Last Vestige to change hands

PHOTOGRAPHER: Tatiana Zarnowski

Brittany Nasser got a job at Last Vestige Music Shop six years ago after she always seemed to be there, browsing or helping out.

Now Nasser, 24, who worked her way up to store manager, hopes to buy the store, which sells secondhand CDs, vinyl records and cassette tapes.

Owner Jim Furlong wants to consolidate his business to owning just the 20-year-old Last Vestige on Quail Street in Albany.

“He’s still making money and he’s still doing well,” Nasser said.

The Saratoga Springs store has been open for 11 years.

She hopes that the legal work gets completed sometime between the end of January and the end of April so she can take over his lease.

“I’m nervous, but I can’t let that hit me,” she said.

Nasser, a Ballston Spa native, dropped out of high school and worked at a day care center before starting to work at Last Vestige.

After announcing her intention to buy the store, Nasser held a fundraiser Dec. 19 with multiple bands to raise money for her business venture.

She said 200 people plus all of the band members attended, a turnout that she believes will allow her to buy the business.

“It’s looking like everybody’s super-supportive of my cause,” Nasser said.

She said local people want to see the secondhand music store stay in business because of its varied selection and homey feel.

“It helps make the town seem like a little more than just a track town,” she said.

Nasser, who now lives in Saratoga Springs, said she spends just about every day at the store.

As the owner, she plans to continue stocking all genres of music and doing special orders for customers who want something she doesn’t have in stock, as well as listing items on the Internet and doing a mail order business for people outside of the area.

But the physical store will still be the priority.

“I would prefer to keep it more as a storefront rather than an Internet-based business,” Nasser said.