In The Groove

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Loop vinyl bins and DJ booth

When Loop opens this month on West 11th Street, across the road from Parallax Restaurant, it will become Tremont’s newest indie retailer, and one of the coolest. 

“This is something that my brother always wanted to do,” says Dave Foran, who’s opening Loop with his brother Brad. “He’s always been really into music, and there’s really not that many good record stores in Cleveland.” Foran cites Lakewood’s My Mind’s Eye and Bent Crayon in Cleveland, as well as Music Saves in Collinwood among the region’s great independent music shops, but notes that he and his brother wanted to do something different. 

For nearly a year, the Foran brothers have been working with architect Jerry Herschman of Herschmann Architects. “We’re lucky that he picked us up,” says Foran. “He doesn’t really work on sites like this, but he took us on as a pet project, something different, and it worked out really well.”

The former art studio was entirely gutted, and transformed into a two-floor café and record shop. Within the contemporary space, patrons will find a fully equipped coffee house with new equipment from Advanced Brewing Systems in Westlake and SS Kemp to produce perfect espressos and lattes. The cornerstone of the coffee operation will be the roasting machine, which the Loop staff will use to roast fresh beans each day. 

Pastries and desserts will be available for the after-dinner crowd, and a cozy seating area and bar will provide patrons a place to relax and view a rotating collection of works created by local artists. When the weather allows, an outdoor patio will feature cool comfort – and a fire pit when the mercury dips a bit too low. 

“It’s more than just a coffee shop,” says Foran. “We have the whole music store going for us.” Brad, who has worked in numerous record stores, uses his vast knowledge to choose the thousands of LPs and CDs available at the store. Custom-built cabinetry and bins add a unique flourish to typically mundane record shelving, and the extensive selection of music will appeal to music aficionados and casual listeners alike. 

“We want to focus on some stuff you don’t necessarily find everywhere, whether it be CDs or records,” says Foran. The store will offer a wide variety of electronic music, which is popular in vinyl format for use by area DJs. 

From the latest indie releases and digitally remastered classics on disc, to new and used vinyl records, Loop delivers a stock that could have only been cultivated by a music lover, with special attention given to collectors items and imports you won’t find on iTunes. A vinyl listening station is unique in the area, and allows visitors to take certain records for a spin, while a DJ booth will give guest DJs a new place to spin, too.