“J&R, the legendary Lower Manhattan music and electronics store, is shutting its doors after 43 years in business,” writes Brian Wise at Wednesday’s (4/9) WQXR blog. “Battered by an increasingly tough climate for music and consumer electronics retailers, the store handed out pink slips to its employees on Wednesday. Owners Joe and Rachelle Friedman posted an announcement on J&R’s website on Wednesday saying that they intend to keep the online store open, while pursuing plans to redevelop the downtown property at One Park Row. ‘On April 10th,’ the statement read, ‘J&R will close its doors so that we can rebuild this location into what we hope will be an unprecedented retailing concept and social mecca.’ … The statement is accompanied by a rendering of a glassy new structure with the caption ‘2015’ but it did not make clear what the specific timeline was for the redevelopment. J&R has been across from City Hall since 1971…. The classical music store—one of the last of its kind in New York City—closed last year; J&R quietly removed the music store from its website.”
Posted April 10, 2014
