Audiophil's Records Finds New Downtown Joliet Store, Triples Space

JOLIET, IL — When Phil and Tiffany Johnson opened Joliet's first exclusive records store in 2018, they figured it would be a success if they lasted a year in downtown Joliet. Six years later, the owners of Audiophil's Records have turned into a Joliet destination, regularly drawing record enthusiasts from New Lenox, Frankfort, Chicago, Wilmington and Indiana.

Saturday marks Record Store Day, and Audiophil's will celebrate by opening its new location in downtown Joliet, allowing the Johnsons to triple the size of their retail store.

At least 400 customers will visit the new Audiophil's storefront at 76 North Chicago Street during Saturday's Record Store Day, the Johnsons predicted during Wednesday's Joliet Patch interview.

Audiophil's plans to have several new records available for the opening of its new storefront including: The Weekend, Olivia Rodrigo, Taylor Swift's "The Tortured Poet's Department" and Sabrina Carpenter — as well as Pauly Shore And The Crustys, which is featured in the photo below.

Audiophil's will keep its same phone number, and hours and days of operation: Tuesday through Saturday, noon to 7 p.m.

Audiophil's buys, sells and trades records.

"We're all excited to be together," Phil Johnson said, referring to the cluster of restaurants and business owners all located along Joliet's North Chicago Street.

Audiophil's has nearly tripled its storefront space at the new location, 76 North Chicago Street, inside downtown Joliet's historic Barber Building owned by Mike Petry.

For the past six years, Audiophil's was located on Van Buren Street, inside the historic Rialto Square Theatre building. At 17 East Van Buren Street, Audiophil's had 850 square feet of storefront space. Here inside the historic Barber Building, owned by long-time Joliet businessman Mike Petry, Audiophil's has 2,000 square feet of space.

"Some people are sad about us leaving this space," Phil Johnson said, referring to Audiophil's vacating their storefront inside the Rialto building. "We're saying, it's bigger and better, and it's still us. The love of a record store doesn't come with the building. It's the people running it."

These days, Audiophil's has amassed quite an inventory: the owners have roughly 10,000 media, mostly vinyl records, as well as CDs and cassette tapes for customers to browse and buy.

Previously, Diane Harris operated her upscale women's clothing store called It's Amazing, at 76 N. Chicago St.

"We were blessed that this came up," Phil Johnson said, referring to the new location across from the popular Chicago Street Pub. "We were never leaving downtown Joliet. We have an odd love for downtown. We see the future. It's here, the revival of the downtown."

As for Petry, the building owner, "he's wonderful to work with," Phil Johnson said.

Tiffany Johnson said she also likes their new storefront, bringing them greater visibility, facing North Chicago Street.

"I love it. I love it," she said. "The community down here is amazing."

Last June, Joliet Patch broke the news about another enormously popular retail storefront that opened in downtown Joliet inside the historic Barber Building —Prison City Vintage, at 72 North Chicago St. Prison City Vintage sells all eras of vintage clothing and more, according to store owner Shayne Kelly.

Now, Prison City Vintage and Audiophil's will become next door neighbors.

"He's doing really well," Phil Johnson said of Shayne Kelly. "We're going to feed off each other. It's the niche stores like ours that make a downtown, a downtown. We're all excited to be together as opposed to us being off on the corner."

As for what's ahead with the new storefront for Audiophil's, "We're going to try to do more events, live music, a ukulele club," Phil Johnson said. "We now have room to double our inventory."

Related Joliet Patch coverage:

Joliet Opens Vintage Clothing Store: 'You Ever See American Pickers?'

Audiophil's Records Opens In Downtown Joliet

Historic Barber Building: Huge Demand For Downtown Living