Photo: Jeromey Russ/ WBZ NewsRadio
NEWTON, Mass. (WBZ NewsRadio) — Root For Us Records in Newton, Mass. is not open on Tuesdays, but owner Brian Coleman was there anyway.
Coleman had just bought a stack of records from a friend and needed to sort through them before putting them up for sale. His life spins in concert with the turntables throughout his new shop.
"Records are a part of my family," Coleman said. "They're part of me, so when I pass on, I hope that my records end up living another life."
Coleman opened Root For Us in the end unit of a small shopping center off Route 9 in Newton earlier this year, next to a marijuana dispensary and a CVS.
He brought along his encyclopedic knowledge of music, some second-hand shelving units, and the business savvy he picked up co-owning Want List Records, which also started out in Newton before relocating to Belmont.
"I would love to be the gateway drug to get people to be like 'Oh man, I should get a turntable, that would be amazing,'" Coleman said. "You don't have to spend thousands of dollars to do it either... I have tons of really reasonably priced records. You don't have to get the most expensive records to have a really great collection."
Coleman is a lifelong vinyl collector. He never streams his music — though he holds no grudge against those who do, he insists — and he said he would install a turntable in his car if not for the obvious reasons why that would be a terrible idea.
His goal with Root For Us was to create a space where people like him could hang out with people like him, and where people not yet like him could catch "the bug."
"That's why I have listening stations in the back where you can listen to stuff before you buy it," Coleman said. "And honestly if kids come in and they want to spend an hour and not buy anything, that's fine. It's all good. It would be better if they did, for their own edification, but you don't have to own a turntable to come into the store."
Root For Us Records is located at 26 Elliot St. in Newton, Mass. Customers are welcome to bring in records they wish to sell.
WBZ NewsRadio's Jeromey Russ (@JeromeyRuss) reports.