One, two or three vague comments on this thread.
I have no great interest in punk, which I gather is the core of
Bleecker Bob's stock, so I have walked by, but never gone into, the
store in its various incarnations. The protracted discussion has made
me a little regretful that I never sampled the vibe there. I get that
the prices were sucker bait and Bob's shtick was not exactly
endearing, but the place obviously made a statement about what it was
without undue concern for how fashionable or popular that might be.
I recall a place, which I used to haunt, that might have been called
8th Avenue Records (or not), presided over by Fred (I think) Draisner
back in the seventies. He wasn't exactly Mr. Congeniality any more
than Bob, but his stock of used and cut out LPs furnished my starving
musician's vinyl collection quite nicely back then. I think we
discussed this place sometime a decade or so ago, but maybe newer
members of the list have something to add.
No one has brought up the Jazz Record Center, maybe because it has
nothing in common with Bleecker Bob's, other than the format of what
it sells. Nevertheless, I mention it here. It is a Big Apple record
store and is similar to BB in the respect that it is not somewhere
that you will find bargains. I have seen lots of albums that I have
purchased at flea markets, from street vendors or elsewhere for fifty
cents or maybe a buck or two, going for 15, 20 or more big ones there.
This doesn't bother me overly much, though. If you can cite another
place in Manhattan that has accumulated a similar bunch of albums, I'd
love to hear of it. In spite of their steep sticker prices, I've never
felt that they were only in it for the $. Many times, I have found
that a disc that I bought from them was already on my shelves when I
got it home. They have always been perfectly happy to take it back and
give me full credit. There is definitely some value to the convenience
of being able to browse a well organized collection of records that
has obviously been vigilantly maintained by Fred Cohen and his crew. I
also am appreciative of the (secret) discount for purchases that are
over the $100 threshold (you gotta ask for it, though, as I found out
after several expensive, non-discounted visits). Sorry if this is
starting to sound like an unpaid infomercial; I just wanted to cite
one record store in the city that seems to be doing OK for itself.
Peter Hirsch
NYC
On Tue, Mar 12, 2013 at 11:20 PM, david goren <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> I love record stores, and there are still great ones in NYC…but the best finds and prices come at yard sales in out of the way neighborhoods.
>
>
> On Mar 12, 2013, at 10:23 PM, Roger Kulp <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
>> I live in Albuquerque.While there are a grand total of three record stores in town,your best bet is still the Goodwill.Sad but true. Roger
>>> Date: Tue, 12 Mar 2013 19:10:29 -0700
>>> From: [log in to unmask]
>>> Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] Legendary NYC Record Store Bleecker Bob's Closing
>>> To: [log in to unmask]
>>>
>>> Other than Bleeker Street Records, in Manhattan there also is Academy
>>> which is classical, broadway, and classic jazz oriented. But you will
>>> find that most of the good record stores are in Brooklyn, including a
>>> popular oriented branch of Academy.
>>>
>>>
>>> Mike Biel [log in to unmask]
>>>
>>> -------- Original Message --------
>>> Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] Legendary NYC Record Store Bleecker Bob's
>>> Closing
>>> From: David Seubert <[log in to unmask]>
>>> Date: Tue, March 12, 2013 12:40 pm
>>> To: [log in to unmask]
>>>
>>> Agreed. I was only at Bleeker Bob's a few times in the 80s and 90s but I
>>>
>>> hated it. San Francisco always had a much better used record scene and
>>> going to NYC to shop for vinyl always felt like a giant scam to me.
>>>
>>> LA these days is pretty much an Amoeba monopoly (how I miss Aron's) but
>>> Amoeba has always priced things aggressively to keep merchandise moving.
>>>
>>> David Seubert
>>> UCSB
>>>
>>> On 3/12/2013 9:17 AM, Aaron Levinson wrote:
>>>> New York is possibly the worst place followed by LA these days to buy vinyl. Over-priced crap that could be had for a dollar in Philly or Baltimore is $30 in these cities. In fact, many NYC shops come to Philly to buy at retail and resell it
>>>> 100 miles away at 5 times what they paid! 30 years ago Bob's was okay but since I was never into Punk very seriously it was not high on my list when I lived in Gotham.
>>>> The number of fantastic mom and pop shops however was at that time incredible. They are all extinct except for a tiny but exorbitant handful. Progress? I think not.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> AA
>>>>
>>>> Sent from my iPhone
>>>>
>>>> On Mar 12, 2013, at 11:27 AM, Tom Fine<[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> I never understood the "legend" of this store. Must have been something back when cassettes were big. The recent times I've been in there, the place was cluttered, prices were high and the merchandise was generally mis-represented (ie beat-to-hell records were marked as "E" or "NM"). Bleeker Street Records, nearby, is much better, in my opinion.
>>>>>
>>>>> There are also a couple of little shops if you walk east-west in the village that offer very good selections of non-used vinyl (both new-issue and NOS) at reasonable prices, especially reissues of acid-jazz, funk and afro-funk. All in all, though, I don't consider NYC a great place for retail record stores.
>>>>>
>>>>> -- Tom Fine
>>>>>
>>>>> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Roger Kulp"<[log in to unmask]>
>>>>> To:<[log in to unmask]>
>>>>> Sent: Tuesday, March 12, 2013 10:19 AM
>>>>> Subject: [ARSCLIST] Legendary NYC Record Store Bleecker Bob's Closing
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> http://dangerousminds.net/comments/bleecker_bobs_is_closing_legendary_record_store_to_be_replaced_by http://gothamist.com/2013/03/07/dying_breed_bleecker_bobs_sound_fix.php
>>>
>>> --
>>> David Seubert
>>> Head, Special Collections (Acting)
>>> Davidson Library
>>> University of California
>>> Santa Barbara, CA 93106-9010
>>> Tel: 805-893-5444
>>
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