Dense is closing. Goodbye and thank you.
Though the rumor had been spreading for a few weeks, it is only last week that our announcement of October 15th Dense’s goodbye party made it official. The Dense record-store is closing very soon. After 8 years of dedicated and faithful work at the service of Berlin’s electronic music scene and fans, Dense will switch off the lights for the last time on Tuesday, October 25th.
The closing of the store raises many questions and generates a fair share of speculations, things we would like to answer and dispel with this short statement.
Opened in 2003 by a trio spawning from the promotion agency of the same name, Dense has always had a goal to present a wide array of electronic music to its customers, ranging from left-of-center experimental music to more club-compatible sounds. This mission statement was followed to the letter from the beginning till the current end of the store, even though the store had a troubled history of shifting teams and address moves. In late 2007, the remaining people implicated in the store’s inception left, and its direction was taken over by long time employee Daniel Reisser and Nicolas Chevreux. Dense was then facing many difficulties, which were overcome over the following years, partly with a move from our original spots in Prenzlauer Berg to Friedrichshain.
From 2007 to 2011, we dedicated a lot of energy and an absurd amount of time to securing the store’s situation. We confirmed the eclectic aspect of our offer, multiplied the in-store gigs, curated monthly events outside of our walls, and, most importantly, brought the books back into the green. It is important for us to state that, as we’re reaching the final days of the store, Dense is not in debt and is paying all its suppliers. It is common knowledge that record stores are going through an extremely tough period at the moment (for various reasons which are too complex to touch here), but Dense was able to keep afloat till now.
However, running the store’s daily operations and constantly trying to expand its scope and means have taken a lot of energy and time. We have thoroughly enjoyed working on and at Dense, but these past four years have been spent between this voluntary-work of sort (if Dense pays for itself, it sadly wasn’t enough for us to quit our other jobs) and the rest of our activities. May it be Daniel’s frequent DJ gigs or studies, or Nicolas’s running his Ad Noiseam label, we have had particularly hectic years, short nights and the constant pressure of investing energy both in Dense and in whatever we had to do on the side. Rents and groceries had to be paid; as years went by, we slowly grew too tired of juggling between different jobs. We recently learned that Dense would be once again forced to move in the Autumn of 2011 (for reasons independent of us) and we were forced to ask ourselves whether we could adequately find a new empty store (in a city where rents have been going up steeply) and promote our new address well enough, though still being able to do everything we have to for our daily lives.
It was a very sad realization to understand that we had reached a point where the work needed for Dense was above our strengths. We have invested a big part of our live in this store, and wish that we could keep it alive. But it seems impossible for us, after years of fighting against the tide, to move Dense again and spend all the energy necessary for everything to go as well as we wish it did. The time has come for us to move on and focus on other things. Daniel will keep on spinning, Nicolas will keep on working on Ad Noiseam, and we’ll still invest a lot of ourselves for the music and audiences that have accompanied Dense for so long.
Dense’s last day of business will be Tuesday, October 25th. We would be happy to see our customers a last time, and are having a final sale on our remaining stock till then. Please support us a last time, take advantage of this rebate, and get a last shot of good music at the store.
We want to express our thanks to our customers as well as to the labels, distributors and friends who have supported Dense all over the years. It’s been an amazing time, which we will not forget and which, in an ideal world, would not reach its end. We’re back on your side of the counter now, and, more than ever, it is our intent to support the scene we together have been part of for so long.
So long, thank you, and see you around.
Nicolas Chevreux & Daniel Reisser, October 2011
Spyweirdos
