Several traditional hi-fi dealerships have shuttered in recent years: NYC’s Lyric Hi-Fi and Chicago’s Audio Consultants are prominent examples. A few new brick-and-mortar shops have opened, but it’s rare to see a next-generation owner breathe new life into a long-established dealership. Christopher Brewer (above) is doing exactly that with New England Hi-Fi.
New England Hi-Fi was founded as the New England Music Company by Derek R. Burt (footnote 1), in 1965—on the early side of hi-fi’s heyday. Back then, the store carried the 1965 KLH line and other pioneering products, with a self-proclaimed emphasis on customer service. Founded in downtown Portland, Maine, the dealership moved to Scarborough in 1984 and then to South Portland, in a corner space across from the Maine Mall.
Before he became the owner, Brewer was an employee. Before he was an employee, he was a customer. While he was a customer, he worked at Circuit City, making, he says, $8/hour. Circuit City, which was located just down Maine Mall Road from New England Hi-Fi, is long gone: The chain went bankrupt in 2009. Good riddance, Brewer says. “I think I can safely confess that I spent a lot of my time in the audio department there advising customers to go to New England Hi-Fi.”
Brewer, 41, took over New England Hi-Fi when Andy Keniston, the previous owner, retired. Brewer moved the store to a new location, in the Mill Creek area of South Portland. “I wanted to be in a busier, ‘up and coming’ area,” Brewer said. “A total restart seemed like the best way to make the changes I wanted.”
I wasn’t around in 1965, and neither was Chris Brewer, but it’s all but certain that customers have changed since the original store’s Mad Men–era founding. Brewer sees a wide range of customers: men and women, old and young, hobbyists and “one-and-done.” He describes his customers as “loyal.” Their loyalty is likely attributable to his store’s main ethos, which, he told me, is to treat customers (and employees) fairly.
It was not uncommon for those old-school high-end dealerships to be snooty; we have all heard stories of casually dressed customers being ignored, snubbed, or insulted, only to take their hi-fi money elsewhere (footnote 2). Brewer advises other dealers, “Don’t shame anyone for not being as committed or high-budgeted as the ideal.”
Brewer maintains one aspect of old-world service: equipment service and repair. That’s no easy feat these days: Such skills are increasingly rare. “It’s essentially impossible to find someone qualified to repair hi-fi,” he said. “I was very fortunate to have a longtime friend with some skill—and to have had a 20-year–old wunderkind come through my door one day.”
Brewer’s prior hi-fi sales experience informs his selection of components to sell. His go-to word is “reasonable”: reasonable build quality, reasonable design, reasonable reliability, reasonable performance in relation to price; ie, value. He is willing to take chances on new brands; sometimes they prove popular, sometimes not. “We sell a lot of affordable gear in this market, but we won’t sell bad gear.” “Bad gear,” he clarified, could mean an unjustifiable price, a dead-end design flaw, glitchy software, misleading specs—or it could just mean bad sound.
New England Hi-Fi carries mostly new equipment, but the store stocks and sells select vintage gear, including items that might have been sold in the store’s prior incarnation, such as a pair of old Klipsch speakers seen there recently.
Brewer faces challenges hi-fi stores didn’t face in earlier decades. Back then, retailers had protected territories. Today, local retailers compete with larger online retailers; it’s even difficult for a small local dealer to obtain and maintain product because bigger dealers get priority. That’s why a loyal customer base is essential for survival. “It’s hard, and I can’t blame people for the convenience [of buying online], but I like to think we live in a place that values local business and community.” So he focuses on developing relationships with his customers. That means offering affordable equipment alongside higher-end equipment. “Hi-fi should be accessible, and the fact that it often is not, whether by price or pretense, is too bad,” he said. “I guess we’re hi-fi socialists.”
Brewer seems realistic, with feet planted firmly on the ground. He’s a student of what works in his market and what doesn’t. He has found, for example, that even including custom installs, surround sound is on the decline. New England Hi-Fi’s focus on the lower- and midpriced parts of the market runs counter to opinions I’ve heard from some other sources in column after column over the last few years—though opinions have admittedly been mixed. “There are plenty of companies offering performance that’s affordable, but a lot of dealers want to leave that to the big boxes and lean into the higher end. I totally get it, and I’m sure that’s great in some markets….It’s just not what works here. I think the future is in mid-fi and in earning the support of our communities.”
Dealership proprietors must understand and serve the markets they’re located in while running businesses they can believe in. “The gap between high-end prices and entry level is absolutely enormous,” Brewer told me. “The aspirational became the impossible.” That ultimately might not benefit the industry because it pushes some people away, so to Brewer it makes little sense.
“This hobby and industry is obviously in an overall decline from where it was, so don’t gatekeep it against anyone who wants in,” he advises. A dealership’s success—and the hi-fi industry’s health if not survival—depends on it.
Footnote 1: For more, see newenglandhifi.com/our-history.
Footnote 2: See Twisted Sister guitarist and former hi-fi salesman Jay Jay French’s account of working at Lyric here.
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