Del Ray is seeing a vinyl boom as another record store is coming to Del Ray this August, one block from the new location of Crooked Beat Records on Mount Vernon Avenue.
Michael Babin, principal at the Neighborhood Restaurant Group, confirmed to ALXnow that the company is closing Mulberry Lane Play Café at 2016 Mount Vernon Avenue and replacing it with a record store. The news comes as Crooked Beat Records recently announced that it is also aiming for an August opening at 2101B Mount Vernon Avenue.
“Obviously we think that having more record stores is a great thing,” Babin said. “It makes the whole neighborhood, and certainly those two blocks [of Mount Vernon Avenue] a heck of a destination for anybody who cares about music and vinyl records. It’s fantastic.”
Babin said that the co-working office above Mulberry Lane and the Shorty’s Deluxe sandwich shop attached to it will stay open. The last day for Mulberry Lane Play Café is Friday, July 10.
Crooked Beat Records was forced to move after significant flooding in January earlier this year at their previous location in Del Ray. Babin said that he and Nate Anda, NRG’s culinary director, are longtime customers and helped Crooked Beat owner Bill Daly connect with restaurant owners in D.C. to host pop-up events.
Babin said he reached out as soon as Daly announced his new location in Del Ray.
“I reached out to him immediately,” Babin said. “He said the more the merrier, and it’ll only make it more of a destination, which is exactly what we thought.”
Babin said that he and Anda have a combined record collection of about 5,000 records, and the store will sell a mix of new and used records. The name of NRG’s record store hasn’t yet been released.
In Del Ray alone, NRG owns Evening Star Cafe and Hi/Fi Tex-Mex BBQ (2000 Mount Vernon Avenue) and Planet Wine (2004 Mount Vernon Avenue).
