ORLANDO, Florida – In 1971, when parts of Orange Avenue were still surrounded by orange groves, a young couple from Los Angeles moved to Florida and decided to open a record store.

Everyone seemed to think they were crazy, even the company representatives who sold them their records. “They thought we were going to quit in about six months,” said Hanna Skrobko. “What a surprise.”

More than five decades later, Skrobko is saying goodbye to the store she owned with her late husband and which she said became a hotspot for fans of records and independent music.

“We managed it because we were too conceited to understand that it really wasn’t possible,” she said.

East West Records, which says it is the oldest independent record store in Florida, will close at the end of the month, closing its store at 4895 S. Orange Ave.

A sale was held this past weekend and the company will donate its sign, a giant white square with the red and white East West Records logo, to the Orange County Regional History Center.

Skrobko and her husband Roman, who died last year, owned the store until 2018, when they sold it to current owner Bobby Serros. Serros, who grew up in the area and shopped at the store as a child, then turned the business over to his daughter Emma.

Emma Serros said she loved the store as a child, long before her father gave it to her.

“I got my first record player when I was 11 or 12,” she says. “I would buy records at Barnes & Noble because it was near our house, and my dad was like, ‘No, I’m taking you to a real record store,’ so he took me to East West and I’ve been coming here ever since.”

The store is called East West Records, Skrobko said, after an album by the Butterfield Blues Band that she said was a good fit both because of its catchy sound and because it was meant to represent her cross-country move.

Hundreds of records were displayed in wooden crates, and cassettes, CDs and DVDs were also available for purchase. A web of colorful lights and records dangling from the ceiling danced above them while store employees played music that alternated between classical and contemporary, showcasing tunes from decades and genres.

When Emma Serros took over in August 2018, the Skrobkos had only one request: that the store stay open until 2021 so it could celebrate its 50th anniversary. That date is now behind them.

Skrobko said Serros did a “great job” of running the store and helped it end on a good note.

“The very first and the last ten years were the best, they were peaks of greatness,” Skrobko said.

After six years of managing East West Records, Serros has decided to focus on her education and is studying radiology at the University of Central Florida.

However, she said she would miss the store’s regular customers who would stop by to check out the new arrivals or simply browse the stalls for hidden treasures they might have missed.

“I had to call a few customers and tell them, ‘You won’t hear from me again, don’t be upset if you can’t call the number anymore, but I’m fine and this is my cell number,’ so I can stay in touch with them,” she said. “I’m really going to miss a lot of my customers.”

David Porter, an Orlando resident and East West Records customer since 1974, said stopping by the store has long been a routine for him.

“I call it a drive-by,” Porter said. “It’s nice because there’s a little bin of new arrivals, and when people bring albums to swap, they put them right there,” he said. “If I don’t have much time, I run out and see what they just got. It’s like a little ritual.”

Running the store was never easy, says Skrobko, but creating a place for vinyl music lovers was worth it.

“The music and the friendships, all my friends have come from the store. Long, lasting friendships,” she said. “There’s a lot of love here.”