Tuesday, August 25, 2020

Turntable Lab closes its 10th Street storefront



Turntable Lab will not be reopening its storefront at 84 E. 10th St. between Third Avenue and Fourth Avenue.

A for rent sign now hangs in the front window of the shop, which closed in March at the start of the COVID-19 PAUSE.

TTL partner Pete Hahn, an East Village resident, said that they "couldn’t come up with a viable deal with [the] landlord." He said the landlord came back to them recently with a more flexible offer, but their decision to close the brick-and-mortar part of the business was already made at that point.

The shop that sold vinyl, turntables, speakers, headphones and more for the DJ community as well as the casual music aficionado had its start while Hahn was still at NYU. Their first storefront was in a cramped space on Seventh Street between Avenue A and First Avenue. They moved to the larger spot in early 2017.

While several local high-profile record stores have shut down in recent years (Other Music and Kim's among them), it's possible the TTL closure could be more short-term.

"We’re not ruling out a physical presence in the future," Hahn said. "We’re open to coming back when things return to somewhat normal, and hopefully rents are lower."

TTL, which celebrated its 20th year in business last year, will continue with retail sales online.

Previously on EV Grieve:
A visit to Turntable Lab on 10th Street

9 comments:

NOTORIOUS said...

This sucks, I loved this store.

Anonymous said...

Hope they come back

Anonymous said...

Bummer, I hope they find another spot in the neighborhood.

JUSTICENOW said...

Why can't this empty space be used to house the homeless?

Anonymous said...

With clubs being closed, no DJ-event gatherings, most DJs are not working/now also out of work. There's no or low demand for DJ-stuff materials that Turntable sells.

on a related note, most DJs that I know are now holding virtual DJ mixes dance parties for a donation.

DrBOP said...

They continue to be great folks online too......but
FAIR WARNING!
If you do visit their site
AND you are a vinyl junkie
of ANY type
make SURE you put a piece of plastic
over your keyboard
because you WILL be droolin', or
maybe even some OTHER type of excitement TOO
(give mr a break....isolation....'nuff said ;>)

WEAR A MASK
COMPLETE THE TASK!

Anonymous said...

Great analysis, thanks.

MrNiceGuy said...

This is really sad news... it was such a cool store to get "hands-on" with turntables and vinyl (and isn't that what it's all about when it comes to analog sound!?)

They'll be missed, but they really do have an excellent online store. I was always impressed with their commitment to the retail store. maybe rents drop dramatically after Covid and they give it another go?

Jeff said...

Another one bites the dust. I actually liked their 7th street location moreso. Luckily there are a few new stores that have opened to keep vinyl alive in the 'hood.