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Shop Listener is back for the 2023 holiday season. Listeners call in to shout out their brick-and-mortar businesses located in New Jersey ahead of the holidays, for a Brian Lehrer Show listener-sourced gift guide.
Brian Lahrer: Brian Lehrer on WNYC. Now we'll wrap up today's show with day three of our Shop Listener call-in series. Today we want to hear from those of you who own brick-and-mortar stores in New Jersey. You are invited. Do you sell something that would make a great gift this holiday season? Call in and promote your business. 212-433-WNYC, 212-433-9692.
What is this? If you are new to it, well, every year when the holiday season rolls around, we run the Shop Listener series in which we invite those of you small business owners listening in to call in and promote yourself. It's our way of giving back to our community. If you haven't gone gift shopping yet- At least it's our way of giving back to some of you who own businesses. -and if you haven't gone gift shopping yet, for the rest of you, consider buying from a fellow Brian Lehrer Show listener rather than one of those big box corporate places that usually profit immensely during this season, or from a certain online behemoth who I shall not name their name.
Earlier in the week we heard from business owners with stores in the five boroughs as we're going around the region. Today it's New Jersey, tomorrow we'll open it up to Long Island, Westchester, and Hudson Valley in Connecticut. Brick and mortar store owners. On Friday, for those of you who only sell online and don't have stores at all. Today, New Jersey Shopkeepers, what do you sell? What kind of person would love a gift from your store? Do you have any particular items you recommend?
Help our listeners, Shop Listener, and support fellow members of the Brian Lehrer Show at WNYC listening community. 212-433-WNYC. Now, anybody with any gift items to sell from anywhere can also post it on the online guide that we're building. Even if you do call in and get on the air, go ahead and post on the guide. That web address is wnyc.org/shoplistener. We're going to sample on the air from some of you selling things from brick-and-mortar stores in New Jersey for this call-in. If that sounds like you, you are invited. 212-433-WNYC, 212-433-9692, and we'll take your calls right after this.
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Brian Lehrer on WNYC. All right, now it's our Shop Listener call-in day three. Today, for those of you who own brick-and-mortar stores in New Jersey and are selling holiday season gifts, 212-433-WNYC. Let's start with Pete in South Orange. Hi, Pete, you're on WNYC. What you got?
Pete: Brian, thank you. Brian, this is a little bit of a follow-up. Even though my talent is making short stories long, I'm going to try to make a long story short. [chuckling] A couple of years ago, during the pandemic, my wife started a little pottery sales business from the basement, and what do you know? Now, just about a year, she's coming up on her one-year anniversary. She has a brick-and-mortar shop, pottery shop, where she makes handmade one-of-a-kind products.
She also offers pottery classes in South Orange, New Jersey. She's conveniently located. I think it's like a three, literally, a three-minute walk from the train station. That train is-- Get you in and out of New York City in about half hour. I just wanted to thank you for taking my call. Thank you for the service you provide New York with the intelligent conversation. I'm just such a huge fan, and you can hear the excitement in my voice.
Brian Lehrer: That's really sweet, Pete. Thank you very much. Just say again the name of the store and the exact address for-- It's pottery and sounds like pottery lessons.
Pete: Yes. I apologize. The name of the store is Clay by Indigo Road Studio. That's her brand name, Indigo Road Studio. Again, it's Clay, C-L-A-Y, and the address is 10 Vose Avenue. Again, that's in South Orange, New Jersey.
Brian Lehrer: Pete, thank you so much. Good luck with it. Call us again. Paula in Elizabeth, you're on WNYC. Hi, Paula.
Paula: Hello. How are you?
Brian Lehrer: Good.
Paula: I have a business out of my home. I sell fabric art and wearable art. Meaning it's skirts, blouses, dresses that are artistically done.
Brian Lehrer: Sounds wonderful. You want to describe one for just a few seconds?
Paula: Well, sure. I have my Star Wars skirt. [chuckling] It's a vintage straight skirt, wool skirt, and it has lots of Star Wars doodads on it left over from my son.
Brian Lehrer: All right. Where's this location?
Paula: I'm in Elizabeth. This is out of my home. I'm on Lincoln Avenue in Elizabeth.
Brian Lehrer: Oh, so are you inviting people to come to you physically or do you sell online?
Paula: They could. It would be good for them to get in touch with me first. I can give you my email?
Brian Lehrer: Go ahead.
Paula: Does that work?
Brian Lehrer: That works.
Paula: paula.anythinggoes@gmail.com.
Brian Lehrer: Paula, thank you very much. Good luck with it. Here's Kathy in West Milford. You're on WNYC. Hi, Kathy.
Kathy: Hi. Thanks for taking my call. I'm calling, actually, for my brother-in-law who owns a record store in Pompton Lakes, New Jersey. It's called Flipside, F-L-I-P-S-I-D-E. There was just a documentary produced by Chris Wilcher who's also from New Jersey, and it's on docnyc.net for a little while longer. It was also at the Toronto International Film Festival. If you see the documentary, then you would have to visit his store.
It's more of a record museum than it is a record store in that he has pretty much what anybody's looking for because he has thousands and thousands of records and you pretty much just trip over the boxes as you go in and can't walk around anybody, but he is running the store as he did since the 1980s. Anybody looking for an album, I would suggest go to Wanaque Avenue in Pompton Lakes, called Flipside.
Brian Lehrer: Flipside on Wanaque Avenue in Pompton Lakes. It's amazing how much new stuff is starting to come out on vinyl after, for a while, that was just a dead format. What's the mix of old and new that he sells now?
Kathy: Both. He does everything he can get his hands on.
Brian Lehrer: All right. Kathy, thank you very much.
Kathy: There's also a store across the street. Okay, great. Okay, thank you.
Brian Lehrer: Go ahead. A store. Go ahead. What were you going to say? A store across --
Kathy: No, there's another record store across the street that they show in the film too that's just very different. But anyway, all right.
Brian Lehrer: It's a district.
Kathy: Great. Thank you.
Brian Lehrer: All right, thank you very much. Flipside on Wanaque Avenue in Pompton Lakes. Camille in South Orange, you're on WNYC. Hi, Camille.
Camille: Hi, Brian. I'm calling to suggest an experience as a gift. We opened an immersive art and technology experience at the Mills at Jersey Garden, so there's nothing else like it there. It's called Go Pixel Yourself. There's all kinds of video, there's technology, but it's also a physical experience. We've reconstructed the inside of a 747 and when you sit in it, there's video flying by. We have a giant life-sized polar bear, and you get like a boomerang video of yourself with it.
What's also cool is that we feature the art furniture of artist Johnny Swing who's got pieces at Storm King and John Carter. For the holidays, we've got some giant toys and trees and a sleigh. It's really fun for people to have the experience together. Any age would love it. Oh, there's my cat. [chuckling] We have a discount code on your Shop Listener page, and we hope that people will check it out.
Brian Lehrer: That's great. You know, we've had dogs make their radio debuts on the show. I don't think ever a cat before. [laughter] What's your cat's name?
Camille: Well, meet Minette. [laughs]
Brian Lehrer: Minette, be a good cat. Remember only in the litter box. All right. [laughter] Say the name of the place one more time.
Camille: It's very Jersey. It's Go Pixel Yourself.
Brian Lehrer: In Elizabeth.
Camille: In Elizabeth. It's at the Mills at Jersey Gardens.
Brian Lehrer: Camille, thank you very much. Bob in Trenton, you're on WNYC. Hi, Bob.
Bob: Hey, hi, Brian. It's good to talk to you again. I'm calling about a shop in the Hightstown, New Jersey area that is-- It's a music store. I don't own it, but I'm a very loyal customer of Randy Now's Man Cave. Randy Now is a legend in New Jersey. He was the booking agent of City Gardens, the music club in Jersey, for decades. Now he works in his own shop and he sells records, music memorabilia, TV memorabilia. He hosts live shows. He's having a show just before Christmas, I believe, with The Grip Weeds. Yes, he's fantastic. Give it a shot.
Brian Lehrer: Randy Now's Man Cave in Hightstown. Last one, Ari in West Orange. We've got about 15 seconds for you. Go for it. Ari, are you there? Ari in West Orange?
Ari: Yes, I am. I'm calling from Luna Stage. We're a professional regional theater, and we would love to invite people to either purchase a $99 spring season pass where they can see all three of our spring shows or to take a class or to gift a class. Our spring classes start on January 13th, and they run for eight weeks. We have classes in acting and [unintelligible 00:10:49] stage combat.
Speaker 1: Real quick, [unintelligible 00:10:51]
Speaker 1: Our season-- Oh, www.lunastage.org.
Brian Lehrer: lunastage.org. Say the names of one of the three productions for your coming season.
Ari: All three. Rift, Trojan Women, and Queen of the Night. The Trojan Women is a solo show and Rift engages with the story of two brothers trying to cross an American political divide.
Brian Lehrer: Yes, local theater. Luna Stage in West Orange. Good luck with it, Ari. Again, listeners from New Jersey or anywhere else, you can post what you are selling and from where, brick-and-mortar or online only on our online guide wnyc.org/shoplistener. For the rest of you, why don't you shop our listeners?
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