
Any Sebastopudlian who attends Head West in the Barlow has probably heard loud music emanating from one booth in particular. That would be the BataBoomBox booth, run by local retiree Tom Bayless and his CFO/daughter, Blair. Theirs is the booth—most often located at the far west end of the market—filled with boomboxes made out of suitcases and any number of other retro cases. The two have fun running the weekend business together at various local fairs and venues, the Barlow being their favorite.
Tom worked in the booming Bay Area telecom industry for several decades before retiring in 2014. Six years ago Blair happened upon a boombox fashioned out of a suitcase on a website and forwarded the link to him.
“Look at this,” she said. “You ought to build us one of these.”
Soon after that, while accompanying his wife, Wendy, on their regular flea market expeditions, Tom began to take an interest in cool old suitcases. And buy them. He already knew how to wire speakers from his time in the telecom industry, and he’d been into music and sound systems since he was a teenager in the ’70s, so building boomboxes came naturally to him.
His first customer was a friend, Scott, who bought one for his daughter, Lonnie. Lonnie now uses it to teach ballet to kids in her Los Angeles dance studio. Scott now also owns three boomboxes of his own, incidentally, and can usually be found hanging out at the BataBoomBox stall at Head West.
While Tom continues to build the boomboxes in his outer Sebastpol garage workshop, attending fairs is a team effort between him and Blair. The two have attended most of the Head West events at the Barlow, starting with the first one. They have also attended Treasure Fests on Treasure Island, a highly successful event attracting 10,000 people per weekend.
For a while Tom also sold his wares via an ETSY store, but most of his customers were on the East Coast, and the elaborate boxing and shipping process became onerous. He now focuses on face-to-face sales, which are the simplest and most satisfying.
The boomboxes, which retail for $300-$600 each, contain bluetooth stereo speakers and 100-watt amps. Each has three rechargeable lithium batteries that are protected against overcharging and come with a charging cable. An auxiliary outlet allows a TV, radio or turntable to be plugged in. Some guitarists use the boxes as portable amps, and some customers use them for karaoke. During Covid, Blair used one as a PA system in her classroom so she could talk to her students for hours quietly without straining her vocal cords.
What makes the boomboxes distinctly unique and eye-catching, however, is their cases. Most are made out of vintage/retro suitcases, but Tom increasingly makes them out of old tool boxes, ice chests, musical instrument cases, hat boxes, makeup cases, roller skate cases, barbie doll cases—even an antique radio cabinet or the odd ammo box. The kicker—if the roller skate case contains a set of vintage roller skates, the skates are included, free of charge, in the purchase. The same has happened with a Barbie doll, a clarinet, a violin and other vintage items, much to the delight of customers.
The boomboxes can also be “daisy chained” together, as Tom says. In fact, he does just that at fairs, linking five boomboxes together at once to showcase their sound capabilities. In addition, they are perfect for camping trips. A 40- to 50-hour battery life means they can last a whole week in the outdoors before requiring recharging. Tom uses different speakers—usually Klipsch or Polk brand—on different boxes.
Sales have always been brisk, and because of that Tom always tries to have 30 units on hand at any event he attends. When he sells “too many” on any given day, he gets nervous.
“Then I have to make more, fast,” he says.
Early on, Tom made a boombox for each of his nieces and nephews. At the annual family Christmas gathering, he programmed each box with that kid’s favorite music, and when it came time to open presents, he turned the music on, allowing each kid to pick the correct package before they opened it. Not surprisingly, the gifts were a hit.
Does he ever miss any of the one-of-a-kind items he sells?
“All the time!” he says.
Tom’s strangest boombox story: He once received a request from the CEO of the Igloo company to make him a boombox out of an Igloo cooler, which Tom did, using waterproof speakers. That unit now sits in the CEO’s conference room.
Though Head West recently parted ways with the Barlow, a new street fair known as The Trade is due to debut in the Barlow on March 17, and BataBoomBox plans to attend. In addition, the Treasure Fest fair on Treasure Island is re-opening on April 27-28, and Tom and Blair plan to be there, too. They have also at times attended Head West events at the Ferry Building and in Hayes Valley, at 4th Street in Berkeley and in Alameda.
The easiest way to track BataBoomBox and its upcoming appearances is to follow it on Instagram at instagram.com/bataboombox, or at www.facebook.com/bataboombox.