Grails, Put Your Records On
Grails, Put Your Records On
by Mona Mahadevan
October 22, 2025 5:47 pm
Spotify and Apple Music aren’t stopping a local polymath from opening a new record store downtown.
More than 20 people filled that warmly lit store — called Grails, and located at 1020 Chapel St. — on Wednesday morning to dig through vinyl-packed milk crates, listen to R&B records, and chat.
The store’s owner, King Kenney, was joined by Mayor Justin Elicker, Arts Council Executive Director Hope Chávez, and his longtime supporters to celebrate the grand opening of a music store that aims to serve as a gathering space for audiophiles.
Before opening Grails, Kenney had worked as a writer, painter, DJ, and marketing executive for Long Wharf Theatre. Chávez, a longtime friend and former colleague, said she views Kenney as a “prolific artist” who produces “sophisticated,” “elegant,” and “deep” work.
“He can tell you the full lineage of every hip-hop album, and then yesterday, he put on opera,” she said.
Kenney is especially passionate about music, saying in a press release that “[t]he most honest version of myself has always been the one connected to music.”
Even in the age of streaming, Kenney is convinced that Grails can flourish. For one thing, the store specializes in a curated selection of “Holy Grails“: an elusive, unique set of specialty vinyls that music lovers spend years pursuing, even though the same songs are available online.
One of those audiophiles — Tim Mannle, better known as DJ Creative or Table Tyrant — has a wholesale preference for vinyls, saying “every [album] has a story.” Cover artwork is also “really important” to him, often making such an impact that he can “see a little of the cover and know every single song that’s on it.”
Mannle, who plays Wu-Tang vinyls Wednesday nights at Nolo, spent “hours and hours” of his life practicing on vinyl. For years, he trained as a competitive DJ and still “can’t get away from [his] records.” The record-playing experience is “much more tactile” than digital music, and it’s also more challenging, since it’s difficult “to make something sound flawless on vinyl.”
Chávez, while having no preference between vinyl and digital, views vinyl as “a completely different experience” to digital. She enjoys the “scratchiness” of records, and the fact that she has to stand up to flip or change out the album.
“This physical thing has been through time,” said Chávez. “Even a Sabrina Carpenter album transports you into an experience.”
Records show signs of age through warps, scratches, and other imperfections, said Chávez, which add a nuanced sound that digital alternatives lack.
Kenney is adamant about not selling CDs. He said he worked at a record store growing up and would see people stealing CDs “all the time.” They’d often remove the disc from the case, copy the music, and listen to digital versions of the songs. People who buy CDs “don’t care about the art on the case,” explained Kenney.
In addition to selling vinyls, cassettes, music players, and merch, Kenney’s inviting the broader community to gather in Grails.
Down the stairs from Arethusa’s ice cream shop, he set up comfy chairs, chess and Scrabble tables, and cozy lighting. He also created an extensive corner for kids — replete with a plastic turn table and lullaby versions of Taylor Swift — because he remembered how bored his 12-year-old daughter, Emilia Boeger, seemed when he shopped.
“You can feel the love down there,” said David DelVecchio, the director of real estate management at Yale University Properties. The 1020 Chapel St. retail spot is owned by Yale University Properties. It’s the only music store currently in the Yale portfolio.
Just before the ribbon cutting Wednesday, he praised the Grails Scholars Program, which came out of a partnership with the Neighborhood Music School. Grails plans to match any donations from customers to fund need-based scholarships for New Haven Public Schools students.
One customer, Azaria Tyler, left the store with four different records in tow. The two Alyson Williams albums, she said, “remind me of a Saturday morning with my mom, cooking grits, eggs, and toast, and then making us clean up the house.” She also left with a Kid ‘n Play album, which is more “Saturday night” and “good time vibes.”
Originally from Miami, Tyler was brought to New Haven by its vibrant theater scene. She currently works at Shubert Theatre and is aiming to partner with Grails so that Shubert performers can have a place to gather and potentially perform.
With her new albums, and her record player, which, she lamented, has been “collecting dust,” she said she’ll bring “rich, good music” to Saturday mornings with her 15-month-old son.