San Marcos lost an icon last August when Bobby Barnard, the legendary owner of Sundance Records, died unexpectedly. Since Barnard and his wife, Nancy, opened the store in September 1977, it had been a much-loved staple to generations of San Marcans.
Though the Barnards officially retired Sundance in 2012, the news of Bobby’s passing sparked the embers of nostalgia that would slowly grow into the record store’s rebirth.
Thomas Escalante, who owns Sig’s Lagoon, a record store in Houston, got his start in the business under Barnard’s wing back in the early 90s. When Barnard closed up shop in 2012, he divided most of his inventory between Escalante’s shop in Houston and Groover’s Paradise, an Austin record store owned by another former Sundance employee, Greg Ellis. What didn’t wind up in those stores went into storage.
