Suburban Home, sweet home
by Tuyet Nguyen
The Metropolitan
Heather Dunsmoor is gushing. She's sitting at the Suburban Home office; a pile of women's panties are stacked on her desk. The undergarments, in various colors, are all screened with the words "The only bush I trust." 
(Matthew Jonas / The Metropolitan)
Virgil Dickerson sits among boxes and boxes of CDs and records at the Suburban Home warehouse.
"I love it," she says. "I never want to leave. I'm never going to make that mistake again."
The 27-year-old has learned her lesson. After a brief and unhappy stint in retail, she's returned to her former employer, local record label and distribution company Suburban Home.
And she couldn't be more enthused.
"I quit (Suburban Home) to go be a big corporate whore at Urban Outfitters," she said, "which lasted two months because I hated it more than life itself."
Things are moving forward, and not just for Dunsmoor. Suburban Home is quickly approaching the nine-year mark and business seems busier than ever.
This particular week, the 10-person staff is not only filling the usual mail orders, but is preparing for a huge two-day anniversary celebration-a weekend-long "Punk Rock Garage Sale"-and is even uprooting the entire office to a new location.
The current office is less of an office and more of a one-room warehouse with a few desks, a couple of rickety chairs and some computers. Huge shelves overflowing with boxes of CDs and records take up a lot of the space. Posters plaster much of the walls and most of the desks are scattered with papers, markers and tape.
"It's not always this messy," explained Virgil Dickerson, who founded Suburban Home after self-publishing a 'zine by the same name.
He blames it on the moving, but admits that there're always tons of boxes laying around.
Dickerson doesn't seem too bothered by the mess, nor does he seem too overwhelmed by the hectic demands of running a small business. Like the rest of the staff, he is brimming with an irreplaceable self-satisfaction and an overall attitude of permanence. 
"It never dawned on me that I could make a living (off of this)," Dickerson continued. "In a lot of ways it's been a dream come true."
With an endless list of localized projects, the staff is thrilled to give back to the community that has supported them through the years. As a staple in the scene, they wouldn't have it any other way.
"You go home and you feel okay about yourself," Dunsmoor said. "And you may be broke, you can't afford dinner, but you feel good anyway."
Suburban Home 9th Anniversary! Thursday, Sept. 23 at Rock Island, 1614 15th St. and Friday, Sept. 24 at the Ogden Theater, 935 E. Colfax Ave. See club dates for complete listing of bands. More info at suburbanhomerecords.com |
