Hip Denver clothing boutique FM is marking 20 years of handcrafted fashion, artist pop-ups, and playful programming with a new vinyl listening lounge on South Broadway.
Tucked behind its roughly 2,800 square-foot retail building at 59 N. Broadway in Denver, and located at the end of a hallway, the 1,100 square-foot space — really, a pair of rooms linked by an archway — had previously been leased to other retail tenants, according to FM owner and founder Matthew Brown.
They included two vintage clothing and home-goods stores, he said. But without windows or a clear path from the front, the spaces struggled to draw attention, especially as the FM’s emphasis on music culture was slowly becoming its own draw.
“The juice wasn’t worth the squeeze for those back spaces,” he said. “But I was hosting DJ setups in the store and had this fantasy about having a permanent DJ booth that we wouldn’t have to tear down at the end of the day. We’ve also been selling a curated collection of records from in an open space in the back of the main store.”
Once the final tenant’s lease ran out, Brown learned to build furniture and rebooted the back rooms as and gathering space, fulfilling a long-held dream.
“I’m totally a vinyl guy and have these DJ parties where it’s all vinyl,” said Brown, who founded his store as Fancy Tiger Clothing before changing the name to FM in 2019. “I got in my head that I wanted a really nice, hi-fi, vintage sound system. So I bought one, although I had to drive the speakers back from Phoenix.”
Brown’s Klipsch La Scala speakers (which are typically sold new for about $15,000 a pair) complement a modest but obsessively designed space that features “warm lighting, rich wood tones, and an intimate atmosphere,” and which will soon host “vinyl events, intimate performances, and creative gatherings for Denverites seeking a more intentional way to experience music,” he said.
The Lounge will officially debut during the new, local music festival Blucifer’s First Rodeo, scheduled to take place at various independent South Broadway venues Thursday, July 23-Sunday, July 26. With more than 150 acts on the bill and impressive buzz heading into the first-year event, Blucifer’s provides an opportunity to introduce the space to a core audience of music lovers, Brown said.
Customers can also check out the FM Lounge during the store’s 20th anniversary party on Saturday, Aug. 29, and Sunday, Aug. 30. Brown’s still updating the website but said all the details will be up soon at .
Brown has for the last decade side-gigged as a DJ, sharing his tightly curated vinyl collection with store customers, friends and at paid sets at venues. As a 52-year-old who doesn’t drink much alcohol, he saw a need for a gathering and vinyl DJ-performance space that wasn’t centered around drinking or late-night partying, but rather “intentional listening” with small groups of up to 60 people.
He digs listening bars such as Denver’s 5-year-old ESP HiFi, he added, but said some sets from guest DJs there don’t start until 10 p.m., a time at which he’s already in bed most nights. He’s also less interested in cocktails than audience connections, helping him stand apart from also-thoughtful but bar-based concepts such as Capitol Hill’s new Pigeon listening lounge.
Denver lately has been experiencing a vinyl-culture renaissance, with a steady stream of listening bars, mom-and-pop retailers, and all-vinyl dance parties filling up empty spaces and calendar spots. That includes Wax Trax’s 1,000-square-foot storefront opening at Aurora’s Stanley Marketplace on Saturday, July 18, following the Denver institution’s expansion last year with a Highland neighborhood location (see for more).
The FM Lounge represents an experiment for Brown that follows his own successful nights, such as , a drawing and handwriting workshop at FM that only allows about a dozen people per session. Brown also continues to run the , a “dark disco / indie dance / weird house” party that was founded 12 years ago and features all-vinyl sets, most recently taking place at the Roxy on Broadway.
“We’re not reinventing the wheel with this lounge, but it offers a chance to separate a little from the store,” he said. “We have a parking lot, people can enter in the alley after the store closes, and you can go at 8 p.m. and leave before 10 without feeling like you missed something. I really like the idea of things that start and end early.”
The space does not have a liquor license and, for now, will function as an under-the-radar gathering spot for music and culture hounds, Brown said, as well as other programming. His mission is to keep photos of the lounge off social media, compelling the curious to come in and see it for themselves.
“I’ve considered expanding and opening another store, as I was invited to at The Source before it mostly became a hotel, but I like to focus on a single location,” Brown said. “I want the FM Lounge to grow organically, just like the store.”
