Surveillance video captures pipes bursting at Chicago record store

CHICAGO - As temperatures plummeted over the holiday weekend, many residents and business owners were forced to deal with bursting pipes and the damage that followed. 

It’s what’s temporarily quieted the music at Bric-a-Brac Records & Collectibles, a popular record store in Avondale.  

Surveillance video captured the horror that began late Christmas Eve into Christmas morning when four pipes burst and sent water pouring into the shop. The video shows the moment the pipes gave way, and eventually, the ceiling caved in.  

Over the weekend, a passerby reached out to Bric-a-Brac Records on Facebook, notifying them that the fire department was making entry into their store. 

One of the store’s owners, Nick Mayor, was in Alabama with family for the holidays when he saw the message.

"I got a message to our Facebook page from someone who just happened to be walking by," said Mayor.

Mayor’s wife was in Chicago and hurried to their business while Mayor cut his trip short and returned home.

"The damage is pretty extensive," said Mayor.

Bric-a-Brac Records & Collectibles has been in business for nearly 10 years, but Mayor was just days away from celebrating the one-year anniversary of moving his store to the corner of Milwaukee and Dawson in Avondale.

By the time the water was shut off on Sunday, it had already been coming down for several hours.

During the ordeal, more than 3,000 curated albums, vintage toys and other collectibles were ruined – totaling to tens of thousands of dollars.

"It's a lot of 80s and 90s. He-Man, Ghostbusters, Troll [dolls], Care Bears," said Mayor.

While Mayor said most of the records will still play, it’s the album sleeves, inserts, and artwork that are most valuable. 

"We had three concentrated bins of all of our new arrivals and our soundtrack section, boutique, limited edition, mostly horror movie soundtracks, and they just got pummeled. Pulp floating around from the sleeves, from how hard the water was on it for 10-12 hours," said Mayor. "Even new records that were in the shrink wrap are still in the shrink wrap but the sleeve is just disintegrated around the record."

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Mayor is in contact with his insurance company and has already started to make repairs.  

One of his biggest challenges will be restocking. To help speed up that process, he is asking for the community’s help.

If you have any albums or collectibles you'd like to sell, Mayor asks that you bring them by his neighboring business, The Brewed Coffee, and he’d be happy to look at them. The coffee shop is open weekdays from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. and on weekends from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m.

He is also planning a tee-shirt fundraiser in collaboration with local artist, Ryan Duggan. Mayor tells FOX 32 Chicago that the shirts will be available for pre-order beginning on Thursday, Dec. 29. 

Meanwhile, Rick Kuhn – president of RJ Kuhn, Inc., which specializes in plumbing, heating, and cooling – says they've been flooded with similar calls.

"One of the main things you want to know is where your water shutoff is at. If in fact you do have a problem, ‘my faucet is not working, my something’s not working,’ know where your shutoff is because when the water thaws out you might have that problem of flooding right away," said Kuhn.

In addition to leaving a trickle of water running, he offers this advice: 

"Don’t use a blow torch, hair dryers are fine, opening cabinets and letting the heat from your environment get into these places can help. If you’ve got a bathroom over the top of a garage, make sure your garage door stays shut," said Kuhn.