By Annelise Schouten
“Cool” Chris Veltri, owner of 687 Haight’s Groove Merchant in San Francisco, a historical site for crate diggers, samplers, and music lovers alike, has been at the store since the mid-nineties. Being a hub for music producers and artists, the store exhibits an obscure collection of soul, hiphop, jazz, breakbeats, rare groove, and international sounds.
Being a disc jockey and lover of anything soul, funk, and jazz myself, I first stumbled upon Chris Veltri and the legacy of Groove Merchant through Ubiquity records. Releasing a plethora of my all time favorite albums, including Gloria Ann Taylors’ “Love Is A Hurtin’ Thing”, Darondo’s “Let My People Go”, Ikebe Shakedown’s “Stone By Stone” and Shawn Lee’s “Moods And Grooves”, I would always look through Ubiquity’s many rare groove gems and releases from its imprint Luv N’ Haight for my own listening. Michael McFadin, founder of the Luv N’ Haight record label, which was soon incorporated as Ubiquity Recordings in 1993, first opened Groove Merchant in early 1990. In 1997 Veltri took over ownership of the shop, spending the last 30 odd years curating its collection and founding his own record labels, Dis-Joint & Re-Joint Records, in the process.
Its history goes beyond record label foundings and shifts in management, being a true site of music history and discovery. Situated in the Lower Haight, between Pierce and Steiner, the store’s location and collection has made Veltri and the store recognized globally as one of the best purveyors of rare media. Favorite rap and hiphop artists of mine like the Beastie Boys, Pete Rock, Alchemist, Madlib, Q-tip, and People Under Stairs had all gone to Groove Merchant to find hidden gems for their own sampling. Even shouted out in Beastie Boys song “Proffessor Booty” off their 1992 album Check Your Head, “This one goes out to my man the Groove Merchant, comin’ through with the beats that I’ve been searchin’,” the history and records associated with the store perfectly aligned with my musical interests and taste across genres.
In late October of 2025, I went to Groove Merchant to interview Veltri. Engaging in conversation about his process of curation, the many characters that walk into the store, and Groove Merchant’s legacy. While I flipped through the many crates he stood behind his desk putting new records on while speaking with other customers, I left my recorder on his desk. The following text is pulled from over an hour of said conversation.
This interview has been edited for clarity and concision*
A: So where do you go to source the material found in the store?
C: Yeah, so locally, Alemany (flea market) is really good. Alameda too. There’s a couple up in the North Bay in Petaluma and San Rafael that I go to. Then in the East Bay, the Coliseum’s okay… I heard Ashby is maybe me no longer? That used to be great. Same with Laney College, but for me, it’s Alemany. That’s my top fave.
A: And when you go, what are you exactly looking for?
C: Um, really anything, you know, we kind of stock, as you can see here, 45s, LPs, and then there’s a lot of paper and ephemera. This city has such a strong history with pretty much every musical scene, so there’s a lot of paper generated over the last, you know, 60 years, so a lot of that stuff ends up at the flea market, and I like to buy that, but all in all, it’s a really good city for records, so a lot of good things turn up at the flea market.
A: And when did you start here? What about it caught your eye?
C: Well I grew up in L.A., and when I lived in L.A., I would drive up here and this was my favorite record store before I even lived up here. And then it just so happened that when I moved up here, they knew me and they needed somebody, so I started working here. Then, shortly after I bought the shop. So I’ve been here since ‘ 94 and I bought the shop in ’97.
A: And what do you think about the location of the store, being so influential for music history and such?
C: It’s good. It’s not the upper Haight, which I prefer. It’s a little more relaxed, but good foot traffic, just always been a pretty diverse neighborhood culturally, and you know, working class.
A: What about the shop do you think is attractive to producers?
C: Well, like I was telling you, we’ve always kind of been known for the obscure and if you’re a producer and you make music, you want to kind of go down the path least traveled. They know that we’ll have things that are kind of obscure and, you know, maybe nobody has used before. We’re also known for carrying soul and funk music, which is the backbone of hip hop and those kinds of things. But yeah, we’ve always kind of championed the obscure kind of underground sound.
A: Having been referenced in popular media, with the Beastie Boys’ track “Professor Booty” as an example, what other notable people have come through here?
C: Um. Pretty much anybody that’s used the sampler at one point or another has been through here. Everybody from New York, digging in the crates crew, Showbiz, Diamond D, Q-tips been here, Biz Markie’s been here, Quest Love’s been here a mess of times. Now all the West Coast guys Cut Chemist, Alchemist, People Under the Stairs. Yeah, pretty much anybody that’s made music using a sampler that really wants recorded sounds that possibly haven’t been used before has popped through here at one point or another.
A: And what kind of conversations do you say you have with them? Do you facilitate how they go through the store?
C: No, I try to be hands off. I might hand them a few things that I think are good, but I mostly let people just, you know, dig on their own.
A: What is your involvement with Ubiquity records and your own record labels that you have started?
C: Well, that label started in the shop, and I’ve helped out with a few reissues and a couple compilations. We had my partner Vinny and I had a record label together that we ran out of the shop here, too, but that was long gone.
A: What was that one called?
That was called Distjoint, and then we had a reissue label called Rejoint.
A: Sick and when did that start?
C: That started around 2001 and, I mean, it’s still kind of around. We just haven’t put out anything for a while. At some point, I’d like to start it again.
A: And those are releases that you found…
C: Yeah, or new music, just customers, people we met, who make music and we like it.
A: What do you think about new music, soul, and the current music scene?
C: I’m wide open.. I unfortunately get so immersed in old records just because it’s what we do here, and I always have to price records. Sometimes I price a couple thousand a week. So I fall out of touch with new stuff, but, you know, there’s always fantastic music coming out. I’ll never be that guy that says, there’s no good new sh*t or anything like that. Yeah, it might take a minute to weed through it, but there’s always, you know, there’s always going to be a scene somewhere where something cool is happening. Yeah, you just got to be looking for it.
A: Do you have a favorite record that has come through here recently that’s new?
C: I can’t stop playing this song (Best Thing I Can Do (Vocal) by Wind), which is kind of an old song, but it never came out. You might actually, like, this. It’s a modern soul song from a band called Wind, The Numero group put it out.
A: Oh, sweet thank you, I always look at numero group releases a lot to find new sounds for my radio show.
C: Yeah, they’re old buddies of mine. I was just talking to them today, actually.
A: That’s sweet. Is there a whole network of labels that you collaborate with for releasing found media?
C: Yeah, we collaborated on things here and there, mostly books we do a few books together, you know.
A: What kind of books?
C: Found photography, mostly. We did this series on unknown musicians, just found photographs of unknown musicians… Yeah, if you check our Instagram, there’ll be a new one coming out, maybe.. a little luck in the next two months.
A: I’m currently studying art history and curatorial studies, so I’m really interested in the process of archival work, going into music history as well. So I was wondering what your experience has been in curating a collection like this? And how does that process typically go for you?
C: Whatever you’ve seen in the shop is dictated by what I find that week, that month, which keeps it fun and interesting. For me, the most important thing about the shop is just creating a space of discovery, so like, I always try to bring in records that you just don’t see commonly, and that’s usually done through a network of trading and really searching out records that just don’t pop up.
A: How would you say your community contributes to that network?
C: Yeah, I mean, there’s always been a really strong music scene in the bar area, you know, historically, and, you know, it’s always been a DJ city. It’s always had a dance scene. There’s always something going on. And, you know, there’s tons of record collectors here.
A: What’s all this stuff behind you?
C: Um, this mess back here staring at? Um, 45s that are kind of like in limbo or on hold for people. Various crap I need to price, but a miscellanea of mess. That’s one way to tell a good record store. The good ones are rarely tidy.
A: Outside of the store, what does your own personal collection look like?
C: It’s not huge. I have a few thousand records. I listen to a lot of jazz, a lot of Latin music, a lot of Jamaican music, some Brazilian music, kind of new and old. Yeah, a lot of soul. A little bit of rap. Lots of reggae.
A: As a closing question, what do you hope for the future and legacy of Groove Merchant?
C: Just to keep going, you know, as long as the one thing that, if anything, I’ve learned in 30 years is that it’s endless, like, you’ll never see it all. So, with that mentality, you know, it’s just, there’s always more, it’s cyclical. There’s always just going to be new stuff coming out, new things to get into. But Americana music culture is so vast that you’ll never hear it all. It’s just, that’s what makes it fun. It just keeps going.
In the process of speaking with Veltri, I walked through the store picking out records and observing the many interactions the store facilitates. Being graciously gifted an incredible collection of vinyl, cd, and even a vintage poster during my time at the store, Groove Merchant truly fosters community engagement and returning faces. The walls, lined with ephemera, were filled with personal stories and references to San Francisco’s scene and Veltri’s own life. Though not recorded as a part of this interview, Veltri told the story of a Jimi Hendrix oil painting that hung about stacks of magazines and paper media. A true testament to what it means to collect, value, and love physical media, he recounted what it was like to overtake another man’s music collection, dropping the needle on records that he knew were gonna be listened to for the last time, understanding the importance of one’s music when looking back on life as a whole.
As a final remark I’d like to give a huge thank you to Chris Veltri for speaking with me, putting me onto some incredible music, and teaching what it means to be a curator and collector. I would highly recommend going to Groove Merchant to see and experience the space for yourself, you’re sure to find some gems. Written below are some of the tracks I found while at the store.
Recommendations of tracks/ albums I got put onto:
★ Dis-jointed (10 Heavy Duty Sure Shot Selections)
- Horace Andy – Musical Episode
- Dub Diablo – The Shape Up
- Ronnie Gee – Raptivity (Instrumental Mix)
- Stranger & Shortbus – Rush On
- Solid C, Bobby D & Kool Drop With Wackies Disco Rock Band – Wack Rap (Version Mix)
- Exotic Pets – Bush Skank
- Deep Fuzz – Kinky Bus Stop
- Zap Pow – Lottery Spin
- Human Race – Human Race
- Flavornaughts – New Dawn
★ Bass House
- T. Roy, J. Smith, W. Hammond, T. Grant – Hold You Tight (Radio Edit 100 bpm)
- T. Roy, J. Smith, W. Hammond, T. Grant – Hold You Tight (SF Radio Mix 100 bpm)
- Tuhin Roy, Jake Smith – For Two (Radio Mix 116 bpm)
- Tuhin Roy, Jake Smith – For Two (House Mix 116 bpm)
- Tuhin Roy, Jake Smith – For Two (Dance Mix 116 bpm)
- T. Roy, J. Smith, W. Hammond, T. Grant – Hold You Tight (Club Mix 100 bpm)
★ Numero Group (Eccentric Modern Soul Compilation)
- Mind & Matter – I’m Under Your Spell
- Ujima – Maybe
- Cosmos Universal Band – Third Eye
- 94 East – If You See Me
- Crystal’s Image – A Friend
- Arabi – Times Three
- Universal Togetherness Band – Dreamality
- Third Rail – Just Had To Tell You
- Clifton Dyson, Gwen Matthews – I’m Giving Up
- Wind – Best Thing I Can Do (Vocal)
- Wee – Take To The Sky