LINCOLN SQUARE — Laurie’s Planet of Sound’s decades-old neon sign in its front window did not survive this year’s St. Patrick’s Day revelry.
“Someone came in the store and they were, at the very least very inebriated. I’m not a doctor so I can’t tell you if anything else was going on,” said Tom Morrison, an employee at Laurie’s who was working on St. Patrick’s Day Sunday.
“And they crashed into our neon sign. They tried to straighten themselves out but ended up breaking more of it.”
The store dubbed the bearded man “Harry McDrunkbeard” in a Facebook post.
After the neon sign debacle, employees called police and “Harry” was taken to an area hospital, according to the post.
“…We were told to contact our insurance company. Apparently, ol’ Harry won’t have to pay us a dime, since it was an accident,” an employee wrote.
The neon sign has been hanging in the window at Laurie’s, 4639 N. Lincoln Ave., for the past 20 years, Morrison said.
“It’s a neon sign and most all neon signs are custom made. We’re in the process of getting that replaced, which is not the cheapest thing in the world,” Morrison said.
The neon sign was also destroyed just as the store is in the process of buying stock for Record Store Day this month, which doesn’t help matters.
“The best way to help us get our sign up and running again is for people to shop at the store,” Morrison said.
To that end, the store is encouraging its fans to shop local and swing by on Record Store Day April 13 from 9 a.m.-9 p.m.
“It’s going to be great. We’re going to have certain releases available that day, we’ve ordered a whole bunch,” Morrison said. “And we’ll also have DJs and live music.”
For the latest updates on what Laurie’s has planned for Records Store Day, check out their Facebook page.
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