South Avenue Music Store Keeps Foothold in iPod Era

Been to a Virgin Megastore lately? What about a Tower Records? Sam Goody?

With big-name CD stores falling like dominoes, it's easy to get the impression that that decades-old adolescent and 20-something stronghold, the record store, is no longer viable in this downloadable day and age.

Sound Station, which has sold under-the-radar sounds to musical gormandizers around Westfield for nearly a quarter century, proves that the mom and pop independent record store can still thrive. Provided it's run with real passion.

"The reason we've lasted is because we love music," said manager Bob Larsen, 35, a compact, bearded man who has worked at the store since his parents opened it up in 1988.

That year, Larson said his mother Virginia, with help from his father William, was poised to open a sewing shop, but his older brothers Joe and Billy changed her mind. Larsen's brothers were metalheads who wore their hair long over leather jackets and were too often out of luck when visiting local record stores looking for the newest record by AC/DC, Judas Priest or even Jersey metal dudes Overkill.

"They convinced my mom she shouldn't open a sewing shop because Westfield could really use a record shop that catered to young people," Larsen said.

The inside of Sound System is like disc jockey's rec room. The atmosphere is reminiscent of the book and movie High Fidelity. The walls are papered with posters depicting the likes of Buddy Guy, Jimi Hendrix, John Coltrane, The Ramones, Joy Division, Tom Waits, Slayer, John Lee Hooker, Frank Zappa and Rollins band, to name a few.

Though it started as a haven for metalheads, punk rockers and hardcore kids – in the late 80s occupying the space up the block where the Subway shop now sits – by the early 1990s the shop grew out of its space and its inventory grew to reflect the eclectic tastes of its burgeoning and loyal clientele.

"I've literally watched a bunch of my clients grow up," Larsen said. "I remember when they were in middle school and I remember when the graduated from college. I don't think of them as clients, I think of them as family."

First people came in asking for rap records. Then jazz. Then funk, reggae, indie rock, Afropop, soul, blues, country and every style in between. Larsen said not only did he open up his client's minds to new music, they opened up his. He was shrewd enough to make good business out of his music sense.

"It's a customer based business, if we don't have what customers want we'll order it plus an extra copy in case he tells his friend," Larsen said. "We've sold a ton of CDs that way."

Larson's appetite for sharing musical discoveries was on display on a recent afternoon when a longtime customer came in and handed him a stack of burned mix CDs. Larsen reciprocated. The name of grungy do-it-yourself rock hero J. Mascis', not often uttered in corporate record stores, was invoked several times in the transaction.

That customer, Brian de Mello, 33, said he has shopped at Sound Station since it opened. The first CD he bought there was by Faith No More and the first tape he bought was by Run DMC. He said he's visited other independent record stores around New Jersey, like Vintage Vinyl in Fords, NJ and Princeton Record Exchange. Sound Station has stayed his favorite for a reason.

"Here you have more time to look around," he said. "It's a relaxed atmosphere, so you find hidden gems."

de Mello, a drummer, is also featured on several CDs on Sound Station's special section devoted to local bands. Larsen said that de Mello's group Montagna & the Mouth to Mouth is the top local seller.

"It's important to me to sell local music," said Larsen, who does not take a cut from any of the local CDs he sells. "That's how you build a scene."

Larsen also plays percussion in a recording project called Brick Window, which is based in Rahway, NJ. Their albums are for sale at Sound Station.

Sound Station's longevity is even more impressive when viewed against the backdrop of how much Westfield has changed in two decades. Restaurants and high-end boutiques dominate the downtown. Conspicuously absent is the kind of scruffy, homegrown, mom and pop love in abundance at Sound Station.

Sound Station is so much the example of the mom and pop shop that right now Larsen and his partner, Liz Walsh, 32, are the only employees. They work the counter six days a week.

"I would hate to see what Westfield would be like if we weren't here," said Walsh, who sports impressive dreadlocks and greets each customer with friendly banter about music. "Kids would have to hang out at Starbucks. It kind of freaks me out."

Larsen and Walsh take pride in the depth of their musical knowledge and believe it gave them the advantage over the mega-CD stores, most of which are now out of business.

"Yes, those corporate stores had more money than us," Larsen said. "But they were stale, their selection sucked, none of the workers helped the customers discover new music they might like, most of them just didn't care."

Not that Sound Station has been completely immune from the changes in how people get music. Computer downloads, especially pirated music, brought the industry to its knees. Still, by virtue of building a loyal customer base of music lovers, Sound Station was insulated from the worst of the downturn.

"Our customers are music fanatics," he said. "They want to hold the music they buy, they want to see it, touch it, read the liner notes, look at the pictures, you can't do that online."

The recession also hit Sound Station hard. Larsen said he had to lay off three employees. In recent months, however, business has been better than ever. He said he still consults his mother, father and brothers when making big decisions about the store, such as adding a DVD section. It's all in the spirit of keeping the business in the family, for the family.

"I've been working here since 1988, it's my life," Larsen said. "I haven't done anything else, I'm really passionate about it."