This story originally appeared in The Stranger’s 2026 Queer Issue. It’s easy to glamorize the life of a record store owner. Just look at High Fidelity (both the original and the remake). Shooting the shit all day with your similarly music-obsessed friends while you mercilessly judge the tas tes of customers—what more could you ask for? Well, a lot, but that’s beside the point. Romanticizing the experience of vinyl—listening to it, buying it, and selling it—is easy. It invokes nostalgia for some and a way to connect to simpler times for others. “It’s a whole tactile experience. There’s something about being able to walk over to a turntable and take something out of a sleeve,” says Sacha Maxim. “It’s such a commitment that it is almost like a ritual.” Maxim is the owner of Disco Mundo, a pop-up record shop that specializes in the Afro, Indigenous, and mestizo sounds and musicians of Latin America. People crave the analog nature of records. In 2025, vinyl sales exceeded $1 billion in revenue nationally. Despite the allure of the vinyl renaissance and title of “record store owner,” Maxim started Disco Mundo for other reasons. “I realized that, for me, the thing that brings the most joy from it, other than listening to music, is connecting with people,” she says. Maxim moved to Seattle from Los Angeles when she was 8 years old. In her Venezuelan/Colombian household, music was always playing. The sounds of cumbia and salsa filled their home along with disco, new wave, and “a healthy amount of Steely Dan.” Yet, throughout her life, she struggled to find a community where her identities as a queer Latina who loved music could coexist. “My Latin identity was a more personal thing, something that really only I could express with my family,” Maxim says. “When we first moved here, the Latin community was a lot smaller and very heteronormative, so I didn’t really know how to fit in.” After graduating from Seattle University, Maxim started working as a graphic designer while playing guitar/bass in the indie-rock band Posse. In 2014, the trio garnered critical acclaim for their sophomore album, Soft Opening, yet all the band members worked nine-to-five jobs, and they had no intentions of abandoning their careers for music. Posse was just a fun side project; they released their final album in 2017. Then, in 2024, Maxim—who was working in tech as a product designer—hit a wall. “I got burnt out and had to take a mental health leave. During that time, I was like, I can’t—this isn’t me.” So she quit her job and decided to return to the thing that always brought her joy: music. “I know the folks at Spin Cycle [Records], so I started working there a couple times a week, then started doing some DJ nights,” she recounts. “I found myself giving more of myself to those interests, realizing this is what makes me really happy.” During one of her first DJ gigs at a Pride party outside Corvus Company, Maxim remembers at one point struggling with what to put on next. “I didn’t really know how to play to this crowd, and I was like, I’ll just put on this song called ‘Nadie Se Salva de la Ruma’—‘Nobody Is Safe from the Rumba,’” she says. “I didn’t think people were gonna respond to it. I was totally wrong. Everyone started dancing.” One couple gave her a $20 tip after she played the salsa classic. “When somebody can be made that happy from hearing a song—that really stuck with me.” Now she can be found DJing (as DJ piojin) monthly at Global Groove and Otherworld Wine. But her favorite part of sharing Latin music with others isn’t just playing it, but the interactions she has and connections she makes. Over the last few years, the number of Latine- and queer-focused spaces in Seattle has grown, including businesses like Bonito Café y Mercadito and Café Calaveras, and events like Sazón, a night dedicated to Latin house music, and Coffeeton, a daytime reggaeton rave. “I want to be able to connect with people in a different way, where it’s not just me playing the music, but empowering folks. ‘Oh, you love this song? You love this album? Well, now you can find it here, in your backyard.’” This, along with the frustration of not being able to easily find Latin music on vinyl, led her to launch Disco Mundo. She’d learned the ins and outs of running a record shop while working at Spin Cycle—how to grade records, how to price them, how to order through distributors. She credits shop owner Jason Grimes for giving her confidence in the vinyl world. Maxim has learned a lot in the first year, and is constantly thinking of how to grow Disco Mundo’s reach. “I started off thinking I need to get those super cool, rare albums,” she says. “Now I’m like, no, man, I want the stuff that is gonna appeal to all sorts of people. I want to meet folks who, for them, it’s their culture. It’s not the vinyl first, it’s the culture first.” This past February, Maxim went on a business trip to purchase records for Disco Mundo’s inventory. She documents the ins and outs of her experiences on Instagram: a day of crate-digging in Mexico City amid an outdoor market, where record players are set up for listening. In another post, she interviews a shop owner in Barranquilla, Colombia, who tells her the store’s name, Discos el Cofla, is derived from a childhood nickname. “By the end, it was like, these are friends of mine,” says Maxim. “We talk about music, we could talk about whatever.” Though Disco Mundo is still in its infancy—under a year old—Maxim thinks about the future, and what it could grow into. “The brick and mortar dream is less about having a storefront, and more about having a consistent space where community can come together,” she says. “I don’t like the fact that, for us, if we want to dance, we have to go to a club. It’s such a controlled environment. I want to create something more like what’s back in Colombia and other South American or Latin American countries, where you can literally be in front of a corner store with chairs outside, people hanging out, having a beer or whatever, dancing.” For now, Maxim will focus on bringing the Latin music of people’s childhoods back into their homes and introduce it to others through her DJ nights. Whether it’s pop-up markets, wine bars, or clubs, Maxim will be there to provide the music and the culture.  Disco Mundo will be at Punk Rock Flea Market June 19–21. See DJ piojin every fourth Saturday at Otherworld Wine. Got something to say? Email us at [email protected]. Want to support this journalism? You can subscribe to The Stranger and get it delivered to your actual, physical mailbox. Or you can donate here! The post Nobody Is Safe From the Rumba appeared first on The Stranger. ...read more read less