Tomorrow is Record Store Day — long live record stores!

Record Store Day — the annual celebration of independent record shops — takes place tomorrow (Saturday).

As always, vinyl enthusiasts can look forward to limited-edition releases from artists across a variety of genres, as well as special reissues (and reissues of reissues) and previously unreleased recordings.

So far, we're not sure how (or if!) our local shops might be celebrating the day. 

Limited to One, 221 E. 10th St., has been teasing some merch — seven boxes of LPs! — on the shop's Instagram account. LtO opens at 10 a.m.

Here's a list of EV record stores to keep in mind tomorrow and the other days of the year ...

• A-1 Record Shop 

439 E. Sixth St. between Avenue A and First Avenue 

• Academy Records 

415 E. 12th St. between Avenue A and First Avenue

• Ergot Records 

32 E. Second St. between Second Avenue and the Bowery 

• Limited to One Records 

221 E. 10th St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue 

• Manhattan45 

220 E. 10th St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue 

• Stranded Records 

218 E. Fifth St. between Second Avenue and Cooper Square

Love Not Money is a new record store in Chinatown

Photos and reporting by Stacie Joy 

Love Not Money is a new record store and collectibles shop at 42 Eldridge St. between Hester and Canal in Chinatown. 

You may recognize owner Joshua Gabriel, who previously ran City Fun on First Avenue between Second Street and Third Street...

While at City Fun, Gabriel started selling some used vinyl... and continued doing so as a pop-up business after moving on from the East Village shop. 

Love Not Money debuted last weekend.

"I don't have much of a mission statement, to be honest, though my life has been music and art since I was 4 or 5," he said. "It's always been a dream of mine to open my own shop and immerse myself in both ... and I was given the opportunity to do just that. It's incredible and sometimes doesn't feel real."

The shop takes its name from the second Everything But the Girl record.

"It's so twee, so anti-establishment...inherently naive with a somewhat antagonistic purity of intent," Gabriel said. "It was an easy choice."

You can find new and used vinyl here ... as well as other music-related collectibles, such as T-shirts and pins ...

Love Not Money is also on the lookout for records... Gabriel said that he is always buying collections, large and small, and enjoys all kinds of music. (He started listing disco, punk, Latin, Afrobeat, new wave, reggae, hip-hop, pop, jazz, metal, R&B/soul, rock & roll, techno, folk, avant-garde...) 

He said he will also happily look at music ephemera such as posters, music/graphic t-shirts, cassettes, old magazines/books/fanzines/band flyers, and stereo equipment. 

"I'm very intent on everything I sell to be clean, functional, and in upstanding condition, and I pay well for quality," he said.

Love Not Money is open daily from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. You can follow them on Instagram here.

It's Record Store Day, June edition (and record store appreciation day always)

Today (Saturday, June 18!) is part 2 of Record Store Day 2022... the pandemic and vinyl supply-chain issues caused some titles to be pushed back from their original release date. 

So here we are. There are new titles out today. Not sure how each of our local shops might be celebrating the day. Limited to One at 221 E. 10th St. will have some crate-digging opps with a handful of rare and out-of-print vinyl as well as some ticket giveaways "and who knows what else." (!!!) The shop opens at 11 a.m.

Here's a list of EV record stores...

• A-1 Record Shop 

439 E. Sixth St. between Avenue A and First Avenue 

• Academy Records 

415 E. 12th St. between Avenue A and First Avenue

• Ergot Records 

32 E. Second St. between Second Avenue and the Bowery 

• Limited to One Records 

221 E. 10th St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue 

• Manhattan45 

220 E. 10th St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue 

• Stranded Records 

218 E. Fifth St. between Second Avenue and Cooper Square

It's Record Store Day (and record store appreciation day always)

Today is Record Store Day nationwide (details on new/special releases here) ... here's a shout-out to the EV record shops making it work day in/out... a few of the shops will have some RSD titles in stock... 

• A-1 Record Shop 

439 E. Sixth St. between Avenue A and First Avenue 

• Academy Records 

415 E. 12th St. between Avenue A and First Avenue

• Ergot Records 

32 E. Second St. between Second Avenue and the Bowery 

• Limited to One Records 

221 E. 10th St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue 

• Manhattan45 

220 E. 10th St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue 

• Stranded Records 

218 E. Fifth St. between Second Avenue and Cooper Square

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

Real Estate's 'Outstore Thing' tour takes them to the former Kim's and Other Music this afternoon

View this post on Instagram

NYC you’ve got 4 chances to see us live on Wednesday afternoon! We wanted to tour our favorite record stores but 3 of them don’t exist anymore, so we’ll be playing outside of their old locations. It’s THE OUTSTORE THING. A proper in store at @RoughTradeNYC will follow at 7PM.⁣ ⁣ @Other_Music⁣ #RocksinYourHead⁣ #KimsVideo

A post shared by Real Estate (@realestateband) on Mar 2, 2020 at 8:48am PST

The Brooklyn-based band Real Estate has a new record out... and this afternoon (don't have an exact time), they're touring their favorite NYC record stores — even though three of them are now closed.

So at some point this afternoon, you may come across them playing outside Rocks in Your Head (Prince Street, RIP 2006), Other Music (East Fourth Street, RIP 2016) and Kim's (First Avenue, RIP 2014) on the band's "The Outstore Thing" tour.

They'll move on to Rough Trade in Williamsburg for an actual in-store this evening at 7.

Record Store Day 2019

Good morning (or afternoon or evening). Today is Record Store Day 2019 ... here's a look at what some local shops will have happening...

• Limited to One Records
221 E. 10th St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue

View this post on Instagram

Available on Record Store Day tomorrow Saturday April 13th at 10am. #vinylnerd #vinylporn #nowplaying #nowspinning #eastvillage #limitedtoonenyc #morethings

A post shared by Limited to One (@limitedtoonenyc) on Apr 12, 2019 at 9:22am PDT

• A-1 Record Shop
439 E. Sixth St. between Avenue A and First Avenue

View this post on Instagram

📤

A post shared by A-1 Record Shop (@a1recordshop) on Apr 12, 2019 at 1:10pm PDT

• Academy Records
415 E. 12th St. between Avenue A and First Avenue

View this post on Instagram

As usual we will open at a humane hour so you don't have to suffer to score your RSD goodies. We are also putting out TONS of quality used titles from the numerous collections we have picked up recently. Also, donuts. If you are wondering about certain titles please check back tonight, we will be posting videos of what we got

A post shared by Academy Records NYC (@academyrecords) on Apr 12, 2019 at 8:15am PDT

• Stranded Records
218 E. Fifth St. between Second Avenue and Cooper Square

View this post on Instagram

Tomorrow, we will be celebrating Record Store Day on both coasts! Please join us in San Francisco / Oakland or at our new shop in the East Village. Stranded NYC will only be 1-week old. All three stores open early at 9am on Saturday.

A post shared by Stranded (@strandedrecords) on Apr 12, 2019 at 3:22pm PDT

• Turntable Labs
84 E. 10th St. between Third Avenue and Fourth Avenue

View this post on Instagram

#TTLRSD2019: Lots going on this year, but at the core of it will still be efficient operations and good vibrations. Details above, full DJ lineup coming soon, browse the selection at turntablelab.com/RSD2019.

A post shared by turntablelabnyc (@turntablelabnyc) on Apr 8, 2019 at 3:31pm PDT

Disc-O-Rama closing on 8th Street

A little news outside the neighborhood in case you haven't heard ... the Disc-O-Rama on Eighth Street between MacDougal and Sixth Avenue is closing on April 28.

Sales are up to 40 percent off now.

Disco-O-Rama first opened in NYC in 1976, per their website. I recall the location on Union Square and West Fourth Street closed some years ago. Not sure about the Moscow location that was always present on their signage.

A reminder about Rainbow Music closing at the end of the month

In case you wanted one last look at the stacks of CDs, DVDs and cassettes at Rainbow Music… the store at 130 First Ave. near St. Mark's Place is closing on Sept. 30…





As previously reported, the proprietor, the Birdman, is retiring and closing his 17-year-old store.

The last record store on St. Mark's Place is closing

[EVG file photo]

Sounds is shutting down soon at 20 St. Mark's Place between Second Avenue and Third Avenue. The final sale is on now.



There's not much left inside…


[Photo from Saturday by Jeff Stache]

The shop has been around longer than we expected. News of the impending closure first arrived in February 2014.

The second-level retail space remains on the market. There isn't any mention of the rent on the listing.

Sounds joins the ranks of other CD/record shops that have closed on (or near) St. Mark's Place in recent years ... Joe's CDs, 13 CDs, Venus Records, Mondo Kim's, Smash, Norman's, Rockit Scientist Records...

Updated 4 p.m. — You can read some history of Sounds via this HuffPost article from 2010.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Soon, there won't be any record stores on St. Mark's Place, and that sucks

You can check out the other record stores in the neighborhood, including Good Records NYC ... Turntable Lab ... A-1 Records ... Other Music ... Academy Records ... Rainbow Music (until Sept. 30)...

There are still good record stores around here

[A1 Records via the EVG files]

Despite a few (OK, a lot of) record store closings in recent years ... there are still several excellent places to buy music around here... Gothamist dropped their "12 best" yesterday ... and the East Village was well represented...

• Other Music, 15 E. Fourth St. between Lafayette and Broadway

• Turntable Lab, 120 E. Seventh St. between Avenue A and First Avenue

• Academy Records, 2 W. 18th St. between Fifth Avenue and Sixth Avenue ... not to mention their sort of (right?) affiliated location at 415 E. 12th Street between Avenue A and First Avenue

• A1 Records, 439 E. Sixth St. between Avenue A and First Avenue

As Gothamist noted, "Every record store in this city deserves a shoutout for surviving this long."

Indeed, so here's also a shoutout to Good Records NYC at 218 E. Fifth St. between Second Avenue and Cooper Square.

Soon, there won't be any record stores on St. Mark's Place, and that sucks

[EVG file photo]

Here's a bit of depressing (but not really surprising) news buried in a Wall Street Journal piece today about St. Mark's Place:

Sounds, the last of once-many record shops on the strip, recently limited its business days to Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, said Felicia De Chabris, an associate broker with Halstead Property. She said Sounds' space went on the rental market this month, with its first showings this week.

Among the CD/record shops that have closed on (or near) St. Mark's Place in recent years ... Joe's CDs, 13 CDs, Venus Records, Mondo Kim's, Smash, Norman's, Rockit Scientist Records...

From an EVG post on the topic from January 2012:

Didn't seem like too long ago where you could have spent an afternoon on St. Mark's Place rooting through the bins of the record stores here ... then reading the liner notes/CD sleeves of your purchases at the Grassroots or wherever over a beer ... Ah, how old-fashioned

Meanwhile, all the more reason to support the record stores that remain here ... places such as...Kim's ... Good Records NYC ... Turntable Lab ... A-1 Records ... Other Music ... Academy Records ... Rainbow Music...

Updated 3:34 p.m.
Alex weighs in on all this over at Flaming Pablum.

Hey, it's Record Store Day tomorrow

A Holy Day of Obligation for some. Kim's is open early. Per their Facebook invite:

We're starting bright and early at 8 AM with more than 200 exclusive LPs, CDs, and books in limited release especially for RECORD STORE DAY from Flaming Lips, Bob Dylan, David Bowie, Big Star, Rolling Stones, Daniel Johnston, The Cure, White Stripes, Grizzly Bear, Moon Duo, Nick Cave, Nick Drake, Orange Juice, Pink Floyd, Caribou, Small Faces, Stephen Malkmus, Tame Impala, Thee Oh Sees, Wire and The Zombies to name a few.

If you sleep in, don't worry, there's plenty to do all day long. From 11am-6pm we will be hosting DJ sets from some of your favorite local artists and DJ's.

And at Other Music... the Record Day stock has been rolling in...


[Via Facebook]

And Other Music's DJ lineup via Facebook:

The store will open early at 10:30 am. DJ sets start at noon.

Other Music Record Store Day 2013 DJ Schedule:

12pm-1pm Parquet Courts (What's Your Rupture)
1pm-2pm Sharon Van Etten & Christian Schaal (Jagjaguwar)
2pm-3pm Caleb Braaten (Sacred Bones Records)
3pm-4pm Matt Werth (RVNG Intl.)
4pm-5pm Scott Mou/Queens (Dial)
5pm-6pm FaltyDL (Ninja Tune)
6pm-7pm Bryan Kasenic (Bunker)
7pm-8pm Jonathan Toubin (New York Night Train)

And at the Turntable Lab on East Seventh Street...



While there are several other record shops in the neighborhood, these are the only ones we spotted who were official participants, who signed the pledge, etc.

Support all your local record shops, though ... Good Records NYC ... A-1 Records ... Academy Records ... Sounds ... Rainbow Music...

Sadly, five record stores closed here in the last year... Tropicalia in Furs, Gimme Gimme, Norman's, Rockit Scientist and Big City Records.

Another East Village record store closes

EVG reader Corina notes that Tropicalia in Furs, the speciality record store on East Fifth Street near Second Avenue, has closed... The storefront is now for rent. No food, per the sign.

Among other genres, the store carried rare records of Brazilian music from the 1960s and 1970s. This is the latest small-shop closure on this block... along with Gimme Gimme Records ... and Ballaro Bakery.

Gimme Gimme Records is closing after Sunday; 4th East Village record store to shutter this year

Ugh. Gimme Gimme Records, a gem of a used shop on East Fifth Street (next to the 9th Precinct), is closing after this weekend. This past summer, as we noted here, Steve Croman of Croman Realty (9300 Realty) bought the building... a huge rent hike ensued and... the store that just recently celebrated its 18th year is closing Sunday night. That's how it goes.

And it is/was a great little store... open three days a week (and Slum Goddess works here) ... with a piano teacher using the space at other times. Seems so quaint in these bloodthirsty real-estate days.

Owner Dan Cook has plans to eventually reopen the store in Los Angeles. Maybe you can visit. And by my count, this is the fourth record store to close in the East Village this year — Norman's, Rockit Scientist and Big City Records.

Report: Big City Records NYC closing on East 12th Street

Jared Boxx has been selling records in the neighborhood for the last 15 years... now, according to a report at WNYC, his store of the last six years, Big City Records NYC on East 12th Street between Avenue A and Avenue B, is closing at the end of the month. The reason: Increasing rent.

WYNC notes that Boxx will still sell their hard-to-find vinyl on eBay and Discogs.

And it will be the third record store to close in the neighborhood this year ... following Rockit Scientist Records ... and Norman's Sound & Vision, who heads to Brooklyn after Aug. 16.

[Stephen Nessen/WNYC]

[Updated] Another record store leaving the East Village

[EVG file photo]

Over at Flaming Pablum, Alex brings news that Norman's Sound & Vision on Cooper Square is leaving for Williamsburg in August.

Ugh. I enjoy rooting through the piles of CDs and what not at Norman's. Always found some kind of bargain.

As I've written ... as much as I hate to see record stores close, we are fortunate to have several good choices left in the neighborhood, such as...Kim's ... Good Records NYC ... Turntable Lab ... A-1 Records ... Other Music ... Academy Records ... Gimme Gimme ... Big City Records ... Rainbow Music...

Updated 2:21 p.m.:

A reader tells us that the Norman's has already opened in Brooklyn at 555 Metropolitan Ave. Sure enough, here's a photo from the Norman's Facebook page...

Previously on EV Grieve:
There is now only one record store left on St. Mark's Place

There is now only one record store left on St. Mark's Place

Jeremiah has the lousy news this morning that Rockit Scientist Records has lost its lease and is closing Feb. 29 on St. Mark's Place... (You can read the details here. Encouraging sign: The owner hopes to relocate.)

Reading this, it occurred to me that there is now just one CD/music shop left on St. Mark's Place — Sounds, which is above the Grassroots at No. 20.

I can't remember every store that has closed on St. Mark's Place in recent years ... Joe's CDs, 13 CDs, Venus Records, Mondo Kim's, Smash ... uh... (A little help, Alex?!)

Didn't seem like too long ago where you could have spent an afternoon on St. Mark's Place rooting through the bins of the record stores here ... then reading the liner notes/CD sleeves of your purchases at the Grassroots or wherever over a beer ... Ah, how old-fashioned.

Anyway, Norman's is still there just around the corner on Cooper Square...

As much as I hate to see record stores close, we are fortunate to have several good choices left in the neighborhood, such as...Kim's ... Good Records NYC ... Turntable Lab ... A-1 Records ... Other Music ... Academy Records ... Gimme Gimme ... Big City Records ... Rainbow Music...

Insert "can you hear me now?" joke headline, though it's not really funny

Just following up on a post from March... where I noted the sign here at the former Bondy's on Park Row. (Need a Walkman!) The store closed in 2007. Anyway, the space has finally been leased....

"Yes, I'll take the new Famous L. Renfroe 'Florine EP' and, uh, 'Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King' please"

This week's issue of The Villager looks at the local independent record-shop scene post Virgin Megastore. "Local stores have been closing almost as rapidly as global CD sales have been falling. But for the stores that remain, managers say they’ve noticed an influx of a younger crowd — the last vestiges of Virgin, come to find their Hannah Montanas, Dave Matthews Bands..."