The West Babylon, N.Y., music store Looney Tunes, one of the few independent record stores remaining on the strip-mall-mined byways of Long Island, burned down last night, apparently the fault of a faulty electrical cord. The store had been a family-owned business since it opened in 1971, and while the immediate plans are to rebuild, some of the inventory within–which included 57 autographed guitars and a lot of gold and platinum record plaques–is irreplaceable. This is heartbreaking news for both the store’s owners and its consumers (I know how hard it is to actually find non-FYE places that are simultaneously devoted to selling music and east of the Nassau/Queens border); the Coalition of Independent Music Stores is taking up a collection to help restore the shop to its original state, which will no doubt help in these crummy music-selling times in general.
Long Island Record-Shopping Mainstay Catches Fire
August 30th, 2007 // 2 Comments
idolator
Karl Jr. and Looney Tunes were instrumental in helping break bands that I’ve worked with their oft publicized in-store performances.
I urge all of you to buy your next CD, LP, DVD, etc through their web store, which is fully functional.
That is pretty bad news. I went to College on Long Island, and Looney Tunes was always an awesome visit. And surprisingly not only independent music store I knew of. The other one was closer, but specialized in somewhat over priced used CDs, but I found some gems at both of the stores.