You won’t find much online about Record Shop Red Hook. Yet on any given weekend, this homey, unmarked storefront just off the South Brooklyn waterfront bubbles with activity: Record fiends thumbing through wares, neighborhood kids skipping in and out the front door and friends hanging out for a quick and/or extended chat. If the store thrives on a distinctly communal energy, it’s no accident. True to the simplicity of its name – or lack of one – Record Shop was conceived by its beloved owner (and occasional carpenter/musician/thespian) Bene Coopersmith as a thoroughly unpretentious space best served by strong word of mouth. Originally opened in 2015 as a way for Coopersmith to purge the runoff of his absurdly vast vinyl collection, Record Shop is now known to those in the know as one of the best places to pick up quality, well-priced used records in the city, while the neighborhood transitions into something far less recognizable to longtime residents.
