origins of a business that has influenced so many people, so deeply.
Thank you, thanks. Early on it was a small number of customers and I was aware of how close we were with them. As it’s grown I’ve become less aware of that, regrettably, but someone has to order purchase, you know. I do keep working as many hours as I can because it is important for me to have contact with people and to meet new people. I think it benefits the business that our customers have a really good experience here. I have been really fortunate to find really special people to work with the customers because someone has to find the stuff.
Where do you look for merchandise, there are so many things that are special…one offs that are not mass produced?
Friends from 20, 30 years ago will call me, email me and let me know they have some things I might want. I also look for things at close outs, things that will help me keep the price down. I also travel looking at business around the country, trying to find stuff that I think people in El Paso would want. Sometimes the hottest thing in Japan will not work here. Even places like Dallas or Austin, sometimes things from that close won’t necessarily work here.
That balance…it’s good that you have wise council and the common sense to listen to it.
Well, we are still able to keep our customers happy, you know if people know what they want I can order it. If they don’t let me know I have to guess. We’ve changed over the years, added jewelry, evolved in other ways. We’ve always had music. The one common denominator. At first it was primarily imports: we had imported heavy metal, punk stuff that was hard to find on this side of the Atlantic anyway. We came to view ourselves as a ‘rock and roll department store,’ not just a record store. We are not a clothing store…we try to provide things that are part of the lifestyle for people who really like music and to me that is a large circle of things, an infinite amount of stuff. I listen and look and I read and I watch. I don’t go to shows hardly at all anymore. My tastes have changed. We try to get people what they want. I’ve found that I try not to get too far ahead of the curve.
If you get too far ahead of the curve nobody wants it, kinda deal?
Yeah.
What kind of music do you like personally, movies you like, what has formulated your personal aesthetic?
Those are the questions people like to ask people (laughs). I have a hard time with them. I don’t watch much TV. Let’s see, in my truck right now I have a set of CDs on the ethics and works of Aristotle. I like to listen to college lectures, I enjoy Americana, I like Americana as country, soft rock, hillbilly music or any of the many versions it takes on. I really like some of the Texas storytellers, you know Robert Earl Keene, Bill Reilly Hubbard, Ely, you know. Tom Russell, he’s here in town, one of the biggest names in that world. I like a lot of electronic; I like jazz and blues tremendously. Discovering jazz and blues was like going through a special door…I was in Shereveport, Louisiana when I discovered the blues. I heard Muddy Waters, and I was like, “who is that?” I also love what I guess you’d call roots music. I mean I love the Stones…can’t do without that. New bands I have a hard time finding stuff that jumps out at me. One of the hard things about living a long time is you start to compare things. Things can start to become repetitive. I like to know what is going on in our world so I listen to the news. I also try to catch some classical programming, jazz programming.
What are some of your local interests?
I am fascinated with plants. I have over one hundred and twenty species of plants in my yard. I am a twenty year member of the native plant society. I love the mountain air, I’m outside every day. The only thing that I feel as close to nature are the people I love. I find it amazing to be outdoors, inside, in that artificial environment we’ve created for ourselves. (we are talking outside the Headstand, which is in the foothills of the Franklin Mountains) Nothing better than this.
You are a member of which organizations here?
Let’s see, The El Paso Native Plant Society, The El Paso Plant Society and The Franklin Mountain Wilderness Coalition.
Stan, how do you feel about long time customers bringing their kids into the store?
You hope to leave something good…THAT is really cool.
The Headstand
4409 Dyer Street
El Paso, Texas 79930
(915)566-1561
TEXT: RAY SNIDER