Manny's is Closing

[stratcat55]

This is pretty sad. I always liked going to NY just to walk around all the music shops.
Same old corporate garbage.

http://lostnewyorkcity.blogspot.com/...music-row.html

[redb]

fuck.

literally the only word strong enough to describe how I feel about this =/

[elicross]

Damn. I always wanted to visit Manny's, and now I've probably missed my shot.

[Custom 5]

Damn. I bought a guitar there about 5 years ago. Cool store. Sad to see them pass. I've heard the 48th Street scene isn't what it used to be. been a long time since I been to NYC.

[juniorspecial]

Retail is a tough business.

[Frat Rettle]

Sad to hear..another unrealised dream disappears.

[refin]

Really sad............a legacy down in flames.

[stratcat55]

I was just there in November. Every year a few of us geezer guitar players go see Les Paul at the Iridium Jazz Club in Manhattan and visit Manny's and a bunch of other music shops in music row before the show. We met a lot of really cool people at Manny's. I'm really going to miss it.

[jerryjg]

I had a '69 HagstromIII( bought by the original owner ) Purchased from Mannys with all tags. Wow.That Guitar reeked Summer of Love.

[phantomman]

Tha's simply tragic. Manny's was like the Cal Worthington of the music retail bidness......a true icon!

[mark jacobs]

Wow! That's big news. I was born and raised in Manhattan and back in the 60s we used to cut school to hang out a Manny's and catch the stars as they showed up to play with and buy gear. This news did not make my day.

[ch willie]

Jimi was a Manny's customer, as were countless other greats. Guess now, Musician's Friend / Guitar Center will get a little more business.

[TT100]

Retail is tough but I do like the comment left about building a Manny's wing at the RR hall of fame.

I've never been to Manny's but am sorry to hear the news.

TT

[NeoFauve]

Damn. I always wanted to visit Manny's, and now I've probably missed my shot.

You're really not missing all that much.
It's a decent shop, but the "magic" is history. There are a couple of hundred B&W headshots of all the greats who once shopped there- like you might see in a diner or pizza parlour.
Aside from that, it's a decent shop that has a nice vintage/boutique room and a nice acoustic room.

What they're calling "music row" in that article is actually a Sam Ash broken up into seperate storefronts for guitar, keyboards, recording & sound reinforcement, and then there's Rudy's.

Sam Ash is just shutting down an excess guitar department.

[thegeezer]

I am glad I have enough stuff to do what I need to do in a Blues-Rock band. And a spare set of everything in case.

[Offshore Angler]

Neo, you're right of course, but walking into Manny's was a cool experience just from the historical standpoint. The 48th Street thing was cool.
I still think Rudy's and 30th Street guitars are cooler. I loved going up the stairs at Rudy's, checking out the acoustics and looking at the street below.

[surfreak]

Yes, walking into Manny's was a cool experience and that's what I thought when I moved to NYC as an expat in '96, the very first night I got there, right after checking into my hotel on 48th and Lex, I went into Manny...

I quickly realized though that it was a tourist trap at best, just a Sam Ash outlet, staffed by the same obnoxious kids, and basically a souvenir shop for the musically inclined.

Thankfully NY has an abundance of cool guitar stores, 30th Street, 48th Street (before it closed down) Ludlow, Lark Street, Music Zoo, Rivington, Golden Age, Hoboken, even Rudy's itself....

...not to mention Mandolin Bros., which is an unforgettable experience for anyone!

[NeoFauve]

I didn't realize the connection until one day I was in Sam Ash and a guy in a Manny's shirt came zipping through the vintage room, ran down stairs, came back up, ran back through the vintage room, out the door and across the street with a case for something being sold at Manny's.

[elicross]

You shoulda yelled "Stop, thief!" and tackled the dude.

[Blue Light]

This is terrible news. Manny's had really tried hard over the last few years to be a respectable place. They had good stuff on the walls, including G&L, Gretsch and some other makes you don't get everywhere. They had "good stuff" room in the back with some good amps available, and a friendly staffer there to help.

Even the teenagers who played in the front room tended to be pretty good, as if they just strolled out of music school.

The Sam Ash across the street got a lot of the wilder traffic, but lately I noticed they were lashing down the better guitars, like the American Strats, to ward off the careless grabbers.

Given the steep price of NY real estate, I never really knew how they all survived. I wondered if tourists from Kansas came in, tried all the stuff, then went back home and ordered it.

This is all symptomatic of what's happened to America in the age of the internet and the box store. I mean, it's all really shaken up the country something bad, and the repercussions are only starting to be felt.

[ronworld]

Over here in Europe most musicians know Manny's....Who the hell is Sam Ash?

[Kap'n]

Who the hell is Sam Ash?

Well, you might know their line of lo-fi PA equipment - Samson.

[NeoFauve]

Given the steep price of NY real estate, I never really knew how they all survived. I wondered if tourists from Kansas came in, tried all the stuff, then went back home and ordered it.

I'm sure that happens all the time.

It's funny when international tourists pose for pictures holding a guitar, sometimes in front of the biggest amp they can find, which might turn out to be a fantastic Ibanez stack.
You wonder if they go to the GAP to try on clothes and pose for pix outside the fitting room.

[Blue Light]

Many years ago, I wandered into a supermarket in LA and saw a gang of Japanese girls posing in the produce section. They were holding up pieces of fruit with the price tag next to it.
It all seemed hilarious to them.

[juniorspecial]

Many years ago, I wandered into a supermarket in LA and saw a gang of Japanese girls posing in the produce section. They were holding up pieces of fruit with the price tag next to it.
It all seemed hilarious to them.

I digress...

Yeah, back in the 1980s a friend of mine went to Japan. He brought back photos from the produce section of Japanese markets.

I remember he had a picture of a watermelon. A smallish watermelon. Smaller than average anyway.

The price was the equivalent of $36 US!!

So the Japanese must freak when they come here and everything is so cheap.

[photoweborama]

I'm not sure, but I think I bought an Epi acoustic there...
1977 is sort of a blur in my mind.. a long time ago...

[Blue Light]

One of the shopowners said they'll have to start another music row.
(The Guitar Center is down on 14th Street.)

Sadowsky's showroom and shop used to be in that general neighborhood but they moved out to Brooklyn years ago.
It was a different world when all kinds of midtown studios were full of musicians doing jingles, ads, demos, shows, etc.

[gaddis]

I paid a visit to Music Row on Saturday to give Manny's a final farewell. Normally on a Saturday afternoon this place would be uncomfortably crowded, but such was not the case. It was relatively quiet with just a handful of people in the stores. I have found the same situation at most large music stores of late. I know the Sam Ash stores in my area have dispensed with their cashiers. People are not buying enough stuff to justify keeping both cashiers and salesmen employed. And with the mega price increase from Fender, that just got worse.

[Franklin]

Fuck AIG, save Manny's!!!!

[mark jacobs]

I knew I liked you Frank.