The reason why Smile reminds me of Rob Gordon’s record shop in High Fidelity remains a bit of a mystery to this day. Obviously, if you haven’t seen the film, go and watch it: it’s worth it, and above all, it’ll make you feel a bit like a dreamer and a bit like a professional, which doesn't hurt these days.
We are in Rome, in the Garbatella neighbourhood. And yes, we are in the iconic spots of the series I Cesaroni: so you can take a selfie and, at the same moment, enjoy a serious drink.
The neighbourhood bar
After years of trendy rooftops, industrial and glossy venues, we find ourselves again facing a new consumer need (and yes, it should be listened to, because in the end it’s what "makes the till ring"): which is the neighbourhood bar. This new need to feel at home, where the bartender (BLOODY HELL, THE BARTENDER, and we repeat it) knows you and you are no longer just a number. In this new format, SMILE fits in perfectly because it completes that revolution we needed:
You drink like you’re in a 5-star hotel, but you’re in sneakers just down the road from home. Because we’re all a bit fed up with always being at 100%. Perhaps a new message should be cleared: to be COOL, you have to be authentic.
Listening Bar
And here we are with the most popular word of 2026: the listening bar. But have we ever wondered what it really is? For those who don’t know, they were born in Japan around the 50s: they were places where, for the price of a coffee, people could sit and listen to rare albums on professional quality audio systems. Back to Smile: that place is a small world for vinyl lovers, where you find what you’re looking for and where you go crazy in front of reality.
The communication of those who saw it coming
In this place everything seems left to chance, as if one morning the owners woke up and decided to open their bedrooms to perfect strangers, letting them into their intimacy. But, basic
ally, they just understood how to hit the mark. You find yourself in the "little room" of one of them, convinced that everything is casual, when in reality everything is studied to leave you with that feeling of home, of transgression and of wanting to sit down and enjoy what you don’t yet know.
The clientele you don’t expect
While you’re sitting on your little chair, in a small square overlooking the Palladium Theatre, enjoying your drink after work, you happen to turn around and see Andrea Fofi at the tiny bar chatting with Federico Leone. They are standing there, eating a piece of pizza and drinking, not giving a toss about everything around them. They give us a life lesson: the right place, often, is the bar that slams its presence in your face without shouting. But maybe the real life lesson is given to us by Smile and its clientele: because this place is made of people, it contains something that today is difficult to find. Smile’s real victory isn’t the numbers. It’s seeing Nonna Angela, 85 years old, sitting at the table with a twenty-year-old university student. It’s the ability to unite worlds that elsewhere wouldn’t speak to each other.
On April 10th 2024, for Smile’s first birthday, we had 2500 people. But perhaps what really remains of that birthday after two years is Riccardone’s nan, 85-year-old Nonna Angela who brought the fettine "panate". Oh yes, Nonna Angela made us the fettine "panate" for our birthday.
Obviously, let's remember that Smile is a place that knows the rules of communication very well and knows how to use them, but we never said that this was wrong.
"Can you hear the difference? This is a real record, not a collection of bits. It has a soul, it has scratches, it has a history. And the most important thing is that it doesn't try to please you at all costs. It’s there, and that's it." Rob Gordon
