Root For Us is opening in the lobby of Redi in Newton
Brian Coleman has revolved around the Greater Boston vinyl scene for decades. He’s worked as a music reporter and author, chronicling “liner notes for hip-hop junkies” in his legendary “Check the Technique” books; hosted niche shows on college airwaves; and, perhaps most critically, he’s been furniture at countless hub venues and nightclubs since the ’90s.
As a vinyl seller and sommelier of sorts, until recently he was a partner at Want List Records in Belmont. Looking to step out on his own, Coleman figured that a pot shop would be a good fit to sell his platters. He’d tabled at a holiday pop-up at one store before, and sensed real potential.
With that kernel of a concept in mind, he started researching and asking around. I have known Coleman for ages, he’s an old friend, and so I posted about his idea on LinkedIn. Surely if someone had insight about retailing records and reefer under the same roof, I’d find them through that network.
As it turned out, the only comparable outfit that’s apparently kicked down that wall like Aerosmith and Run-DMC is Seven Point, a dispensary in Danville, Illinois that “features new-release vinyl records, music-themed mural art, and unique concert memorabilia showcased in an immersive 21+ consumer experience.”
Enter Redi. The independent operator, which has adult-use stores in Natick and Newton, fit the bill perfectly. Coleman wanted an accessible location somewhere inside the I-95 loop; Newton was especially ideal, since Want List had originally opened in an antique mall in the fig, and he knows all the local vinylphiles by name and microgenre preference.
Redi had adequate space—a large swath of their sunlit lobby, to the left of the check-in desk and on the complete other side from the door to the dispensary showroom. After some back and forth, Coleman and the owners drew up an agreement that enables him to run a separate business in the Redi space, and Root For Us Records was born.
“I don’t believe anyone’s done it yet, certainly not in Massachusetts,” Coleman said during the unofficial opening last Sunday. Unlike Seven Point, he specializes in vintage and used vinyl. The Runaways play in the background, then the Meters.
He continued: “It’s basically most eras, mostly used because that’s generally the way I operate. Some used-new stuff, so things that are a year or two old, that I can sell for twenty bucks less than you’d find at a new kind of place. Lots of jazz, lots of reggae, lots of soul, lots of rock stuff.”
Coleman isn’t commissioning plaques, planting flags, or calling the Guinness Book people. He’s just thrilled about the new arrangement.
“It’s not like I own the idea, but I am excited that we’re the first,” he said. “Just to kind of share space that they weren’t using immediately, and to share customers, because obviously there’s great overlap between dispensaries and records.”
And no, that doesn’t mean it’s all Sublime and Marley. “I don’t think it’s a good idea to assume that people at the dispensary only want reggae or, you know, Grateful Dead,” Coleman said. “There’s going to be people who want weird rock stuff and avant-garde jazz and punk, and I am here for it.”
If you do happen to be looking for that rare Eek-A-Mouse record or “Terrapin Station” LP, though, he has you covered. “I actually have a lot of both,” my friend assured, “and I always will.”
Coleman continued: “It’s a small store. It’s cozy.” Just big enough for the good stuff, so no buck or five-dollar bins at this time. “Everything starts at like ten dollars.”
All pot businesses are strained right now, with price depression and increased competition cutting into sales, but there are nonetheless some baseline assets that all licensed stores have in the retail realm. Whether it is the required accessibility or foot traffic that comes with his arrangement, Coleman isn’t taking any of the green-adjacent benefits for granted.
“There’s tons of free parking all around,” he said at the soft opening. “For a record store anywhere near Boston, that is a truly, truly beautiful thing.”
