FG: Why the move from Long Island?
ME: Northport is a great little town, but it's not a great location for a small business. It was a very picturesque place to raise a family. It has a little bit of culture, but it wasn't really conducive, in my opinion, to a small business.

You know, Word, the bookstore? We used to share a 200-year-old house with them. She was there a few years before me, and I moved in next door. It was good for a little while; then she and her husband decided to move from Long Island to live in Greenpoint. We started to look at places in Williamsburg to share, but I didn't really see anything that I liked. Christine, the owner, settled on Franklin Street, and then I started to look around here as well. So I kind of, in a sense, followed her. I've been living in Brooklyn since '94, so the fact that I had a store that far away from me was kind of silly.

FG: What is it you like about Greenpoint?
ME: When I came to see this space, there were so many little stores popping up. There's a real sense of community here. Everyone is really supportive of one another. I'm friends with the people at Queen's Hideaway, I know the people across the street, I know the people at the coffeehouse nearby … everyone is kind of rooting for everyone else to succeed. In an urban setting, I found that kind of refreshing. When you come out to Greenpoint, you definitely feel a little more cut off, a little more remote … there's something really nice about it.

FG: How do you select your stock?
ME: I guess it's just as personal as anything else. I just pick things that I like to have around me. I've just been doing this for a really long time. I worked in the music industry for years. I've been a music fan and collector for a really long time. The size of the store kind of dictates what I can and can't carry … obviously I can't carry everything. We do a lot of special ordering for people who want something that we don't stock—we can easily get that in a day or two.

FG: Who is your dream band for an in-store performance? (The store hosts free shows every Saturday at 3pm.)
ME: Oh my, the Kinks. No … that's a terrible question! I would love for any band to play here ... I'm a huge Guided by Voices fan. When I opened my first store, I got to know Doug Gillard, who was in the band. I thought maybe I should call Doug and we could do this really rare in-store performance in Northport. But Guided by Voices, that would be my dream, I guess. But there's so many … I would love for so many bands to play here.

FG: What's your favorite part about owning Permanent Records?
ME: It's probably the same reason I did it in the first place, which is not having to work for anybody else. There's an upside and a downside to that, like missing that steady paycheck every week. But there's a certain amount of freedom. I think I'm good at it, and I love being around music all the time. I think it's a good match for me, at least for right now.