Operation: Fandom & Blackbird Records celebrates grand re-opening in downtown Mansfield
Want to see toys and more from your childhood or peruse used or new old stock vinyl records?
A shop in downtown Mansfield offers everything from vintage Cleveland Browns jerseys to "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles," Indiana Jones" posters to new and used vinyl.
Community leaders gathered Friday for the grand re-opening of Operation: Fandom and Blackbird Records at 36 W. Fourth St.
Richland Area Chamber of Commerce & Economic Development members cut the ribbon outside the shop, where people reminisced about toys including action figures and other items that line the shelves inside.
In addition to toys, collectibles, movie merchandise and autographs, the shop in the historic Carrousel District has turntables, CDs and cassettes.
Operation: Fandom, launched in 2018, specializes in toys, collectibles and pop-culture merchandise. The shop recently moved to the expanded site from its location a block away at 31 E. Fourth St.
New and expanded record collection added to shop
Owner Josh Lehman, standing amidst his shop filled with iconic film posters and photographs, recently purchased a 10,000-record collection from the Mansfield Memorial Museum, which former curator Scott Schaut had saved and stored in a back room in the Frank P. Lahm Aviation Museum.
The Mansfield Memorial Museum was home to the massive music collection from defunct WCLW Radio, which operated on McPherson Street from 1957 to 1987. The station, which had been operated by Mansfield Broadcasting Co., became Mansfield's first AM-FM station in 1962. The historic museum at 34 Park Avenue West is transitioning to an all-military museum and is temporarily closed.
More: WCLW Radio music collection saved at Mansfield Memorial Museum
New records at the shop are available as well as the used records, the latter which cost roughly $6 or $10. Rare records could go for $50 or more.
Lehman said the shop features toys for kids of all ages.
Lehman previously told the News Journal he has always been into collectibles with his father and they had a store and did a show on the sports side of things in the 1990s. "And it just kind of transitioned into one-of-a-kind movie, political, just anything that was really unique," he said.
Lehman and his dad created an eBay business, shipping items all over the world.
"After doing that for several years, we said that's fun. I get to see it and ship it out to someone and no one else gets to enjoy it after that, so we decided we'd like to have a retail business where everyone can come in and see it," Lehman said.
Before starting Operation: Fandom, Lehman managed Lehman's Hardware in Kidron for nine years.
The hardware store, initially intended for the Amish community, has a worldwide following and provides nonelectric tools and homesteading supplies.
Lehman and his wife, Beth, and children moved to Mansfield this past August. They operate similar stores in Wooster and Medina.
The newly expanded site will allow for more guest appearances and is always popular in April on National Record Day.
Lehman's mother-in-law, known as Mimi to customers, said customers come for the vintage collectibles from their childhood but many kids who buy are going to open the boxes and play with them.
"A person who buys a vintage Cleveland Browns jersey here is going to want to wear it," she said.
The store buys and sells toys, new and retro, plus collectibles, gaming, cards, pop culture and nostalgia.
To contact them, call 567-247-6004. Hours of operation are Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Fridays, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.; and Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
419-521-7223
X (formerly Twitter): @LWhitmir
This article originally appeared on Mansfield News Journal: Operation: Fandom & Blackbird Records specializes in vintage toys
