Iris Records

(Oh yeah, we are located at 114 Brunswick Street in Jersey City, between First and Second Streets. Call us at 609-468-0885 for more information about whatever. And yes Martha, we buy records, CDs and DVDs....)

yes folks, the time has come. i've decided to pack in the retail side of the business. the reasons are numerous: slumping sales (the recession?), the onslaught of technology, the endless brunswick street blues (most other businesses have shuttered), but the primary reason is that i am looking to shift things around in my own life. i'm not leaving the record and cd business at all (or this space), but the pressure of running a retail store (even just two or three days a week) is substantial: finding new stuff, keeping it somewhat organized (not our strong suit), keeping the store uncluttered (impossible). because the pharmacy serves both as retail store and warehouse space, something had to give...and it did. i could give you a long (zzz) explanation as to my thought process, but let's just leave it at this: closing iris records after 12+ years was not an easy decision. i've made many friends here and had many memorable experiences. notables such as woody allen and peter holsapple shopped here. frankie bones and morgan geist were regular cratediggers. john paul jones of led zeppelin looked at records and used the bathroom (how's that for cache?). the endless foreign dealers always added spice, whether it was the surly british or the lovable japanese. but it was "the regular customers" through the years that made the experience meaningful, and there are far too many of you to name. just know that i appreciate your patronage, loyalty, musical knowledge, and above all, your sense of humor. you put up with my sometimes surly retail demeanor, stepped over crates of pop vocals records to get to the hiphop, never complained about the poor organization or the turntables that didn't work. there are so many forgotten faces and names that my head could explode. regular customers somehow come in orderly waves, and they burn out like shooting stars. they buy and buy and buy until something changes: a geographic move, a job loss, they may change what they collect, kids suddenly appear, they find what they are looking for and stop. most regular customers disappear without ever explaining why. so i am left with only a blur of record buyers, some whom i didn't like, some who manhandled the tonearm, others who were totally kind and adorable and thoughtful. but there is no doubt that i needed all of them. they all helped construct my business (therefore my life) and are part of my journey to now.

(we had a blast didn't we?)

i started selling records in this space when a girlfriend moved out in 1996 (when in doubt, bring in the records!). i had no idea that it would last this long and i would see so much in music shift around. brunswick street was a bit dangerous in those early days (before the front gate), CDs were new and quite valuable, no one wanted disco records (yet). now the new york times is running articles about the popularity of vinyl, record shows are popular, CDs are being thrown away...even the petty thieves know that they are worthless. iris was once known as a 12" dance and sampling store, but these days we sell more albums. everything shifted during these years: my folks died, they paved the street, the big tree out front blew over in a storm, and i lost some of my hair. ah, the bursting of permanence...

you can still get your fill of iris records in a number of ways. first, we will be selling at the grove street path station each friday from 2-8pm (weather permitting. this friday might be too cold). we'll continue to run our record shows, including the brooklyn record riot (recordriots.com). you can always call or write to find out about our 2010 nyc street fair schedule. and you'll still see me loading records in and out of the pharmacy...some things never change. i'll still be buying record and cd collections, so keep that in mind. and don't forget to patronize your local record and book stores. they will not survive without your support. it's very very easy to lose sight of this fact. if we complain about box stores and globalization, we have to look at own consumer behavior. observe!

we will be open this weekend (friday 3-8pm and saturday 1-7pm) for one last go round. nothing dramatic, just some records in boxes that you can listen to and buy. i will be here both days, and i will savor this ending. i love perspective and you can never overdose on it. the time here has gone so damn fast.

thanks for a great ride. see you soon, and i love you all.

steve

ps: extra special thanks to tree, who was my right arm and confidante for seven (eight?) very important years. kudos to larry, shawn, christine, johnjohnson, dave p, sad alex, eleanor, becky, gonzo: the employees who did so much of the work. please forgive me if i have left someone out.

Housed in an 1930s pharmacy, open just two days a week with records stuffed everywhere, the place sometimes seems more like a museum than a retail store. Located in the old Italian neighborhood of Jersey City, soak in the history even before you touch a record. Try and picture all of the gambling that used to go on upstairs (the pharmacist liked his card games) or view the glass cases of medicine containers from years past. Can you hear ghostly sounds from downstairs? Why not try and avoid Mayfield the killer cat (pictured above)? Certainly the boxes and boxes of records will make your eyes glaze over. We stock used vinyl of all genres, from rock to lounge, disco to soundtracks, jazz to funk. However, 12 inch singles take up a lot of space these days as kids around the world continue to choose turntables over guitars and we are glad to help them out.

Join some of America's finest DJs as they dig through the crates looking for hiphop, house, techno, freestyle 12 inch singles. Look for samples with local and nationally-known producers. Keeping with the sense of history, remember who has preceded you here on Brunswick Street. Woody Allen has been here. So has Peter Holsapple with wife Susan Cowsill. Frankie Bones is a popular regular customer. David Letterman calls us when he needs obscure music for his show. Even John "DJ Goldfinger" Johnson is here monthly.

What a life we have! Records and cats and wheat chex and every morning we celebrate the fact that I don't have to work on Wall Street like everyone else in Jersey City. I think that it is time for you to stop by and enjoy our environs. Then buy some records, start dancing or make someone else dance.