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HiFi Provisions: A Vintage Audio Store Grows in Brooklyn

The COVID pandemic took a lot from us including thousands of restaurants. But a small vintage audio and record store in thriving in Brooklyn.

HiFi Provisions Vintage Audio Items for Sale

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 32,000 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.

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 from friends and family became mentally difficult.

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.

Yaso Tangbao

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: 02/11/2024 — Yaso Tangbao didn’t survive the pandemic sadly and has now shuttered)

Four Dumplings
Yaso Shanghai Street Food

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.

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Don’t let anyone convince you that things are the same in New York or Brooklyn.

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 was put up for sale in my neighborhood in Long Branch, or Eatontown, Ocean Township, West Long Branch, Deal, Asbury Park — sold in less than a week. Probably close to 200 homes in a very small geographic area.

I had 9 unsolicited offers on the home. Some were dramatically more than I paid. Folks with New York license plates knocked on the front door and made serious offers for the house.

They have left Brooklyn for good and taken their assets with them. Many are already in Florida. I ran into so many of them on Atlantic Avenue in Delray Beach whilst visiting my parents — that it felt like the world was changing. And it has.

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 & Stereo Sign Outside Entrance

“Vinyl and Stereo” read the sign.

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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.

HiFi Provisions Vintage Audio Store in Brooklyn, NY

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.”

Vintage Audio workbench Repairing Fiscer Receiver

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

Vinyl & Stereo Logo
Acoustic Research AR-2a Loudspeaker
Acoustic Research AR-2a Loudspeaker
Thorens Turntable
Thorens Turntable
HiFi Provisions Record Albums For Sale
National Panasonic 8 Portable Radio
7 Comments

7 Comments

  1. Tim Tepas

    May 10, 2021 at 6:17 pm

    Great article. The world needs more HiFi Provision stores.

    • Ian White

      May 10, 2021 at 8:23 pm

      Tim,

      It’s a fun little store. It’s only been open for 5 weeks and I can’t wait to visit again.

  2. rl1856

    May 19, 2021 at 8:27 pm

    Nice article. We spent our summers along the Deal-Elberon-Allenhurst-Lock Arbor stretch of beach (shore). My Aunt and Uncle had roots in Deal, and were long time members of the Casino with a large cabana facing the pool. I will investigate HiFi Provisions. Thanks

    • Ian White

      May 20, 2021 at 2:46 am

      I’ve been a Long Branch/Elberon resident for almost 13 years and just ran past the Deal Casino.

      Entire area is growing like crazy.

      Ian White

  3. TonyE

    August 13, 2023 at 7:13 am

    Unfortunately, vintage sounds… “vintage”.

    Modern audio equipment (not HT, not mass market dreck) sounds much better. More accurate, better soundstaging, macro/micro dynamics, lower noise, etc.

    Mind you, I got some awesome, fully rebuilt to OEM vintage units.. Marantz SR2325, Sansui G7500, Kenwood KA3500.KT5300, NAD monitor (early 90s), etc… even full blown quad set ups -Akai AS980, Marantz SR4415, but even my cheapest modern stuff, a Nuforce STA200, just blows them out of the water.

    Nevermind the SS Class A -MOSFET and SIT- and tube amps.

    Yes, the old stuff “looks” great, specially if you DO NOT put LEDs in them, BUT, sound wise, you’re much better off buying more modern used components… High End built after 2000.

    Sure, there are exceptions… tubed Luxman preamps for example… but they are expensive and still have that “romantic” sound to them.

    I guess “vintage” sounds better than those crappy Apple ear pods, BUT, there’s better sounding used equipment that sounds much better and is not prized so crazily.

    • Your mama

      March 17, 2024 at 3:58 am

      Yes, it sounds different, but saying new stuff sounds better tells me you never heard good vintage gear. Sadly most don’t know good audio and think surround sound system with terrible digital signal processing is “good” without ‘mowing what good is. New gear that sounds good is astronomically expensive, hence the growing market for vintage hifi. New gear is more convenient with built in Bluetooth and remote controls, but that comes at a cost, poor sound.

  4. ichiro okada

    August 16, 2023 at 6:41 pm

    I am looking for a shop or someone who could buy my vintage audio.
    I have * Marantz 2220 * NAD 7225PE * NHT SB3 Speakers.
    I tried StereoBuyers and they said vintage audio is not so demand right now then I tried Cash For Stereos and they are interested in my Marantz but since they are located in Staten Island and don’t want to come to Queens. Do you know anyone interested in buying them (Since they are quite heavy, I am looking for someone who can pick them up).
    Please let me know.

    Thank you,

    Ichiro Okada

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