Craft beer meets vintage records at The Vinyl Room

At first glance, The Vinyl Room could be a standard craft beer bar. Four local brews are on tap, with a selection canned beer and wine, and a light food menu. 

But guests will also find vinyl-packed shelves and turntables sure to delight any music fan.

Equal parts bar and record shop, The Vinyl Room plans to combine the two interests into one unique addition to Wappingers Falls' Main Street. And, it could be open by late-June.

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The business stems from owner John Kihlmire's passion for music and beer.

"I've been collecting vinyl since I was 15 years old," he said. "More recently, I've really gotten into sour beer." 

But The Vinyl Room isn't just a mash-up of Kihlmire's interests.

"I'm trying to create a space that delivers on the craft beer experience and on the vinyl experience," he said. "I want to create something that feels kind of nostalgic, with customers enjoying a drink, browsing through the records and listening to great music."

Kihlmire said he would like to focus on local breweries for its craft beer on tap, mentioning North River Hops and Brewing in Wappingers Falls and Beacon's Hudson Valley Brewery.

Town of Wappinger Supervisor Lori Jiava said the business has a “different flare” and will be part of the town’s ongoing transformation into a tourist destination with trendy eateries and shops. She expects it to draw out more people and more sales tax.

With vinyl records making a resurgence, she said, the business seems to have landed on a pretty "neat idea."

“Everything retro is coming back,” she said. “And I see it in the younger generations.”

While The Vinyl Room will feature a small food menu, it will not be the focus. Instead, Kihlmire said he would like to work with local restaurants like County Fare and Blackboard Cafe to feature the local products they produce.

As for the music, The Vinyl Room will feature a range of genres.

"We'll be focused more on vintage stuff, but we'll have some re-releases," Kihlmire said. "Of course we'll have plenty of classic rock — The Beatles, Rolling Stones, some Led Zeppelin — as well as some '80s and '90s hip hop. We'll also have plenty of jazz; I'm really into jazz." 

The Vinyl Room will host themed nights focusing on certain genres or bands, but guests can also listen to their own selection.

"We're going to set up some listening stations, basically turntables hooked up to some headphones, so people can listen to the vinyl they're thinking of buying," Kihlmire said.

The Vinyl Room will open at 2656 E. Main St. For more information and updates, visit facebook.com/thevinylroomny.

Geoffrey Wilson: gwilson@poughkeepsiejournal.com, 845-437-4882, Twitter: Geoff_LW