Rough Trade New York moving to ?

I will admit that I really miss street date being on Tuesdays. For some reason that was way more fun...

If I do want to buy a new rock/pop/indie title on street date, I can go to Rough Trade or even Barnes and Noble, but I'll admit that, these days, if I am really excited about a new release I usually pre-order it from the artist or label directly...

 

Honestly, I would put it towards the bottom of the list of New York stores to visit...but it is good for new indie rock releases and for their cut-out bins, which can have good deals. But yeah, I wouldn't say it's a priority. Maybe check their website and see if there is anything you're interested in beforehand. If I am doing a big circuit of NYC shops, sometimes I will stop by on my way home and do a quick sweep of the new arrivals and the cut-out rack. Even by the end of its run in Williamsburg I wasn't finding much good stuff at that location either, for whatever reason.

Went out to some shops today. Despite @Chee's baseless assertions that there are no bargains left on the island of Manhattan, I got some cool LPs for next to nothing at the Chelsea Flea Market ($5 Impulse LPs? Sign me up!), then hopped over to the Jazz Record Center, where I picked up a used copy of the Speaker's Corner remaster of The Individualism of Gil Evans...cheapest copy on Discogs is $99. JRC price? $25. Hit up Academy on 18th afterwards and found a rare Shadow Ring LP for $5 less than the lowest Discogs price as well...

Do I miss Tower, HMV, Virgin, and J&R? Sure -- they filled a niche, but it's one that no longer exists anymore...thankfully Manhattan's got plenty of good shops left!

 

But…but…wasteland!

I do love a cut-out bin, but I’m spoiled by the sale bins at Newbury Comics and Bull Moose locations up here. It’s gotten to where I can look at the RSD list and know which ones I can pick up for $9.99 in six months.

 

We've proven repeatedly that you are completely, utterly, and belligerently incorrect here. You are so wrong that you are not even worth replying to anymore. You are driven not by a love of music but by a pathological desire for a bargain entirely divorced from reality or passion.

Clearly your ignorance is comforting to you. It would be tragic if it weren't so damned annoying.

Enjoy haunting the dollar bins at Albums on the Hill and filling your home with battered Loggins and Messina LPs while the rest of us take advantage of the rich record-hunting opportunities the five boroughs have to offer, be they at retail shops, off of card tables on street corners, in flea markets, or record fairs.

 

There is no "rich record hunting opportunities" in NYC, ask anybody, those days are over....you can't get bargains in NYC....Discogs, eBay and dealers looming hourly into whatever is left has ended it. I bought everything sealed in the 70's and early 80's in NYC at Disc-O-Mat. I don't need to look for the rare anymore, I got everything I wanted at Rockages Conventions at the Diplomat on 43rd in 1978, or Downstairs Records at 6th and 42nd in the subway arcade for 45's going back to 1973!. We had a record convention yesterday where it cost $20 to "get in early".....whatta joke, it was cleaned out by the dealers for an hour before...even conventions stink if you can't get early at the set-up. I hit Canal Street flea markets in 1978, they were pretty good. I gave Albums On The Hill those Loggins And Messina albums in 1983, I traded for the promotional posters from the backroom. "Do ya have anymore of dese Loggins N Messinas...we got lots more of dese posters".

 

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Grandpa's been into the Nyquil again.

 

NYC is a joke for looking for records unless you want book prices or Discogs prices. They have their owners pull the good stuff for eBay or Discogs or just put ridiculous prices on everything else. Out of the country buyers left in droves years ago. Visit Record Surplus in L.A. for the NYC version in L.A.. It has been over for years. Sam Goody, Tower, Disc-O-Mat, and all the other media chains left years ago. The Manhattan record show left town....it imploded.

 

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...steering this thread back to its intended topic, I actually went to Rough Trade yesterday. The things I like about it (strong selection of new alt/indie releases, friendly staff, cool curated book rack) are still intact, as are the things I don't like (those sky-high prices).

What surprised me was that they'd expanded their used selection, and actually had some quite good things. While not bargains, their prices were in line with Discogs values, and maybe a little lower. I got an Impulse Sun Ra LP in fantastic shape for below market rate and a Todd Rundgren bootleg I'd never seen before. Still not my favorite NYC shop, but a pleasant surprise...

Then I went over to a flea market on the UWS and got some cool LPs for VERY reasonable prices...

 

"Those sky-high prices". Says it all. Sounds like Barnes N Noble CD section.....do they still exist in that chain? NYC is toast, ask anybody at the next WFMU sale.

 

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I'm a big fan of Sound Garden. I don't live in the area so have only been there maybe 10 times over the years, but I find the selection to be good, and the used records priced very fairly - some have been downright bargains.

 

So what are you saying... the record store owners in the rest of the country are stupid, or don't care as much about making money?

Because that's basically what you are saying. Discogs is available to sellers from all of the world, not just NYC.

 

Yeah...don't try to reason with that useless, irrational gasbag who posts as @Chee. He just prattles on with no facts or experience to back up his drunken, senile ramblings. He's clearly not visited New York since his third divorce was finalized and his kids were still speaking to him. He has no idea what the landscape is like for record-buying here these days. You throw out examples of the great opportunities for discovery and bargains that exist here and he just yells "NEW YORK IS OVER" to the pile of soiled laundry that is fighting a battle with the all the discarded pizza boxes and Big Mac wrappers for dominance over his sad one-bedroom apartment. Meanwhile, all the overdue traffic tickets and delinquent summonses for overdue alimony for wife #2 are piled so high on his turntable that he can't even use it anymore...

I've lived in six major eastern cities, and New York is by far the best place I've lived when it comes to finding records. I certainly never found rare synthwave 45s on a card table in Spanish Harlem for $1 each, Impulse LPs at record fairs for $2 each, rare minimalist LPs at flea market for $4 a pop, or great audiophile LPs for 75% off at cool local retailers anywhere else.

 

Hey, look: A bunch of @Chee's redundant, ignorant posts were deleted. It feels like waking up on Christmas morning. Just delightful.

 

All that aside, I guess different people have different idea of what are "the good records".
Personally what I like mostly or even interested in - is a British classic rock and British 1970's progressive rock. And yes, I prefer non-American, better UK or German vintage pressings from 1960's, 1970's and 1980's.
Now try to find any of that nowadays in any of NYC record stores - almost non existent. Or even if You will, price in most cases will be north of $30-40. Same thing is going on local record fairs.
It seems like record collecting days for me are almost over. Just too many 20+ y.o. amateurs around suddenly gladly shelling out $20 bills for any common domestically pressed crap (often even not in great shape) as soon as it says "The Beatles" or "Pink Floyd" on the cover.

 

It seems a little silly to complain that NYC record stores do not have an abundant supply of original import European prog/classic rock from the 60s/70s/80s at bargain prices -- that stuff is by definition finite and was already increasing in value and scarcity before the current vinyl bubble began to inflate. Bemoaning their paucity is akin to me saying that I am disappointed that the local shops here seem to barely have any limited edition private press '70s free jazz -- of course they don't! There wasn't much of it to begin with!

But yeah, you're not wrong about all the amateurs out there playing $20 for super common titles. Fortunately those are not the "collectors" I am competing with...

 

...quick update: I was in the neighborhood today and popped into Rough Trade's Manhattan store. It was fuller than I'd ever seen the Brooklyn store, with a great mix of tourists and locals. They had two cash registers going and a nice line, with most people buying multiple LPs and/or books.

It's still not among my favorite shops (their prices tend to be on the high side), but it was great to see them taking advantage of all the foot traffic and tourism in midtown. I'd much rather they be smaller and succeed than have them fail in that enormous Williamsburg location.

 

Do they carry CDs ? A lot of us don't do vinyl

 

I was in London a few weeks ago, and found the Fopp Store in Convent Garden. It reminded me of all the places that we USED to have in NYC, s store fully stocked with CDs, vinyl , and videos, both new releases and catalog titles.
Shopping there gave me a warm glow of nostalgia for what we lost in our city

 

that's great... I hope they make killing! I miss the days where there was a record store or 2 on every block in the Village!

 

They have a small selection of CDs in the back, and their prices on CDs tend to be way lower than on vinyl. Also, the flea markets around the city are GREAT places to buy CDs: The market is flooded with them and you can pick up fantastic titles for a buck or two each.

God this entitled boomer nostalgia gets so old so fast. Unfortunately, the marketplace for music in New York City (and most of the rest of the US) can't support the superstore model anymore. HMV, Tower, J&R, Virgin, the old Rough Trade...they all had their moment, but couldn't survive. It's a bummer, but things change.

Thankfully NYC is full of great smaller specialist shops, flea markets, and other fantastic outlets to buy music! I guess you can say I have a warm nostalgic glow for what we have NOW.

 

But funny, LA can support a huge Amoeba Records location, and San Francisco can support TWO !

Some of the NYC stores- like J&R and Virgin- closed purely because their landlords decided that they can get other tenants that were willing to pay a much higher rent (or in the case of J&R, sell the property for condos), now that those neighborhoods are hip and happening . I still believe that NYC could have supported at least one full service store, if run by people who knew the business and what they were doing. But you're right, those days are gone,,,,and the city is worse off for that . As for my own personal buying, having no decent stores is a gain for Amazon and ImportCDs and DeepDiscount . But in- person shopping WAS one of my greatest joys

 

My issue with Rough Trade - and I've been in the Brooklyn and London locations- is that I don't like "curated" stores, where someone decides what is "cool" right now, and only sell that. But if it works for them, I'm not hating .... Just not my thang