(BCN) -- Fans of Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, the Beatles, early rock, jazz, gospel and bluegrass can breathe a sigh of relief - a 48-year-old El Cerrito music store now expects to be able to buy the building where it is housed. Down Home Music shares a building with two other nonprofits focused on American roots music, Les Blank Films and The Arhoolie Foundation. The building went up for sale in October and the three nonprofits feared they might lose the space they've occupied for so long. The exterior of the building housing Down Home Music, a nearly 50-year-old El Cerrito music store, is shown in this photo taken Jan. 4, 2025. (Janis Mara/Bay City News)Hotel giant to open in Walnut Creek as more businesses set to move into East Bay suburb this year Happily, "We've got great news," Harrod Blank, the president of the film company founded by his late father in the 1970s, announced on the group's GoFundMe page. "We are under contract for the building and we've given them the 10% earnest money they required." While Blank and his fellow nonprofits still have to come up with about $2.4 million, according to Blank, they are optimistic they will be able to do so. The property is owned by a trust consisting of Arhoolie Records founder Chris Strachwitz's heirs, and negotiations have gone well, said John McCord, who co-manages the store with J.C. Garrett. The late Strachwitz is a musical figure of local and national significance, according to the president of the El Cerrito Historical Society. "From the mid-1970s, Strachwitz ran Arhoolie Records, which he founded in 1960, from this building," said David Weinstein, a music lover who also helms the historical society. "Strachwitz rediscovered long-lost, now-classic 78 rpm records, and recorded musicians at locales including St. Mark's Hall in Richmond," and elsewhere in the U.S., Weinstein said. "He produced a catalog so historically important it is now owned by the Smithsonian Institution and distributed by Smithsonian Folkways," said Weinstein. Down Home functions not only as a record store but a community center of sorts for music aficionados. Over the decades, artists including Johnny Otis and Peter Rowan have performed there. "We have a stage and have had all kinds of people playing. Taj Mahal dropped by and jammed at one of our parties in July," said McCord. Did you know there’s an emotional support phone line for older adults? Down Home Music co-manager John McCord (left) is photographed along with customer Tyson Fechter (right) as Fechter purchases a vinyl album at El Cerrito music store Down Home Music Jan. 4, 2025. (Janis Mara/Bay City News) "We have plans for more live events, and Harrod as a filmmaker wants to show more movies," said McCord. The business identifies itself as located in El Cerrito, but under the vicissitudes of the city's borders, the store itself is in the city of Richmond; the sidewalk is in El Cerrito. While the norm these days might be to stream music from Spotify or Apple, or cruise the Amazon site for records and CDs, El Cerrito resident Tyson Fechter said he prefers visiting the store and browsing the bins filled with albums. "It's a way to come across things I wasn't expecting to find," said Fechter as he waited in line to purchase "Country Moog," a classic synth vinyl record album by Gil Trythall, an American electronic music pioneer. "When I'm looking for something, on the way I can discover, not new music, but music that's new to me," said Fechter, who has been shopping at Down Home for 11 years. "Looking through bins of records is fun for me," said Mike Freeman, another El Cerrito resident. "Down Home is a more pleasant place to do it than many stores because they don't get too crowded and the music playing in the store is usually good and not too loud. The workers at the store are nice and helpful." Ray Bruman drives in from Berkeley to browse the store's wares. "It's a treasure," he said.