HiFi Provisions: A Vintage Audio Store Grows in Brooklyn

Vintage Audio is no longer just a fleeting trend but a movement with a lot of money behind it. Our recent 7-part podcast series generated more than 30,000 downloads so far and we suspect it won’t be the last time we cover it in such a comprehensive manner. Loudspeaker manufacturers were the first to notice the interest on Instagram going back almost 4 years and it’s clear from our coverage of Wharfedale, Mission, JBL, and Klipsch — consumers are buying what these companies are selling. Retailers are paying attention as well. Hi-Fi Provisions wasn’t the first but we discovered them in a strange way.

Out of chaos emerges order in the strangest of places. Industry City in Brooklyn to be quite specific. On more than one occasion during the COVID-19 pandemic, I ventured out from the compound on the Jersey Shore and made the trip into Brooklyn. I married a Brooklyn girl who grew up in Staten Island and Matt from HiFi Provisions laughed when I explained that I was from Toronto but that my kids were 1/2 Flatbush.

Brooklyn suffered enormously during the pandemic; not that other parts of NYC and New Jersey had it any easier. I watched my pew in synagogue change dramatically as older congregants died at a rather frightening pace back in the first 4 months of 2020.

I suppose I was lucky to have become sick back in March 2020 because it was over in 3 weeks and nobody else in my immediate family became ill. The lockdowns in the Garden State became an issue for me. Isolation and bipolar disorder are a bad combination.

I am a creature of habit and I don’t like having my routine disrupted. Not even Hamas or Hezbollah missiles have been able to deter me from patronizing my favorite cafe in Tel Aviv or Hummus stand in Jerusalem’s Mahane Yehuda Market during wartime. If it’s my time to get torn to shreds by shrapnel from a missile or debris from the Iron Dome — at least I’m being allowed to have my final meal on my terms.

Forever Han Solo living life on the edge with Chewie. Never tell me the odds.

Driving into Brooklyn to have lunch or breakfast with industry friends became almost impossible during the initial lockdowns; it was almost impossible to eat in a restaurant when they were all closed.

Adam Sohmer (one of the finest public relations professionals in CE) and I have a ritual. We meet up in Industry City for soup dumplings. Before COVID, we could eat like two normal Jewish guys at Yaso Tangbao at a proper table. Not like a couple of chazerim in a deserted courtyard in-between the buildings with our masks under our noses and almost no other people.

More dumplings for us I guess.

(Update: 02/01/2023 — Yaso Tangbao didn’t survive the pandemic sadly and has now shuttered)

The two of decided that after having our vaccinations and getting COVID that it was time to act like human beings again. To sit like a bunch of fressers and enjoy life for the first time in awhile.

Don’t let anyone tell you that things are the same in New York City or Brooklyn. They are not and while NYC will find its way back — it’s never going to be the same.

There has been an exodus out of Brooklyn. How do I know this?

I live in the Syrian Jewish community on the Shore. Our school went from 1,000 to 1,500 students in 3 months. Every home that has been put up for sale in my neighborhood in Long Branch, or Eatontown, Ocean Township, West Long Branch, Deal, Asbury Park — has sold in less than a week. Probably close to 200 homes in a very small geographic area.

We’ve had 9 unsolicited offers on our home. Some were dramatically more than we paid. Folks with New York license plates have knocked on our front door and made serious offers for our house.

They have left Brooklyn for good and taken their assets with them. Many are already in Florida. I met them on the beach in Delray less than 2 weeks ago.

The news that Netflix purchased 300 acres in my backyard to build one of the largest television/movies studios in America on the Jersey Shore will certainly draw more of the NY/Brooklyn media elite to my serene part of the universe.

With that in mind, I was very happy to have lunch with my friend and bask in the sunshine in a busy courtyard slurping our dumplings and noodles.

It is the little things that make life meaningful. The ability to kvetch, laugh, gossip, and talk about our kids. And soup dumplings.

Human beings don’t do well in isolation. We’re not wired that way.

As we were cleaning up our garbage and making our way back inside the building that sits on 36th Street, Adam pointed to a new store that had opened up inside.

HiFi Provisions

“Vinyl and Stereo” read the sign.

HiFi Provisions is both a record and vintage audio dealer.

New cartridges from Grado Labs will be available for sale there, which is the only thing that makes sense.

Brooklyn supporting Brooklyn.

Matt who opened HiFi Provisions explained through his mask that he’s been collecting vintage audio for awhile and that the store still needed some work.

Walking around the store, I found myself ignoring the vinyl and focusing on the McIntosh, Fisher, Thorens, Acoustic Research, Bang & Olufsen, and ProAc equipment that he had on display.

When I pointed to the pair of ProAc loudspeakers on his work bench, he remarked “I found those at a thrift store and had to remove the straws that were used in the original design.”

An inverted Fisher receiver was being repaired on the bench and it was clear that Matt was quite serious about turning his little store into a popular destination in Industry City.

As we were leaving, a group of 20-somethings who worked upstairs were buying some records and admiring all of the vintage components in every corner of the store.

The two audio industry veterans walked out on to 36th Street and felt something we have not felt for a very long time.

Hope.

For more information. HiFi Provisions Vinyl & Vintage Audio Store