Tony’s Muziekhuis in the little town of Geel is run by Tony Janssens, but it was founded by his father Frans more than 80 years ago. Tony originally sold radios, sheet music and musical instruments. Then he began to stock long playing records. Then cassettes.
For a small city like Geel, Tony’s is an amazing place. It stocks more than 35,000 records. Everything from Elvis’ 1956 hit That’s Alright Mama to Adele’s latest album. It was voted the best record shop in Belgium in 2019 and again in 2021. Belgian and Dutch music fans drive hundreds of kilometres to pick up a rare vinyl release.
Tony’s became even more famous in 2020 when Bruce Springsteen posted a photo of the shop window on social media. Tony had caught Springsteen’s attention with his hand-painted sign announcing the new album Letter to You.
Derek Blyth’s hidden secret of the day: Derek Blyth is the author of the bestselling “The 500 Hidden Secrets of Belgium”. He picks out one of his favourite hidden secrets for The Brussels Times every day.
