The store was opened by Dare Jennings, in partnership with former White Light Records staff Lee Taylor and John Foy.
It began with ex-White Light stock and was fronted by a large window, emblazoned with the slogan "Phantom Records – The Big Beat in the Heart of the Vinyl Jungle".
Foy eventually left Phantom to join Red Eye Records, where he established his own independent label of the same name.
Record covers from the label's releases often featured artwork by local artists such as Libby Blainey, John Foy, Paul Worstead, and Gerard Rouen.
In 1987 Normington renewed his interest in the label, with releases by The Hummingbirds, The Sparklers, The Deadly Hume, The Mark of Cain, Even As We Speak and Vanilla Chainsaws.
In the late 1980s, Normington formed a small new label called Messiah Complex devoted to "crushing and fierce garage-punk and grunge 45's only", which released records by Big Chief, Superchunk, Mudrac, Sugar Shack, and Sydney punk band Downtime.