It appears that Melrose is getting a new groove.
After a dozen years of curating a solid stock of new and used vinyl, Somerville Grooves will vacate its longtime Union Square home next month and become Green Street Grooves, an alliterative nod to its new home at 200 Green St. in Melrose. As of print time, there is no set opening date for the new shop, although a sign in the new storefront (pictured above) states that it’s “coming in September.” The current location at 26 Union Sq., which first opened in 2011, officially closes August 20.
Last week, Somerville Grooves officially announced its new home via Facebook, sharing a new page for the Green Street location. A photo of the new storefront hints at what’s to come, with classic albums from Devo, The Beatles, Prince, and John Coltrane already tempting outsiders in the windowsill.
“There are a lot of reasons for the move,” owner David Plunkett tells Vanyaland. “Changes to Union Square in recent years have made it challenging in some ways, but also I moved from Somerville to Melrose four years ago and have sort of been eyeing opportunities for the right time to move the shop.”
While Somerville Grooves is currently in the process of moving its back stock and “selected new collections” to the new location, the main sections of the shop will remain open through next weekend, and shoppers can still bring in record collections to sell.
The move represents a major cultural gain for Melrose — which currently features a handful of spas, pharmacies, and an appliance store in Green Street’s immediate area — but a loss for Somerville. As the Union Square has continued to bloom in recent years with the addition of Bow Market, Somerville Grooves was a constant highlight of the area, perhaps only second in notoriety to Union Square Donuts.
Read the full announcement from Somerville Grooves on Facebook below.