Iris Records

[Bad Circles]

Thank you for keeping the dream alive!

[mayfield4]

Thanks for everyone's endless pushing (including the JC Independent), Iris Records will now be open on Sundays from noon until 6 pm!!! With so many other local businesses having trouble, possibly ceasing operations, blah blah blah, here's a positive story for you. It seems that vinyl consumption is on the rise in JC and popular demand has won out. Now you can brunch at Madame Claude's and then stroll down the street to Iris...

PUNK-FUNK-SOUL-JAZZ-CLASSIC ROCK
MANY MANY OTHER GENRES OF VINYL!!!

IRIS RECORDS WAS FOUNDED ON BRUNSWICK STREET IN 1996. THIS IS THE FIRST TIME IN ITS HISTORY THAT IT WILL BE OPEN FOUR OUT OF A POSSIBLE SEVEN DAYS A WEEK...ARE THE "END TIMES" APPROACHING? Or is it the great new arrivals: the Big Star records, New York Dolls, Ramones and others?

(Iris Records, 114 Brunswick Street, Jersey City, between First and Second Streets. Open Thurs/Fri 3-8pm, Sat/Sun 12-6 pm. Phone is 609-468-0885. www.recordriots.com)

[elgoodo]

They're baaaaaack! October 28.

http://recordriots.com/iris_records_10.html

[mayfield4]

hey, stop by and feel the love, er, check out the records and cds straight from the land of iris records, famed former retailer of brunswick street. we arrive each and every friday around noon and set up shop outside of the PATH (unless it's rainy, windy or too cold). lots of new arrival CDs and vinyl, in coherent categories, good cheer all around for those who hang. we now carry DVDs too and will talk with you about buying your unwanted records, cds, dvds (but NO vhs please). we even have lights for early evening sales!

[super_furry]

Iris Records: A Vinyl Speakeasy Moves On
By Tad Hendrickson • Dec 28th, 2009 • Category: Arts, Lead Story

Preparing for the final weekend at Iris Records

A shift in the retail scene here in Jersey City began earlier this month when Iris Records owner Steve Gritzan announced that Dec. 12 would be the last day for retail hours at his Brunswick Street store. The response was swift with tearful crate diggers near and far asking: “Why?” Another likely response, this time from some neighbors, was: “There’s a record store on Brunswick Street?” Little did they know, there had been for 13 years.

This vinyl speakeasy was located on a quiet mixed-use residential street in a 1930s-era pharmacy that used to...

Read the rest at http://www.jerseycityindependent.com/2009/12/28/iris-records-a-vinyl-speakeasy-moves-on/

[Bobblehead]

Whoa, how time flies. My friends were tenants in that space before you opened the record store. Oddly, I never stopped by when you were open. Maybe I'll give it a shot. . . .

[dragonaut]

I suspect I'll be making a stop by this weekend.

I'm upset I never got to spend more time in this store, and the time I did get to spend was wasted away on ADD moments.

[elgoodo]

I do hope that maybe someday you'll have a change of heart and reopen the space on Brunswick.  But I'm glad to see you'll be keeping a presence in the neighborhood at Grove Street.  Good luck with everything!

[mayfield4]

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.

[elgoodo]

Well, this sucks.  Perhaps they'll change their mind.  They've been known to do that.

http://www.jerseycityindependent.com/2009/12/09/iris-records-closing-up-shop/

[missa]

Now, if only there was some attempt at an organizational system so that way I don't have to go thru every single box every time I'm there. Then[/i] I'd go there every weekend.

+1

if there is not system that is fine.
but be upfront about it, don't direct people to sections that don't exist.

it made my one turntablist friend very vocally unhappy.
who knows who else he told. 

[CeeDub]

Well that's a fairly common "business plan" round these parts.

After you close, all the peeps who never supported you bemoan the loss.

Do you carry platters?  I realize they are expensive to stock but you might consider making the vinyl more attractive . . . even if they are the scummy vinyl-to-digital convertors (someone will spell check that for me I'm sure).

Our Technics shuttles back and forth to storage every 6 mos or so, and more + more of our vinyl is getting exported to the yewts or ends up out east after winter weekend record parties.  The covers still come in handy, tho 

[TheFang]

Well, even more reason not to consider myself a dirty hipster then we're in Iris at least twice a month. So ha.


Damn we're cool.







Now, if only there was some attempt at an organizational system so that way I don't have to go thru every single box every time I'm there. Then[/i] I'd go there every weekend.

[mayfield4]

it's complicated running a business (duh), and jazzy city is not a simple business locale. we did better when jersey city had fewer hipsters/yuppies/carpetbaggers/whoever they are. way back when (as late as five years ago) our non-existent hours were well-known among the peeps, and we had a loyal following of hip-hop kids, wanna-be-producers, DJs, and regular guys who just bought records. (note: few of these customers were born with a silver spoon in their mouths.) i see hipsters wandering around the streets now, up on grove street, hanging out at 58, at madame claudes...well, i don't see them at my store. some of this is about technology shifts (who DJs with records anymore? most people prefer shrill i-pods?), some of it could be about what we carry, our prices, etc. still others still say that they "don't know when we are open," although we've been open on fridays for nearly 12 straight years. i do think that there is a place for record and books stores, but it might be easier in williamsburg or maybe philly. strangely, some of more loyal customers trek from brooklyn and harlem and irvington, new jersey. not sure what that means. there are musicians on my street who have never poked their nose into the store at all. this is an odd worldview to me.

we are not closing, but the numbers are not impressive after two months "back."

(one last story. one guy was so upset when we closed shop in 2007. he called me and told me how sorry he was that we were shuttering the store, blah blah blah. i couldn't bring myself to tell him that he hadn't been at the store in over a year (i like him, he's cool). in 2008, he's well-aware that we are open and still has not stopped by and spent a dime. sometimes i think that people like the "concept" that we are open, more than the reality. in the end, i think that competition for the entertainment dollar is very spread out and strained. i think that it is difficult to get anyone to do or go anywhere, unless they really really want to. enough.)

[elgoodo]

We DO love you.  Very much.

But are you really in danger of closing?   You stayed open for decades with basically non-existent hours!

[mayfield4]

We really love you. Don't you love us anymore? Stop by Iris Fri/Sat/Sun at 114 Brunswick Street, Jersey City. 609-468-0885. see Irisrecs.com. Lots of great vinyl...

ALSO...

Don't Forget the Brooklyn Record Riot!!! This Sunday September 28th at Warsaw in Brooklyn. 11am-8pm. Polish food and vinyl. What else can you ask for?

[TheFang]

We stopped by last weekend and picked up some great stuff, might have to swing back up there this weekend as well...

[mayfield4]

...just keeping everyone up-to-date on the vinyl situation over here. we picked up approx one thousand full-length LPs now priced at only two dollars. i purposely had employees put the records out so i couldn't put higher price tags on some of them (greedy capitalist problems) these are mostly rock, soul and jazz. we also have quite a bit new hiphop 12" for your ears. so stop by and check it out. note: there is no atm at the cleaners next door because someone cut the gate open, broke the window, and stole the whole machine. bring cash, bring beer, bring yourself...

iris records
114 brunswick street (between first and second)
friday 3-9pm saturday 1-7pm sunday 1-5pm
these are now our weekly store hours so don't say that we are never open...

more info on irisrecs.com

peace

[Metropolis]

   I finally got around to filing all my last 6 months of record purchases and found doubles and TRIPLES of the same damn record. I suck at know what I own.

Mark. 

Yeah okay I'll be there... but stop me if I try to buy another copy of Donna Summer's Greatest Hits Canned Heat Live at Topanga Corral.

[TheFang]

Yaaaaay! Records!!! 

[elgoodo]

Excellent.

[mayfield4]

We've been warning you...and now the date is here! Iris Records is reopening three days a week starting this Friday, July 18th. Tons of new/used vinyl and CDs of all varieties, sometimes things that even surprise our crack staff. We are located at 114 Brunswick Street in Downtown JC, between First and Second Streets. Phone is 609-468-0885. Hours? Friday 3-9 PM, Saturday 1-7 PM, Sunday 1-5 PM. We've been hawking things on Brunswick Street since 1996, and this is the first time that we've EVER been open three days a week. Put that in your pipe and smoke it. Stop by and say hi. Remember to support your local music store or else we disappear into thin air.

And here's a video from our latest Iris event, the Brooklyn Record Riot!!! We plan on another great show in September, so watch out for that. More info soon.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=pt7uu0-wPuo

You can get more info about us on irisrecs.com. Peace out to all.

[TheFang]

hey kids. another couple of weeks have passed and we are opening again for a couple of days. june 20th and 21st, noon to seven pm. lots of new arrival vinyl, fun and frolic for all. 114 brunswick street, between first and second, see irisrecs.com for more details. peace out.

(ps: we'll be reopening with regular weekly hours in july. 3 days each week)

Personally, I much more excited by the news that you guys are gonna start having regular hours again.  I'm looking forward to stopping in.

[mayfield4]

hey kids. another couple of weeks have passed and we are opening again for a couple of days. june 20th and 21st, noon to seven pm. lots of new arrival vinyl, fun and frolic for all. 114 brunswick street, between first and second, see irisrecs.com for more details. peace out.

(ps: we'll be reopening with regular weekly hours in july. 3 days each week)

[Soshin]

bumpety bump

[mayfield4]

hey kids. another month has passed and we are opening again for a couple of days. june 6th and 7th, noon to seven pm. lots of new arrival vinyl, fun and frolic for all. 114 brunswick street, between first and second, see irisrecs.com for more details. peace out.

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