Inside Vinyl Veritas’ Expansion:
Will Grandberg Shares What’s Next

Q: Can you start by introducing yourself and Vinyl Veritas?

Will: My name is Will Grandberg, and I’m the founder of Vinyl Veritas. We’re a record store and distribution company for everything related to vinyl records. I’ve been a collector and music lover for most of my life. I got seriously into it around 18, which, funny enough, was right when people were declaring vinyl “dead.”

But through some strange twist of fate, records came back in a big way, and I happened to be in the right place at the right time. I had a big personal collection, I knew the market, and about three years ago, in 2022, I decided to turn my passion into a business. Now, we sell both online and in person, and it’s been growing ever since.

Q: What do you think sparked the resurgence of vinyl?

Will: It’s wild, right? I just saw a report that said Gen Z is now one of the biggest demographics buying vinyl. It’s such a different kind of engagement than before. They’ll buy four versions of a Taylor Swift album just because each has a different color or insert.

It’s both a hobby and, honestly, an investment. Records don’t really depreciate; in fact, most go up in value. So, for a lot of people, it’s part nostalgia and part collecting culture, but with real staying power.

Q: What brought you to Dumbo?

Will: I’d been running Vinyl Veritas out of my apartment for a while, but vinyl takes up a lot of space. I knew I needed an office where I could store, pack, and ship — but I also wanted to be in a neighborhood where people could stop by, browse, and hang out.

DUMBO just made sense. I’ve lived in Brooklyn for 15 years, and this area has that perfect mix. It’s creative, it’s got history, it’s walkable, and it attracts exactly the kind of people who appreciate what we do. On a whim, I toured a few spaces, and 45 Main Street really stuck with me. It felt like the right fit from day one.

Q: What does being in Dumbo mean for your business?

Will: To me, being here means we’re part of Brooklyn’s creative fabric. DUMBO isn’t just a tourist destination — it’s a place locals and native New Yorkers actually get excited to visit.

There’s this great balance here: you’ve got the energy of the city, but it’s also got its own post-industrial, artsy vibe. You can grab a beer, walk by the river, hit a gallery, and discover something unexpected. It’s that kind of neighborhood. And for a business like ours, that energy is everything.

Q: What makes your space unique?

Will: What’s cool about our space is that it’s both a store and an office. We’re up on the seventh floor at 45 Main, and we’ve set it up like a showroom. We’ve got around 600 new releases and a huge used collection.

If someone comes by, whether they’re a client, a collector, or just curious, we want it to feel special and not like a traditional retail shop where someone’s watching you browse. You can have a beer, have a coffee, flip through records, and just hang out.

I want people to feel like they’re digging through archives — discovering things they wouldn’t find anywhere else. It’s casual, it’s social, and it’s meant to be fun.

Q: If you could describe the vibe of your space in three words, what would they be?

Will: Work casual hang.

It’s an office, we get stuff done, but it’s also relaxed. You can grab a beer, talk about music for an hour, and just hang out. It’s casual, creative, and comfortable, and that’s exactly the vibe I want.

Q: What’s your favorite neighborhood spot in Dumbo?

Will: I love food, so I’ve got a few favorites. Lucky Rabbit, a little noodle spot, is one of the best. It’s small, a little chaotic, but the food’s incredible. I also love Randolph Brewery for beers and hanging out.

And honestly, just walking down by the water never gets old. Past the carousel, along the river — it’s beautiful. It feels like a movie set, but it’s real life. That’s kind of the magic of DUMBO.

Q: What’s a moment in Dumbo that’s really stuck with you?

Will: Definitely the DUMBO Drop. We got asked by the DUMBO BID to play music for the event — not to sell, just to DJ. So, we set up speakers, brought our PA system, and played outside.

It was a beautiful day, and it just hit me. This is a real community. I saw familiar faces, people from the neighborhood, regulars from the shop. It didn’t feel like a big city event; it felt small-town, in the best way. That was the moment I realized we weren’t just in DUMBO, we were part of it.