Vinyl specialist Marv’s Music has moved out of its East Village location following its final Record Store Day, but the Sixth Avenue storefront won’t stay vacant.
A growing pop-up market known as DSM Flea is moving into the 1,200-square-foot store at 506 E Sixth St. And Luke Dickens, owner of Marv’s, said the Des Moines metro won’t be short on record inventory, despite the closure.
Dickens also owns Vinyl Cup Records, which tripled in size when it moved to the former Back Country storefront on Beaver Avenue in downtown Beaverdale in the middle of 2025 from a space above GoodSons Food & Spirits. It now has nearly 15,000 records to pick from, he said.
Marv’s once represented the new-record end of the business., with Vinyl Cup gravitating toward used-disc resale, But as more inventory filled Vinyl Cup’s new 4,300-square-foot home after its , its new-record inventory grew and Marv’s took a hit, Dickens said.
“Marv’s doesn’t serve the purpose it once did,” he told the Des Moines Register. “You can get every record at Marv’s at Vinyl Cup. It just felt like it made more sense to move the team that specializes in new vinyl here so it’s not an 80-20% operation. It’s 100%.”
When the owners of DSM Flea announced they were moving out of a pop-up space at 1201 Keosauqua Way, Dickens said, he immediately messaged them about moving into the Marv’s storefront.
“They have an energy and enthusiasm I just can’t offer that location anymore that I feel the neighborhood needs in a business,” he said.
What is DSM Flea?
Before its Monday, April 20, move to the former Marv’s space, DSM Flea was a monthly pop-up market at Val Air Ballroom in West Des Moines and had only recently opened the Keo Way pop-up, beginning in the 2025 holiday season.
DSM Flea co-owners Boey Lu and Phoenix Lee originally opened in an East Village storefront in 2018, specializing in vintage items. But DSM Flea only leased the space for a month. In June 2024, Lu and Lee opened a broader pop-up concept, the monthly flea market, at the Surety Hotel downtown. That evolved into the monthly market at the Val Air, with more than 50 small vendors selling products ranging from clothing to art and records.
The move to the Marv’s space represents their first long-term lease.
“For us to be able to come full circle and be here again, I think, is like a nod to our old selves,” Lu said of the new Sixth Street store.
What is DSM Flea’s new spin on former Marv’s Music store?
The monthly market at the Val Air will continue, Lu and Lee said. But Lu said the East Village store, open on a more regular schedule, will give them the opportunity to expand their concept still further.
“People will look at DSM Flea and think it started as a flea market, but the end goal has always been a third space,” he said. “We have always had the dream of having a store, but that vision of just a store has changed.”
There will be seating available for people to hang out or work, and the two owners plan to partner with local coffee shops to offer beverages.
“The idea (is) of a daily place you can come through, you don’t have to buy anything, you can just hang out,” Lee said.
For those who do want to shop, DSM Flea will follow in the footsteps of Marv’s Music, selling records as well as CDs and VHS tapes in addition to vintage clothes, book and magazines. The Sixth Street storefront also will host small musical performances, art gallery shows and other community events.
“We can be the pregame before you go out to the rest of the bars,” Lee said.
DSM Flea will start moving into the storefront Monday, April 20, with a grand opening set for May 1.
Kate Kealey is the growth and development reporter for the Register. Reach her at kkealey@registermedia.com or follow her on X at @Kkealey17.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: As record store moves out of East Village space, flea market moves in
Reporting by Kate Kealey, Des Moines Register / Des Moines Register
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