Sunday, April 2, 2017

Roll It Up returns on 7th Street



Roll It Up is back open (as of yesterday) at 63 E. Seventh St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue. The nautical-themed shop specializing in rolled ice cream opened last Aug. 26 ... then closed in November for the season...

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Okay rant time:

To all you people bemoaning the loss of the types of places which did business in the East Village in the '80s and '90s riddle me this:

Why didn't anyone step to the plate and rent this cool little space permanently for say a real record store which carries music by current, active underground, unsigned artists not just alive and dead major and big indie label bands? If I can't buy a 7" from a local unsigned band it's not a real record store, sorry. I remember when the East Village was TEEMING with these types of record stores, now there are none like them. Boss Hog is back huh? Okay, where else in Manhattan besides Generation Records can they have their new record available?

This rolled ice cream place reopened here which means the space was available before the reopening. You telling me there's more of a demand for rolled ice cream than vinyl when vinyl sales are the best they've been in years? GTFOH.

Nah, at some point we have to say that another rolled ice cream, froyo, or other trendy dessert/snack place opening isn't just greedy landlords and the kidult culture but people not getting off their asses and stemming the tide of these places. This place SCREAMS "record store" but no one stepped to the plate.

Do not get on this place for reopening when at least they want to make another go with what they want to do when no one is making an attempt to keep it from not only opening but now reopening.

Anonymous said...

Anon @4:55. Okay, if you are so passionate about this, why didn't you rent the tiny store and open the record store of your dreams? Do you have even the slightest idea of what it takes to open a small business today? Do you know what the taxes are? What the insurance is? What salaries are? Etc. Etc. The reality is that record stores are probably a thing of the past because of the different ways in which people access music.

sophocles said...

I realize 4:55 PM that there is a vinyl revival, but is there a lot of profit in records? To you it screams "record store," to me it screams "high rent." I don't think there are any bargains here in the East Village. Knowing that every month you have to cut a check to the landlord for 6, 7, or 8K might put a damper one one's enthusiasm for opening a record store. How many records would you have to sell a month to turn a profit? That's not a difficult question for someone who knows the business. Unless you have big bucks to spend there's no time to build a customer base. Why risk your life savings on such a venture? It's probably a lot easier to sell 100 servings of ice cream that it is to sell 50 records, so that's why you see so many ice cream places...

Anonymous said...

10:28pm I have a full-time job and my own business plus what free time I have left after those two, sleep, etc. thus cannot open a record store myself, but I'm sure at least one person out there could if he or she tried. My point which you obviously missed is a running theme in EV comments is the lament and bash of another rolled ice cream or other treat placde but no one ever complaining about how something other than that wasn't opened instead. Well, I'm the first one to complain, too bad that you don't like it.

I have quite a bit more of "the slightest idea" of how to open a business, taxes, insurance, and salaries but you can think I'm clueless if it makes you feel better, wiseass.

Record stores are a thing of the past, sure, that's why vinyl has made a comeback, that comeback has been sustained, and vinyl sales are doing great. 2017 not 2007.


Anonymous said...

Hey 11:39pm here are four East Village record stores off the top of my head:

Good Records, A-1 Records, Academy Records, Turntable Labs

ALL FOUR have been around for years, are still around, have outlasted countless rolled ice cream, froyo etc. shops, and will most likely outlast the current ones, and they don't even sell music by current/active bands save major and big indie label bands (which is stupid because a bigger local band's indy release is a nice moneymaker especially if your store is the only one in Manhattan selling it.)

Turntable Lab not only relocated to a new location in the EV but they relocated to a space just off Third Avenue thus a more expensive location.

Sounds lasted well into this decade before it closed. Alot of people forget that many stores closed just before/after the vinyl boom.

It's easier to sell 100 ice creams than 50 records? Can you be any more clueless about the profit margins of the two? Say $3 profit on 100 ice creams = $300. One record alone bought for $50 could fetch $350 for a $300 profit and you don't even have to sell it at the store, you could sell it on Ebay. Last I checked you didn't need a record making machine to sell records.

Btw it is presumed that a record store would augment their brick-and-mortar/store sales with online and record fair sales.

Get a clue and yeah, if the tenth rolled ice cream store can open in a little store a record store can open there.

Anonymous said...

Stop whining about the opening of another rolled ice cream or whatever snack place and how a record store can't be opened. A record store can be opened. I personally don't have to open one because I personally don't whine about one not being opened.