Records on Main in Littleton Opening April 26

Marshall Chernin's passion project is still alive, and so is he. But it wasn't until recent days that these statements became facts.

The enterprise at the center of Chernin's fantasies is Records on Main, a vinyl haven located at 2430 West Main Street in downtown Littleton. But during the run-up to its scheduled introduction on April 13, he suffered a horrific motorcycle accident that could easily have killed him. And while he survived the crash, he faces many, many weeks of recovery — an unavoidable necessity that put the business's very existence at risk.

Fortunately, that scenario will come to pass, although the opening was postponed until Saturday, April 26. Cassie Chernin, Marshall's daughter and the chief marketing officer for Records on Main, has temporarily moved from her home in the Los Angeles area to greater Denver and will run the shop in conjunction with her mother, Chernin's wife Tammy, until he is able to take over the management himself. A Kickstarter on behalf of the family and Records on Main has been launched.

"We know my dad was so excited about the launch, and so excited about Records on Main," Cassie says. "We felt like it was his dream, and we want to fulfill his dream."

Chernin went from delight to a near-death experience over three fateful days.
I connected with Chernin by phone on March 25. Moments into the conversation, it became abundantly clear that he wasn't your typical record-store operator.

"I came from running a high-end optical store in Manhattan to shoveling manure," he told me. "Not that I didn't love shoveling manure, because it kept me in shape. But I realized I needed to get back into retail — and I feel like music is a beautiful place to be."

Denver isn't a vinyl desert. The city proper is home to two of the country's best-known and most beloved record stores, Wax Trax and Twist & Shout, and several other fine shops — Angelo's CDs and Vinyl, Black & Read, Drop to Pop Records, Recollect Records, Sold Out Records and more — are scattered around the metro area. But there's currently no vinyl outlet in Littleton — and Chernin realized the community presented abundant opportunities after doing an impromptu tour of the area.

"I ride a Harley," he pointed out. "I'm a big motorcycle guy, and me and my guys go out and travel around. When I drove through Evergreen, there wasn't a person on the street. When I drove through Kittredge, there wasn't a person on the street. But downtown Littleton and Main Street are bopping. I think it's one of the most up-and-coming towns in the Denver area, and as we've been getting the shop ready to go, I've had people tell me they're tired of having to go into Denver for albums."

He added: "We're on Instagram, and even though we haven't even opened yet, we have over 500 followers. That's how excited the community is."
Although Chernin grew up in Long Island and spent most of his life in the New York-New Jersey region, his love for Colorado is longstanding. Over the years, he frequently visited the state with Tammy and their three children. He and Tammy even named their son Denver, after John Denver, who wound up studying computer engineering at the University of Colorado Boulder before settling in Littleton. Likewise, his sister Courtney, a math curriculum writer, calls Arvada home.

In the beginning, Chernin's professional career was all about eyes. "I am a licensed optician in the state of New York," he noted. "I worked for many people for about fifteen years. But I had a friend who was also an optician, and we opened a store at 81st and Lexington in Manhattan: Occhiali New York."

The retailer didn't target bargain hunters, he stresses. "You never would have heard of the names, but we sold the best eyewear from France and Belgium, and Zeiss lenses from Germany. We had clients like Uma Thurman and Madonna, but also a lot who weren't famous: the president of Merrill Lynch, many doctors. My partner and I were probably the two best opticians in New York, me being the first, obviously" — he laughed — "and the customer service was impeccable. You have to take care of the client and do whatever you can to make the client happy."

The lure of the West proved too strong, though, and Chernin eventually sold his share of the store to his partner and headed to Colorado. He and Tammy purchased a home in Bailey, and he made one of the most radical career shifts imaginable. "I became a ranch hand," he revealed. "It was me and my horses — and I loved it."

After seven years or so of shoveling out stables, Chernin retired. But this transition didn't stick. "I'm a go-getter New Yorker, and retirement bored me," he conceded.

In the meantime, Chernin, a one-time record collector who'd gotten out of the habit, rediscovered the joy of LPs.

"I bought a really beautiful system and started buying vinyls again — and I loved it," he said. "Tammy and I were talking about how maybe we should start a vinyl store, and one day, we were walking in Littleton and there was this incredible space."

The location in question was part of the Abbott Building, one of the first commercial establishments on Littleton's Main Street; the structure, whose design echoes the Italian Renaissance style, was erected in 1890 and declared a historic landmark by the town in 2001. Chernin was smitten. "Tammy and I talked about it," he allowed, "and within a week, we'd signed the lease for the store."

The shop remained under construction, but Chernin had a clear vision for the final product. "We're going to have albums that people want, and if somebody orders an album, we'll do our best to get it for them. The customer service is going to be incredible. And it's going to be a very welcoming place, with seats or couches in the front, where people can hang out and discuss their different music tastes and enjoy each other's company."

Also on tap was a used section that will be stocked with long-players and compact discs. But when it came to format, Chernin voiced a strong preference. "I own many CDs, but vinyls have a softer sound, and I fell in love with their warmth and beauty," he said. "I believe vinyls are what the artists intended their music to be played on."

As he spoke, Chernin's enthusiasm was unmistakable. "I've never been more excited to do something," he admitted. "It's a passion, something I love, and that's what makes it great. You want to go to work and love what you do, and I love being in the music industry."

The day after this conversation, March 26, I chatted with Chernin again to share the quotes I wanted to use and confirm their accuracy. Then, at 6:22 a.m. on March 27, Chernin emailed again to ask if I could include the links to the Records on Main website and Instagram page in our post, and I assured him I would. The exchange was as normal as normal can be.

What happened next certainly wasn't. Later that morning, Chernin was riding his motorcycle on Highway 285 near the Turkey Creek Road exit when he wiped out; Cassie believes he hit a patch of gravel and snow. The family isn't comfortable sharing further details of the wreck and its aftermath (the specifics are borderline miraculous), and they also prefer to describe his injuries as simply extensive rather than catalog every break and fracture (there are plenty). But the seriousness of the situation is epitomized with which Cassie rushed to Colorado. "I drove 21 hours straight to get here," she says.

Things were touch and go for a while, but at this point, Cassie says that "everybody's very optimistic that my dad will make a full recovery. He's quite a fighter, and very strong. But it's not going to be a two-week process. It's going to be a six-month process."

As of now, Cassie expects to be in Colorado for at least three months and is eyeing a soft opening for Records on Main on Saturday, April 26. In the meantime, she's looking to make the most of her vinyl solution.

"I'm a huge music fan," she emphasizes. "I actually did all the record-buying for the store and I'm absolutely excited to be able to be here. There's a silver lining to everything, and I'm excited to contribute and be a part of Records on Main."