Making a Record Comeback
Darkside Records located on Dutchess Turnpike in Poughkeepsie, NY has been giving music records the attention they’ve needed since 2011 to survive in the digital age. This store happens to be the Hudson Valley’s largest brick and mortar independent record store.
The store is not just limited to records, the inventory also includes music on vinyl, CD, and cassette players as well as turntables, headphones, movies and on some occasions live bands.
With its lime green coloring and black logo of an eye, the Darkside Record store has become a staple for all things music in not only the Poughkeepsie community but the Hudson Valley region as well. Frequently attending local music events and even hosting their own events, the store is constantly looking to enhance the music scene in the area.
Many people may wonder why a record store decided to open up at a time when most music listeners were moving to digital formats, but the owners at Darkside felt otherwise. Describing their motive to bring back an old pastime in records, was to re-invent what being a music store really means, and giving the local community a perspective and commitment to their customer.
For Pari Das a recent graduate of Marist College, he happened to make the record store one of his top priorities during alumni weekend. Even though he lives in NYC now, where there are plenty of record stores and places that have similar selections to Darkside Record, Das says “even though I live in NYC, I like the feel of this spot a lot better than most places I go to.”
Overall the goal of the store is to enhance the music scene as much as it can, and with so few record stores of this magnitude in the area, it’s become a real popular place for people of all ages to frequent and enjoy some time with music.
Justin Johnson and Roberto Hull the latter being a Marist College alum take pride in offering their customers the largest selection possible for their customers to choose from. This is one of the reasons why they recently decided to change locations from Main Street Poughkeepsie to Dutchess Turnpike not too far away. Stating “that they have more than doubled in size from the original location,” the location that started Darkside Records.
Many customers in the previous location felt that while it was a fun place to hang out and browse the selection of music, the new spot which homes over 6,000 square feet of even more vinyl, CD’s and even a stage. The previous store was accustomed to having lines around the building on the days of new releases of vinyl’s and music, today that no longer exists with the new spacious location they have moved to.
One of the employees at Darkside records happens to be a senior at Marist College and has been working at the place for almost a year now and discussed the enjoyment with working at the record store. “It’s a really cool place to work at and the customers come in looking for a huge variety of music and really people of all ages come in here,” Bekah Polonsky.
The staff at Darkside Records are all lovers of vinyl and music in general according to Polonsky making it a fun environment to work in. Not only does it make it fun but it gives customers an even better experience for those who aren’t so sure what they are looking for, by having a knowledgeable set of people running the store assures for a smooth customer experience.
Because the location is not always in the most favorable location for college students to get to, this makes getting going there even more rewarding for the few Vassar and Marist students who still find an interest in listening to vinyl. Each person who goes there though usually has their own unique taste of music and the great part for them is that Darkside Records more than likely has what they are looking for.
And for the few pieces of music they may not have in the store employees are able to not only ship out their inventory to customers who cannot make it there but they will also do the best they can to look for whatever it is any particular customer wants. With so many distributors at their disposal, the store is able to have access to a wide selection of vinyl’s and CD’s.
Das also talked about the recent move to the larger space Darkside Records made, and how the art shows at Marist College in the new location first introduced him to the store he now loves. But his favorite part about the store is “the mystery bags, its seven records and it can be any genre.”
Johnson the store owner later went on to describe in the mystery bags in more detail, saying that its basically seven unknown, used records of any genre, that get wrapped inside a paper bag so customers do not know what they are buying and all it costs is $3. The bag he said “includes good records in bad condition, and bad records in good condition, everything is playable though and it’s probably the most popular item we sell.”
Besides the addition of the mystery bags, Johnson seemed most excited when he discussed the addition of a stage to their new location. The stage is equipped with a full backline, including amplifiers, guitars, microphones and even a drum set. “Local and national bands come by to perform here and more often we get packed when the national bands are performing,” said Johnson.
Even though the local bands may not draw as much of a crowd like the national ones do, Darkside Records is happy to host any bands near or far to the Hudson Valley. Every third Sunday of select months they offer performers of any kind to showcase their talent as a live event on the store’s stage.
With so much to choose from, in such a large space, Darkside Records has become a hotspot for many music lovers and curious people to visit in its last five years or so of business. Keeping the old times of the music industry alive and well, the store hopes to continue providing customers with an authentic music experience and help build the local musician community in the area.
