LONG ISLAND, NY — For years, Bruce Berg was a mainstay on Long Island, well known for Record Stop — a longtime fixture in Ronkonkoma, the business is now lives on, run by his son Jeff, in Patchogue.
Berg and his wife Janet, who met at elementary school in Massapequa — they’ve been a couple since he was 16, and she, 15, and have been married 44 years — lived their entire lives on Long Island, and still own a condo in East Moriches.
But they’ve moved to South Carolina, where Berg, at 70, has stepped out of retirement and into his second act.
Berg’s love for music has long been a siren song. And in a recent Facebook post, Berg’s loving wife Janet described this new chapter: “Back in New York, he owned 10 record stores over a period of 50 years in different locations on Long Island,” she wrote. “Music to him is his oxygen. He always said he never really worked because he did what he loved. Then one day he made up his mind to retire.”
But life had more in store for the couple.
“So, we gave him a surprise retirement party in a big music warehouse. It was fun to see so many former employees and customers show up in rock ‘n roll costumes and talk about the old days, and how he turned them on to bands he knew would become a part of their life,” she said.
The KISS costumes won first place, Berg said, “but there were so many creative types, including Cyndi Lauper and Madonna, Willie Nelson, Axl Rose, Mick Jagger, The Village People, the Ramones, Devo, and on and on. The best part was seeing different age groups gathered together as the band played classic rock, and everyone appreciating the universal language of music one last time before sending Bruce off to the land of the retired. So, we thought,” she said.
Her husband has led a storied life, Berg said.
“The cast of characters in the movie High Fidelity, starring Jack Black, paled in comparison to the cast of characters that came into Record Stop over the years. And whether they were tattooed beyond recognition, or had a purple Mohawk or safety pins coming out of their nose, Bruce made them all feel like family. He would hand a broom to a drifter and give them a job whenever needed. A bit grungy, a bit rebellious, every bit what a record store should be.”
Her husband, Berg said, saw most of his idols in concert, including the big one —Woodstock. “Now, living in Charleston at the age of 70, he walked past a little vacant store near The Music Hall, where we’ve seen great shows, and couldn’t resist the location. Part of him wished he never laid eyes on it, and part of him made him reminisce about when he opened his main record store in 1974. He is the master of prime stock, rare, new and used gems of record LPs.”
And so a new journey was born as he left retirement and turned a new dream into here-and-now reality.
“There was no stopping him opening up Record Stop in downtown Charleston. I see that nostalgic, familiar look in his eyes again,” Berg said. “He’s come back to life. Maybe the guts of the store are not quite as grungy and hardcore to a passerby. Maybe hiring the vibrant Ellie Ivanits, a professional interior designer, gives a different vibe, definitely a called-for hip look, with a mid-century modern retro décor, but the guts of the man behind the scene are deeply rooted.”
The college kids that walk in the door at 43 John Street, she said, “are eager to learn about the music we knew coming of age — during the chaos of the Vietnam era, when emotions ran high, when we longed for peace. And now, deja vu, we long for peace again, but in a country divided.”
The original Record Stop business has now been taken to another level, worldwide, with a big music warehouse the couple’s son runs, Janet Berg said.
She, herself, is an accomplished author, most recently of “Rembrandt’s Shadow”, historical fiction based on her husband’s family during the Holocaust, with a sequel due in summer, 2019.
And together, they’re sharing a new journey. There are many creative, talented people in the South, Berg noted.
“So, in 2018, these young people who saunter in our record shop, are asking to buy a small record player for their dorm rooms, longing to connect to the making of lyrics, to music history, just like we did back in the 60s. Bruce wants them to jump start their record collection, so he offers them a deal they can’t refuse — a ‘free’ record player with the purchase of six albums. The turntables are flying out the door! Once again, we sit back in awe, watching the records go round and round. Once again, we watch how music connects us all, no matter what age we are, and we hope to change the course of the times we are in through this understanding,” Berg said.
Patch photo courtesy Janet Berg.
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