Other Music NYC to close...

It's happening all over. A fantastic local Italian restaurant in my city just north of Chicago closed out of nowhere last month, after 44 years in the business. Rising rents apparently being a huge contributing factor.

It's going to be massively depressing when every urban area in the US is covered solely in luxury condos, banks and high-end chain retailers.

 

I wish they would open up some places in Queens.

 

I always thought that would be a great idea for someone to do, especially at those food truck "events" where there's like a dozen trucks.

 

Oh, no. Really?

 

Sad to see them go but was kind of wondering how they'd done it this long.

Just a friendly PSA to support Aquarius records in San Francisco! They're like a west coast counterpart to Other Music, stock amazing "other"-type music, run by the nicest folks. They're in just as hostile a real estate environment. Mail order some stuff from them today!

 

It's always about the rent when it comes to NYC...we have just a few record stores left in the city.

 

I was there Saturday too, the guy at the counter didn't say anything to me about closing when I told him, I'm glad that they are still opened.

 

I was so hoping that the digital side of this shop would endure, but I guess it's not to be. Such a shame, as this was always a comforting sight, in this era of fewer and fewer record shops. For most of the last two decades, this place was the physical embodiment of everything I love about underground music and the New York scene. Just as my father-in-law misses the jazz clubs that once crowded West 52nd Street, I will mourn the record shops we've lost in recent years -- especially Other Music.

 

Soon there will be no more music stores left in NYC, they also took the WFMU record fare over to Brooklyn last year which was very bad for me. I have to commute from NJ.
That was major blow for some of us. What burns me up is that WFMU is radio station located in Jersey City. You mean to tell me they couldn't find a place in Jersey...

 

Yes, Aquarius rules! but I also got a lot of musical information from Other Music. New York is over! Almost everywhere is over now. It really makes me want to cry.

 

sad news, mostly because it's yet another in a series of clamorous death knells for small businesses here. in addition to the rents here - which are absurd - I'm sure the high cost of vinyl is not helping these shops much, either. I'm someone who vastly prefers vinyl to CDs but when trying to operate a business that's selling retail vinyl, you've got to deal with a product that costs far more to purchase and makes greater demands on inventory management than do CDs. I go into Other Music a lot and in a market where music sales have dwindled, to be sitting on the same records for months and months is an extremely costly proposition. add in the $12-$15k/month they're paying in rent and the crippling tax burden they face and it's no wonder they're closing their doors.

 

Yeah, there is no way a store can make it selling new vinyl or CDs, there has to be a larger selection of used for more favorable markups, particularly when the very same One Stops supplying stores are underselling them directly online.

 

This story made the Daily News paper here in NY..but I don't agree with the writer on all these closings.
Here are the most overrated things about New York »

 

That's a major bummer...is it really closing...

 

When I was in grad school in Boston 15 years ago, always made sure to pop into Other Music when visiting NYC.

So many discoveries of off-the-beaten-track music thanks to that place! And their weekly newsletter was always informative.

 

Oh no!
I'm very sad to hear that.
The owner is a really nice guy.

 

Stores outside of NYC seem to be doing well. Just this year Clockwork Records in Hastings on Hudson and Darkside Records in Poughkeepsie expanded to twice their original size.

 

Reckless Records seems to be thriving here in Chicago, especially with the larger space at the Wicker Park location (which I sadly still haven't been to see!). Although the Loop location seems to be increasingly being taken over by DVD sales.

 

At this point the most overrated thing is NY itself. It is a generic city of mall stores, chain restaurants, and tourist traps. Most of this was by design deliberate choices made largely by Bloomberg who rezoned over 40% of NYC to permit Hotels and out of scale buildings to be built everywhere.

Please don't give me that old conard about the only constant in NY is change. This is not ordinary evolutionary transition, this is a destruction of entire neighborhoods and cultural magnets. It's so bad that even Woody Allen says he doesn't like to shoot movies here anymore.

Most of what drew me to NY years ago is long gone. But I'm entrenched here and am stuck paying through the nose to live in a place that I no longer find that enjoyable or interesting. I'm not in love with the tourist experience and now I live Ina tourist trap.

 

Giuliani bears as much blame, if not more, than Bloomberg. I'm a fan of neither.

 

But then the biggest share of folks at the fair would have to commute into NJ. Was it really THAT much harder to get to? Granted the G and soon to be L situation aren't ideal, but what, another 20 minutes on the subway?

 

I agree with you up to a point. On our trip to the ill fated El Charro mentioned upthread, I remarked that all the things that would attract people to NYC, the stores, the small shops, the neighborhoods, an affordable nightlife, are vanishing. The only people who can live here are the wealthy who don't give a damn that some tiny record store or restaurant had to give way to their luxury condo.
Brooklyn Bridge Park was built largely with money from developers who were allowed to build an enormous condo complex right at the water. The prices start at 2 million, and you know that's for a tiny place on a lower floor.
Yeah, I agree that the NYC we grew up with is just about gone for the most part.
But we still find plenty to enjoy. We like going to the theater and museums, and there are a few good restaurants (mostly local) still open for now. We truly love our neighborhood (also a big tourist spot) and will never leave it.
So yeah, despite the fact that it's a remnant of what it was, I still love New York, especially Brooklyn.

 

Other Music definitely sold used. I think they maybe could have emphasized vinyl a little more than they did. Last time I went there (2015) they were still mostly CDs. That's officially suicide for any retailer now, let alone in their rent situation. On the other hand, Rough Trade doesn't sell used and is enormous and still in business.... for now.

 

Port Authority should stay open if only as a simulator of what most of NYC was like in days gone by.