Other Music NYC to close...

That is true....just 10 -12 years ago, we had Tower, HMV, Virgin, J&R, and all these little stores in the Village....now, NOTHING. The biggest and most diverse selections I find are now in Barnes & Nobles, and it pales in comparison to what we used to have

 

Rough Trade in Williamsburg seems to have a pretty diverse selection of music.

 

Definitely, the human connection counts, but it is easy to do business when the economy is good, it takes something extra to adapt and survive in down turns and turbulent times.

FE Wholesale interface is great and in real time, one of the best in the industry, why they keep the old static interface up for general consumers must be on purpose, they must not want the business.

 

Do they have a lot of CDs or do they mainly focus on vinyl ?

 

as politics is forbidden in this forum i won't comment these news, but i know what to think about it! poor world!

 

Reading between the lines on the articles, there were a couple of factors in play here:

1) Rent had doubled, and if they were in a NNN+ (triple net) rent situation, then the prorated portion of property taxes on the building would only be spiraling upward, especially with that location and all the gentrification/luxury apartment buildings going up around the corner.
2) Sales were trending downward - if they were doing 50% of the previous business, there is no guarantee that is a stable number going forward. Signing a long-term lease or rent extension with declining numbers would put you on the hook for it.
3) As others have pointed out, the margin on retail music is low, and you'd have to make up for those numbers with volume. No one can dispute that volume is also down.
4) It's a grind to run a business - I can't even imagine what employee/utility overhead is in Manhattan. Everyone else gets paid before you do.

 

With online technology, "stuff", products, and goods, can be delivered to your doorstep with One-Click (Amazon).
Even vegetables and fruit! Same Day Delivery!

"Experiences" are one of the last vestiges that cannot be had On Line.
The mouthwatering tactile sensation of a delicious warm pizza bite in your mouth. Sharing a memorable meal with family at a local eatery. Hoisting your favorite cold liquid aloft while with your best buddies.

That is, until they figure out how to resolve that "virtual" only problem....

 

Well the guy had a point, but his appearance/persona harmed, lampooned and potentially isolated a valid political issue with some real consequences. I don't live in NYC, so correct me if I'm wrong about anything good coming from his candidacy.

 

Plus they are not going out of business. They are choosing not to continue and/or relocate. They may be just plain tired, and want to do something else.

 

DUDE, I was referring to the loss of the great record stores of the past...spent many years of my life in NYC...it was my home.

 

They have a large selection of both, with maybe a bit more emphasis on LPs. They have more classical than anything, on both formats, but I've found tons of great jazz stuff as well. For rock, I feel like the LP selection is better, but that may be based on my narrower taste within that genre.

Academy is probably my favorite store in town. However, I'm still looking for a store in NYC where I can find a large selection of used classic rock CDs to stock up on the better pressings that some of us here geek out on.

 

That's also nice record store, he just caters more to the pop stuff and female artists. I think his name is John who runs the store. Record Runner was my go too store back in the 80s when it was more New Wave music from the UK coming out. My Smiths and Morrissey records were all bought there.

 

Generation records, now that place is a real dump. To bad they weren't the ones getting the axe.

 

They are being forced out of business due to rent/insurance increases and changes in the way people buy music. I'm sure they would have liked to stay open if there was a way. Relocation would be just as expensive as staying put.

 

I would think that with people digitizing their CD collections you could swoop in and buy them cheap, for pennies even, and sell them used f0r 5 each. I'm no businessman, but that seems like a hell of a mark up. Of course you'd need to live near a population willing to BUY said CDs for $5. There needs to be the perfect mix of people who still collect CDs, vinyl junkies and hipster types willing to pay the high price for today's new vinyl.

 

I do like Bleecker Street..........they have nice store cats.

 

That's probably an ingredient, especially since the shop would be operating on a survival basis... no longer thriving. Other Music expanded up to Boston in the early years, but I don't think that worked out.

I have to wonder what shop the snarky "gripers" here were patronizing. Elitism? It was a small space with a great variety of music on CD and vinyl. The owners and staff were helpful, friendly and nice. I got recommendations when I asked and they were always good ones... nobody ever tried to push something on me. I can't imagine a better shop operating in a space that size. They may not have had a classical section and the jazz section may not have had the complete works of Miles Davis or Sonny Rollins, but that kind of catalog stuff doesn't sell briskly and can be easily found on-line.

Other Music did a fantastic job of serving the needs of NYC's music lovers. They will be sorely missed.

 

Ha. I was at Bleecker a few weeks ago with my wife and they did a video of her talking about the store. They asked why she came to Bleecker records over other stores and she said, "I'm not gonna lie, the cats are a big draw for me. "

 

Bleecker Records is about one of the most expensive record stores around in the city...west 4 street tourist trap.

 

I disagree Guy, they always had attitude from day one. Just my opinion. I was there last Saturday and still resonates threw out the store, even knowing that their closing.

 

... with cats.

 

Well, the floor/counter staff didn't know last Saturday that they were closing. Anyway, I never felt an elitist attitude at OM.

 

Yeah, I've never felt any attitude at OM either. Always good people and they even have their own label with interesting artists.

 

Neither did I. I happen to know both owners, but I didn't know any of the staff and I wasn't in there more than once or twic a month, the people who worked there through the years didn't know me. On two occasions when I was in the last bin of the used section and a staff member came out with new stuff to file, they asked me if I wanted to look through it quickly so I didn't miss out on a new arrival. As far as I'm concerned, that's above and beyond.

A sad season for NYC music lovers.

 

Bleecker Bob's was worse