VINYL LIVES: Original Vinyl Records of Warwick, NY Keeps It Stocked With Old & New

Everyone has a favorite record store. When you walk in you know who is behind the counter, you know which bin is going to have your favorite records, and you know when they stock the new records. Record stores have been a staple in the music industry for years and have had the most turbulent journey in the business.

When vinyl started to be sold in some of the largest retailers in the world (Target, Wal-Mart, Barnes & Nobles, etc.) they were bought in bulk and sold for cheap, and independent record stores took a massive hit in revenue. Yet, they have survived that. When digital downloads engulfed the music industry and iTunes was everyone’s first choice, brick-and-mortar stores never gave up. All their dedication and loyalty to the vinyl industry are now paying off in a big way.

When vinyl started to be sold in some of the largest retailers in the world (Target, Wal-Mart, Barnes & Nobles, etc.) they were bought in bulk and sold for cheap, and independent record stores took a massive hit in revenue. Yet, they have survived that. When digital downloads engulfed the music industry and iTunes was everyone’s first choice, brick-and-mortar stores never gave up. All their dedication and loyalty to the vinyl industry are now paying off in a big way.

For the past decade, the sales of physical music have been on a steady rise. 2021 saw a new high for the “outdated format”. Vinyl and CD sales skyrocketed last year, vinyl sales bringing in $1 billion dollars in revenue by themselves, while 2021 also saw CDs make a huge comeback, shipping out 46.6 million units.

Vinyl Lives is Glide’s inside look into the vinyl industry and local record stores across the country. In this edition, we are looking at Original Vinyl Records in Warwick, NY. It’s a small record store specializing in oldies but still sells plenty of Pink Floyd and Fleetwood Mac.

Can you please provide a short history of the store and what kind of music you specialize in? How much of your stock is new vs old?

We started very humbly back in 2018. My wife was on my case to do something with all the vinyl I had accumulated over the years. What precipitated this was my son graduating from college and landing a new job. We have a renovated outbuilding on our property that was filled with records, books, and all my stuff kind of like a combo attic, basement all-purpose storage space. We wanted to give him a leg up while he settled into his new job and help him chip away at his student loan so we set him up in that space. So it was this that motivated me to move the albums but to where?

I saw a For Rent sign literally one minute from where we live in a nice little strip mall. I called the number and had a look-see. I was blown away by the space —1100 square feet with high ceilings and plenty of light good for record browsing. So I signed the lease.  In the beginning it was folding tables and cardboard boxes. 

Last year my wife saw a posting on Facebook about an old-time record store in Fords, NJ going out of business Vintage Vinyl Records owned by veteran record man Rob Ross. I met with Rob and his wife and we purchased his amazing custom-built record store fixtures and his remaining inventory. At the same time, another space became available in the strip mall where we’re located, unfortunately not connected, but we got a great deal from the landlord so now we have two stores Side A and Side B.

We are primarily a used record store with thousands of titles in every conceivable genre Rock, Jazz, Blues, R & B, Soul, Country, Folk, 12′ Dance, Oddball, Lounge, Space-age Bachelor Pad, 60s Psyche,  Nostalgia, Comedy, World Music, Kids and related music books, memorabilia and much much more. Our “Side B” store specializes in Oddball vinyl, 45s, 78s, CDs, Cassettes, 8-tracks, DVDs, Laser Discs and vintage and contemporary audio equipment.

We also stock a nice selection of new vinyl releases like Adele, Olivia Rodrigo, Billy Strings, Steve Earl, Blue Note Tone Poet Series, and many of the 180 Gram reissues of classic titles from the Beatles, Stones, Dead, Zep, Fleetwood Mac to name a few. In 2021 we became an official Record Store Day credentialed store so we now stock most of what’s released for Record Store Day.

Other than your own store, what and where is the greatest record store shopping experience you ever had?

I’m an old-time record guy going back to the 1960s. My first job was at Cox Records, located at Flatbush & 7th Ave. one of the few black-owned record stores in Brooklyn NY.  That was a great store that catered mostly to the large Brooklyn Caribbean, Jamaican and Hatian communities. The neighborhood was changing with kids coming in asking for rock albums so I was hired to set up that department.  I learned more from owner Mervyn Cox about how to sell records than from just about anybody and I’ve been in the record business for over 40 years.  At one point I carried a bag for Rounder Records so I’d be on the road visiting record stores mostly from Connecticut to DC. Some of the stores that stood out are Cutler’s in New Haven, Sally White’s in Westport, Integrity ‘N Music in Wethersfield CT, Crazy Rhythms in Montclair NJ, 3rd Street Jazz in Philly, Record & Tape Collector in Maryland and Olson’s in DC.  A shout out to some dear colleagues of mine, all veteran record guys Tom Kohn’s Bop Shop in Rochester and Joe Schwab’s Euclid Records in St. Louis and New Orleans.  A special mention goes out to Bob Koester, who I consider a mentor for his Jazz Record Mart in Chicago.  BUT the number one record store for me was my old alma mater Happy Tunes Records on Eight St in the Village.  Hands down when that store was in operation we had the best jazz, blues, rock, and classical departments with an expert running each department. And the best bargain bins too.

What is your greatest $1 bin find?

Duke Ellington Presents The Dollar Brand Trio on Reprise at the Woolworths on Fulton Street in downtown Brooklyn.

There was no price sticker so when I went to the register they didn’t know what to charge so I pointed to the album cover… it says right there it’s a Dollar and that’s what I paid.   

Do you have a cheap bin and what do you typically find in there?

Our beloved Bulldog Diesel and our store’s logo is adept at sniffing out vinyl bargains Diesel’s Fresh Vinyl Finds .25 albums or 6 for a $1.00.

Three Dog Night It Ain’t Easy, Jimmy Stuur and His Orchestra Polka Saturday Night, The Dave Pell Orchestra Saints Go Marching In and Other Magnificent Hits, Ferko String Band Mummers’ Parade Champions Happy Days Are Here Again, The Dionne Warwick Story A Decade of Gold, Strauss Waltzes in Hi-Fi, SpinORama Movement in Sound Victory At Sea, Leonard Bernstein NY Philharmonic Berlioz Symphonie Fantastique, Connie Francis Sings Italian Favorites, Varsity Salon Orchestra Twilight Music, Jay Wilbur & His String Orchestra Music To Love By, 101 Strings Opera Without Words, Crew Cuts On The Campus, Fred Waring and The Pennsylvanians In Hi Fi

What used record do you hope to never have to see or listen to again?

Sing Along With Mitch Miller & The Gang

How has the backup at pressing plants affected what release day means and has there been any sort of backlash about this? 

I know that due to various production and supply chain issues there’s something like an eight-month back up for some releases. This really hasn’t affected our store since we’re primarily a used vinyl shop.  We haven’t seen any backlash either except for the Taylor Swift RSD title from April that was gone in minutes and we couldn’t get any more so a lot of disappointed Swiftie fans.

Thoughts on CDs making a small comeback in the last year?

Your keyword is small, especially at our store.  We avoid ordering anything new on CD unless we get a special request. We’re still trying to sell the two Billy Gibbons RSD CDs from June 18 Record Store Day.

You’d be surprised to know but we sell a lot of…..

Smiths, Pink Floyd, Fleetwood Mac, Rush, Dead, Ozzy, Led Zep.

What has been your top-selling record this year so far?

Pink Floyd Dark Side of the Moon, Fleetwood Mac Rumors

What labels do you find consistently put out the best product in terms of packaging?

Blue Note Tone Poet Series, Resonance, Light In The Attic, Dust To Digital, Numero, Colemine, Sundazed Omnivore, Elemental.

As a store, what record labels do you feel best represents what you try to curate?

Blue Note, Impulse, Verve,  Resonance, Craft.

What is the most expensive record in your store right now? 

It was the Bowie Box $400+, but that sold now it’s the Rush box set at $300+

Have you had any in-store signings or performances? What are some of the more memorable ones you’ve had?

Before the pandemic, we had a series called Talking Vinyl all of them were fantastic and videoed up on our store YouTube channel author, historian and record producer Joe Conzo an encyclopedia of Latin Jazz knowledge discussed his book on Tito Puente and the history of Afro Cuban music.

Scott Wenzel from Mosaic Records gave an amazing talk on one of the incredible jazz archeological discoveries of the 21st century The Bill Savory Collection. And jazz journalist Arnold J. Smith told the backstory to the famous Duke Ellington recording Live at Newport July 7, 1956.

Right before the lockdown we had scheduled a dual talk with legendary producer and broadcaster Bob Porter and author, and music historian Tad Richards whose Listening To Prestige blog inspired us to book this session but sadly it didn’t happen as Bob passed. We plan to do a Listening To Prestige tribute to Bob Porter in the near future so stay tuned for that.

For beginner collectors, what is your recommended turntable, and for seasoned listeners what do you most recommend? 

For the beginner there are a number of budget and mid priced turntables from companies like; 

ION, Audio Technica, Victrola, Crosley and Deer Park.  For the seasoned audiophile try and get your hands on the new Technics 1200 series. If you’re tight on space and just want a basic unit that you can play everything from albums, 45s, 78s, cassettes, and radio and has Bluetooth we recommend the Victrola 6 in-1 machine. 

Record Store Day at Original Vinyl Records Saturday, June 18, 2022

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