Photo by Maryland Route 5

Red Onion Records & Books is staying in business after all, though expect the word “& Books” part of its name to be dropped pretty soon.

In a Facebook post, owner Josh Harkavy announced that he is reversing the decision he made in June to shutter his six-year-old shop at 1901 18th Street NW. At the time, he told Washington City Paper he was just tired of it all.

But Harkavy’s had a change of heart since. In his Facebook post today, he wrote that Red Onion isn’t quite finished yet, but he is going to shake it up a little:

Hello everybody, remember that Facebook post/City Paper article from a couple of months ago? The one where we announced that we’ll be closing the store… Well, it looks like we’re going to give this another try. People seemed really bummed that we were going out of business, and I’ve been doing some deep thinking. Staying in this space seems like the right thing to do for now. We will close for a little bit while we do some renovations to the space and mix things up a little bit. In the meantime, WE ARE OPEN FOR BUSINESS and have been putting out some killer records lately, so come on in and say hello.

Among the changes will be dropping books from Red Onion’s wares, Harkavy says in a phone interview. Instead, the store will focus on records and CDs.

“It’s too much to devote to both things,” he says.

But there might be some other items in the offing, too. Harkavy says he’s got a collection of kitschy artifacts from the 1960s and ’70s he might want to unload.

The store will be closed for a little while, but only to spruce up the joint with a fresh coat of paint and maybe some different pictures hanging from the walls.

As for the change of plans, Harkavy says in the end, he couldn’t walk away from the store. Though business was decent and the rent was cheap—$1,675 a month on a block wedged between Dupont Circle and Adams Morgan—the 35-year-old Hyattsville resident initially said he was ready to quit the shop.

“I realized I have a good thing going here,” Harkavy says. “If I can make some adjustments I should try to give it one more shot. This is where I am. I feel like I’m not quite done.”

And those killer records are on the way, also. “We just picked up a really nice jazz collection,” Harkavy says. “Great punk stuff, too.”