Bull Moose is an independent retailer and record store chain based in Portland, Maine, United States. The chain has operated since 1989, and has eight locations in Maine and three in New Hampshire.
Bull Moose was founded by Brett Wickard in Brunswick, Maine, in 1989, though he did not file it as a business corporation until 1995. Bull Moose was started with $37,000. Chris Brown was hired in 1991 as a clerk and later became the creator of Record Store Day and the company's Vice President.
They were covered by Bloomberg for using predictive algorithms to drive media sales.
On January 4, 2022, it was announced that Bull Moose would be sold to its 140 employees. Founder Brett Wickard stayed on as interim CEO and chair of the board during the transition. In January 2022, Bull Moose became 100% employee-owned and created an employee stock-ownership plan for its over 170 employees across its eleven stores.
In May 2022, Bull Moose named Shawn Nichols as its new president and CEO, with Wickard remaining on as chairman.
In December 2022, it was announced that Bull Moose's Sanford, Maine, location would be closing after 25 years and that a new location would be opened in Biddeford, Maine. The new store opened in early 2023. The stores in Portsmouth and Salem, New Hampshire, also closed and relocated, replaced with new locations in Newington and Plaistow.
In 2007, when Brown was head of Bull Moose marketing, an email chain with Michael Kurtz, head of the Department of Record Stores, sparked the idea for Record Store Day. Each year, the co-founders at the Department of Record Stores collaborate with multiple artists for exclusive releases made especially for Record Store Day. The releases for 2017 included works from David Bowie, Prince and St. Vincent. The Department of Record Stores keeps a list of participating independent record stores.
The Bull Moose Facebook account posted an image of a LEGO Fire Walk they created at the store in South Portland, Maine, to promote sales of The LEGO Movie on June 19, 2014. It was shared by Star Trek actor George Takei and subsequently went viral. It was also covered by local news.
Bull Moose is locally known for their in-store music events with musicians like The Decemberists, Mumford and Sons and Wilco.
Bull Moose has hosted the following artists: