The Music Man | Tunes

Tunes celebrates 25 years

By Marilyn Baer

Photos courtesy of Tunes

With the rise of iTunes and Spotify, countless brick-and-mortar record shops have closed in the past quarter century, but not Tunes in Hoboken.

The venerable establishment hasn’t just survived, but thrived, celebrating its 25th anniversary in December, 2020. “I’ve been doing this for 25 years, and I’ve never, ever not wanted to go to work,” said owner Chip Heuisler. ” I really, truly love what I do and consider myself incredibly lucky to make my living this way.”

Chip Heuisler

Photo courtesy of Tunes

Tunes’ origin story was born out of a love and passion for music.

For Chip, it began in 1993 when he moved to New Jersey from D.C.

A Philadelphia native, his high school friend owned a record store, Tunes on the Dunes, on New Jersey’s Ocean City boardwalk. He also had a Marlton location. Chip worked in both before eventually buying in.

Hoboken Beckons

Chip’s sister, who’d moved to Weehawken, planted the seed that the pair should expand into neighboring Hoboken, convinced that it would be worth the look. “We went up to Hoboken in the fall of ‘95, walked around town, and gave our card to every Realtor we saw,” Chip said. “We heard back about a small, narrow 900-square-foot space at 315 Washington St. and signed the lease then and there.”

Hoboken’s previous “beloved” record store, Pier Platters, had closed that summer, and Tunes stepped in, opening in December.

By 1999 the business had grown enough to move to its 1,800-square-foot current location at 225 Washington St.

In 2018, Chip became sole owner of the Hoboken shop, and continued to serve the evolving tastes of local customers.

Tunes for the Times

Chip expanded the stock of new and used vinyl LPs and turntables, while still carrying a large curated selection of CDs and DVDs. Accessories included t-shirts, books, posters, and magnets. All the while he brought in new customers through the online marketplace.

“We’ve lost a lot of record stores over the years, and changes in the industry caused big stores like Tower Records to close their doors,” Chip said. “But those small independent record stores still around have found ways to adapt. I’ve seen everything from the huge CD boom when Pearl Jam and Nirvana came out, and we would have hundreds of first-day releases, and then the CD sales decline with Napster and streaming services.”

Island in the Stream

For some, streaming services like iTunes or Spotify have been a death sentence, but for Chip and other independent record stores, they were a source of new customers.

“I’m just happy that a music fan is listening to Spotify and Sirius XM and discovering something new, and when they decide they want to own some of it and have the physical product, independent record stores are there,” Chip said.” There is always going to be a place for a record store, much like there is for book stores. People want to explore the shelves. People want to collect and physically hold the product. There will always be a draw”

Let’s Get Physical

Now, that draw is the happy resurgence of vinyl. Chip said that Tunes is selling more turntables and records to high school and college students than he ever has before.

“It’s great when someone buys their first turntable and searches for their first LP,”

he said. “For younger kids they’ve never had a CD collection or a DVD collection. Everything is on a hard drive or streaming. For some this is their first entry into the physical, and it’s really something witnessing that.”

Vinyl Versus Virus

While the industry has proven turbulent, Chip, like many small business owners, has had to navigate the unforeseen, the COVID-19 world. Due to the pandemic, Tunes can no longer sell tickets to live performances at White Eagle Hall like it once did for the legendary Maxwell’s Tavern. Tunes was forced to close for three months last spring.

As always, Tunes adapted, first through mail order and online gift cards, then adding curbside pickup, and finally safely allowing a limited number of customers back in the store.

During the closure, Chip renovated the space, installing Plexiglas at the front and mid-counters and reconfiguring the layout to include a new all-vinyl back room.

Musicphiles are thrilled to be back in Tunes.—07030

For more information, call 201- 653-3355 or go to tuneshoboken.com.