Vintage Vinyl, N.J.’s premier record store, closing after 42 years

Discussion in 'Music, Movie and Hardware Store Guide' started by elgoodo, Jun 21, 2021.

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  1. elgoodo

    elgoodo Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Jersey City, NJ
  2. Tom M

    Tom M Forum Resident

    Location:
    NJ
    bmh5879, zphage and fretter like this.
  3. Two Sheds

    Two Sheds Sha La La La Lee

    Very sad. I got an email from them telling me the news. Have to get down there pronto!
     
  4. LandHorses

    LandHorses I contain multitudes

    Location:
    New Joisey
    This is sad.

    There’s now no good place in NJ to buy CDs.
     
    bluemooze likes this.
  5. provzbass

    provzbass Well-Known Member

    Very sad. Been going there since it was a hole in the wall in Irvington. Hope to get there soon.:(
     
  6. motionoftheocean

    motionoftheocean Senior Member

    Location:
    Circus Maximus
    The owner is 65 and has been running the business for 42 years, plus he's facing a new lease. I fully get why he'd want to step.

    But this still sucks.
     
    ghoulsurgery likes this.
  7. elgoodo

    elgoodo Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Jersey City, NJ
    I don't understand why the biz is not being sold.
     
    zphage likes this.
  8. Two Sheds

    Two Sheds Sha La La La Lee

    Jack's in Red Bank is all right. It's not as good as Vintage Vinyl, but it's better than Record Collector (Bordentown) or Princeton Record Exchange for CDs.
     
  9. challenge

    challenge Forum Resident

    Location:
    Missouri
    Might
    Might be hard to make money with the new lease so the new owner would have to move it most likely
     
  10. RageRomano

    RageRomano Idiot

    Location:
    NJ
    Literally YESTERDAY my girlfriend and I were driving past the exit for VV on the Parkway and I said "We gotta come back up here sometime and hit that place up." This breaks my heart. Used to go there all the time.
     
    ghoulsurgery likes this.
  11. LandHorses

    LandHorses I contain multitudes

    Location:
    New Joisey
    Yes……..forgot about Jack’s. I go there too, but it’s far from me and I only go there when I have a concert at the Basie.

    Vintage Vinyl is on my way to/from work. I was there once a week pre-pandemic.
     
    maui jim and Two Sheds like this.
  12. Rock10

    Rock10 Forum Resident

    Location:
    NJ
    Sad, but I'm surprised they were able to stay open this long. I liked the store, but their vinyl was too expensive, and they didn't get new cds that often. Their used section had the same cds every time I went.
     
    jmobrien68, bmh5879 and BlueTrane like this.
  13. RageRomano

    RageRomano Idiot

    Location:
    NJ
    I live close to Jack's now and really like their selection of used CDs. Last time I popped in I bought about 11 for around $35, and some pretty great finds too, like The Fugs.
     
    bmh5879, Buddybud and Two Sheds like this.
  14. ghoulsurgery

    ghoulsurgery House Ghost

    Location:
    New Jersey
    This bums me out so bad. When I was a teenager and visiting friends at Rutgers, we spent so much time at this shop. I bought a lot there over the years and caught a few instore performances. It’s about an hour away from me so I’m not there all that often anymore but it was always a nice side trip if I was in the area. Damn.
     
    RageRomano likes this.
  15. keefer1970

    keefer1970 Metal, Movies, Beer!

    Location:
    New Jersey
    Awwwww that sucks. I haven't been to V.V. since the early 2000s but when I was in high school/college in the late 80s/early 90s, a trip down the Parkway to hit Vintage Vinyl was a regular Sunday afternoon ritual for my brother and I. It will be a shame to see it go.
     
  16. mcchocchoc

    mcchocchoc Forum Resident

    Location:
    Oregon
    I used to buy a lot of stuff there back during the late 80s, very early 90s. Always loved going there.
     
  17. John Harchar

    John Harchar Forum Resident

    Location:
    New Jersey
    Very sad, I'm going to be in the area tomorrow but won't be able to stop off.

    Record Exchange is ok, but it's less than half the size of VV, maybe a third. Will have to check out Jack's when we head towards the shore over the summer.
     
    Two Sheds likes this.
  18. vamborules

    vamborules Forum Resident

    Location:
    CT
    Vintage Vinyl, the longstanding Central Jersey record store revered for its vast selection and in-store performances, will close for good July 31.


    “It’s time to retire,” founder and owner Rob Roth told NJ Advance Media Monday. “I lived the dream. It’s more than I could’ve dreamed. This will be my legacy.”


    Roth, 65, announced the closing Monday in a mailing list email sent to customers, writing: “Thanks for 42 wonderful years, it’s been a great ride.”

    Roth said the pandemic helped put “life into perspective,” but was not a deciding factor in closing the iconic shop.

    “I have children and grandchildren I want to see,” Roth said, also noting his lease is up this year. The store has been a staple of the Fords section of Woodbridge, just off Route 1, since 1984.

    Vintage Vinyl is known among New Jersey music lovers as a mecca of rock, punk and metal, as well as a destination for Record Store Day exclusives and high-profile performances on the store’s tiny back stage. The list of artists who have come through the store is immense, but some highlights include emo superstars My Chemical Romance’s first-ever “The Black Parade” album performance — in the store’s parking lot in 2006 — plus performances from New York Dolls, The Gaslight Anthem, Jimmy Eat World, Julien Baker and many more. A final in-store performance may be booked in the coming weeks, Roth said.

    At 23 years old, Roth opened Vintage Vinyl in 1979 as 200 square-foot shop in Irvington, to serve his desire for rare albums.



    “I couldn’t get the music I wanted in the chain stores,” he said. “It was the era of punk and you couldn’t get those records anywhere. I wanted to fill that void and bring the obscure, selling the punk and British records, and the stuff that was being ignored.”



    Later, the store’s slogan, “from the obvious to obscure,” was born as it expanded in its Fords location four times.



    The store’s closing is a seismic loss for the local and independent music communities as stores across the state and U.S. continue to shutter, even before the pandemic. Asbury Park’s popular Holdfast Records closed last summer. Longstanding Iris Records in Jersey City shut its door in 2019 and reopened in a smaller space last year.



    Roth knows the closure will be a hard pill to swallow for customers, but is at peace with his decision.



    “Everything comes to end,” he said.

    Vintage Vinyl, N.J.’s premier record store, closing after 42 years
     
    elgoodo likes this.
  19. Danby Delight

    Danby Delight Forum Resident

    Location:
    Boston
    Premier?

    Sorry, is Princeton Record Exchange not in New Jersey anymore?
     
  20. vamborules

    vamborules Forum Resident

    Location:
    CT
    Okay. First we get the wannabe mod guy. Then we get the argue with the headline guy. We're off to a great start here. :laugh:
     
    johnny q likes this.
  21. izgoblin

    izgoblin Forum Resident

    My last trip to Vintage Vinyl was a waste, because they'd had a whole section of LPs that they marked "Mint or Near Mint" that you weren't allowed to look at without taking them to the counter. First of all, we know that almost no used records are "mint", and secondly, I have no patience to set aside 20 records I might possibly consider buying if they're clean to the counter and having someone watch me inspect them. This also makes it impossible to check label variants easily, for example.

    I had several hours to kill the last time I was there and subsequently ended up buying all of two records. I know the place used to be amazing, but not so much anymore.
     
    Cronverc and BlueTrane like this.
  22. badfingerjoe

    badfingerjoe Senior Member

    Location:
    New Jersey
    Amazing how we can't stay with the topic!

    Let's talk about Vintage and what a great store Rob had for all these years. Instead of the debate!
     
  23. Danby Delight

    Danby Delight Forum Resident

    Location:
    Boston
    Hey, I used to be a headline writer and they always have my full sympathy!

    After all, "Vintage Vinyl, Great-if-you're-in-the-area-but-not-worth-making-a-special-trip-for Record Store, Closing After 42 Years" doesn't fit the character count.
     
    izgoblin likes this.
  24. Two Sheds

    Two Sheds Sha La La La Lee

    Going there tomorrow before it's picked clean. What a bummer.
     
    bmh5879 and DK Pete like this.
  25. seg763

    seg763 Forum Resident

    Location:
    NJ
    heading down there tonite, first purchase was an import copy of Elvis Costello Get Happy in January 1981 back in the original Irvington Location. So many memories over the years, so many in-store performances attended.
    I guess I should be glad they existed and not sad they are closing.
     
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