record and tape center closing!

belzjm

http://www.brooklynpaper.com/stories/32/20/32_20_eg_record_store.html

longtimesloper

Oh, that truly sucks! Can they evict him with only one month's notice? i guess they can since it was a month to month lease, that stinks!

Go over there and kick their asses belz!

pitu

Evan Gardner wrote:
Record riot! Eviction will end four decades of selling LPs in Slope
...
The Record and Tape Center, a dusty, cramped record store that has occupied the same spot on Fifth Avenue, near Ninth Street, for the past 38 years, will be shuttered by May 31, the result of an eviction notice that store owner Tony Mignone said came out of the blue.

“The letter just arrived at the beginning of the month,” said Mignone, who opened his store on Fifth Avenue and Sixth Street in 1965, and moved to his present location in 1971. “I’ve never even been late on my rent!”

According to the letter, the landlords, a family that owns several grocery stores in the neighborhood, including the Deli and Smoke Shop next door, do not want to renew the lease and will take Mignone to court if he does not clear out.

“If he’s still there [on May 31], we’ll go to court,” said John Wilson, the family’s lawyer. Wilson said that he doesn’t know the owner’s plans for the store, but all he knows is that the owner “wants to use it for himself.”
Brooklyn Bridge Realty

Despite the threat, Mignone, who spends his days amid rows of records and cassettes, has no intention of leaving.

“I don’t even have a Plan A,” said Mignone, 73, who has been on a month-to-month lease since last fall.

That sucks. The guy is 73 and is able to keep a business going that's not another freakin' bank or cell phone store - and apparently he pays his rent. The landlords own a bunch of storefronts - in this economy I wish they wouldn't kill one little viable oddball biz.

If he can hold out, though, it looks like demand may be returning for Mignone’s esoteric merchandise.

+1 to Evan Gardner for writing a good story in Brooklyn Papers.

belzjm

LTS, i would LOVE to go over there and kick some booty!

please spread this story around...perhaps there is a kind landlord left in park slope who might agree to give this guy a break on rent....

i'm guessing that's what happened when the butcher on 5th had to close up last year, but then found a new space a few blocks down.

with all these empty storefronts, it would be a real shame to lose this place. we already lost unnameable books, but at least they are moving nearby to vanderbilt.

pitu

Since I'm curious about the owners of the building...looking at Property Shark . . .

Is Evans G Poniros./Poniros Realty the owner? Anyone know them?
That's what's on the mortgage listed.

The address for notices is
Creative Hairstyles
315 9TH St
Brooklyn NY 11215-4007

belzjm

the other thing i want to know is if this same landlord owns the dilapidated storefont next door to this place, in between the record store and bloom. know which place i'm talking about...?

if so, that's been sitting there like an eyesore for years without a tenant, no?

if he kicks this guy out and then sits and lets ANOTHER storefront decay, i'm going to be even more pissed!

pastoralia

Shit...whole stretches of 5th Ave need help...especially the one between 6th and 7th with the condemned building, that scuzzy American legion space, and the old guy who sells crap he finds on the street in front of his "house".

pitu

belzjm wrote: the other thing i want to know is if this same landlord owns the dilapidated storefont next door to this place, in between the record store and bloom. know which place i'm talking about...?

if so, that's been sitting there like an eyesore for years without a tenant, no?

if he kicks this guy out and then sits and lets ANOTHER storefront decay, i'm going to be even more pissed!

439 5th Ave is the Record & Tape place - 441 5th Ave is owned by the same people
On the other side (Blooms) 429-437 Fifth are owned by different people.

sharpie

I'm pretty sure the owners of the deli on the corner of 5th and 9th are the owners of the property and they want to expand. If I remember correctly from Tony they wanted to do this a while back and that is why he's been on a month-to-month. I love that place and would hate to see it go. It's been there since the 1960's.

belzjm

there has to be a kind hearted landlord in the slope who can help!

i really would hate to see this guy go.

between this and losing unnameable books, park slope is really losing two great long time mom and pop stores!!

and with 50 vacant storefronts, it just seems absurd.

unrepentant fenian

This is why business owners need to buy their property. Once you become successful in your business the landlord has you over a barrel. All of the great stores and restaurants that have survived it all are in buildings owned by the proprietor. Do you think a place like McSorley's would be around today if they didn't own the building?

garfunky

belzjm wrote: i'm guessing that's what happened when the butcher on 5th had to close up last year, but then found a new space a few blocks down.

the scuttlebutt i heard was that a number their customers / residents in the immediate area were instrumental in helping them out in some way.
i seem to remember hearing something one of the customers having a good friend whos a LL and they kinda convinced him he should take the butcher.

eggcream

That really sucks. Went there last month and bought some stuff. That place has been around forever.


"According to the letter, the landlords, a family that owns several grocery stores in the neighborhood, including the Deli and Smoke Shop next door, do not want to renew the lease and will take Mignone to court if he does not clear out."

longtimesloper

How lovely of them! maybe a nice boycott and protest out in front of their deli will help them being neighbors/landlords

j0518

While it's sad to see a business with character go, this really shouldn't surpirse most folks. We can't even keep regular music stores, similar rare vinyl places in the Village, or little niche pop culture stores (like Love Saves the Day) open. A place like this has zero chance.

Sadder was the day Sound Track on 7th avenue closed. There isn't a reliable place anywhere in.....this borough.....for me to get the CD i'm looking for. Target is awful and big box. I buy less music because the closest good record store I have is J&R.

I can't get into Amazon, unless it's a deep catalog item. Shipping prices, and the wait, make it such a pain. ITunes is a joke......there's no lossy mp3 worth even half the 99 cents they charge. Highway robbery.

I sympathize with this man's plight, but the battle was going to be tough moving forward, no matter what.

eggcream

Good post J0518. The internet has certainly changed the way we live. Not just music/record stores but magazines, newspapers, books, greeting cards, etc are slowly disappearing.

longtimesloper

J0518 wrote: While it's sad to see a business with character go, this really shouldn't surpirse most folks. We can't even keep regular music stores, similar rare vinyl places in the Village, or little niche pop culture stores (like Love Saves the Day) open. A place like this has zero chance.

Sadder was the day Sound Track on 7th avenue closed. There isn't a reliable place anywhere in.....this borough.....for me to get the CD i'm looking for. Target is awful and big box. I buy less music because the closest good record store I have is J&R.

I can't get into Amazon, unless it's a deep catalog item. Shipping prices, and the wait, make it such a pain. ITunes is a joke......there's no lossy mp3 worth even half the 99 cents they charge. Highway robbery.

I sympathize with this man's plight, but the battle was going to be tough moving forward, no matter what.

Good points all around, BUT, this man is not voluntarily closing down due to lack of business, from what I am reading, he is being pushed out because yet another greedy landlord thinks they can make a fortune off of rent on that place by turning it over to someone else. Big difference IMO

booklaw

LTS, I disagree. He's closing because he cannot afford to keep up with rents in the neighborhood. Landlords are entitled to seek market rents. Taxes keep rising, oil bills keep rising, why shouldn't landlords recoup those increased costs through higher rents?

For that matter, and I realize this is more controversial, why shouldn't landlords be entitled to reap greater profits from their real estate investments when market conditions allow?

Please note that I would never condone illegal tactics to force existing tenants out... I am talking about hiking rents only when leases duly expire.

longtimesloper

Did I miss something? did the landlord raise his rent and he can't pay it? Because what I read said the man has been paying his rent, but the landlord has decided he now wants that space for himself. I didn't see where it said his rent was hiked and he couldn't or wouldn't pay it. but, perhaps, I missed that part. Let me go back and read again

booklaw

No. You didn't miss anything. I am assuming that the landlord wants the space in order to use it for a higher paying tenant. I may be wrong.

sharpie

The rent isn't the issue. The owner of the deli next door (which is called The Fifth Avenue Grill which is kind of funny when you think about it) wants to expand into what is now the record store.

I buy my music at Music Matters. Support those guys.

j0518

sharpie wrote: The rent isn't the issue. The owner of the deli next door (which is called The Fifth Avenue Grill which is kind of funny when you think about it) wants to expand into what is now the record store.

I buy my music at Music Matters. Support those guys.

that's the place down in the South Slope on 7th, right? how are they with new releases (both mainstream and indie?)

One of the things I LOVED about Sound Track was their willingness to break street date in order to stay ahead. Any chance Music Matters does that as well? LOVED THAT.

how deep is their catalog? where do they seem to be deeper at? they may be worth the walk for me.

sharpie

Music Matters is really good. Place is small so sometimes their backlist isn't what it could be but they try. Best on the indy stuff.

Plus you get a free CD for every 15 you buy.

young -n- modern

oh no, now where am i going to get a vhs copy of "that darn cat"?? (the doug e. doug one)

rtraindweller

This is a damn shame. I love that shop and Tony's summaries of every record you buy. Gonna haveta make a run down there this weekend.

rtraindweller

This is a damn shame. I love that shop and Tony's summaries of every record you buy. Gonna haveta make a run down there this weekend.