Idolator: New York City

Is The Virgin Megastore Going To Escape From New York In 2009?

mjohnston — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 09:57:54 EST

Back in August, the New York real-estate firms Related and Vornado bought the Virgin Megastore chain—not because they wanted to roll around in free CDs, but because the chain's two NYC stores are paying way below-market rent. Which just happens to be going to those two companies. Well, it looks like Related, which owns the building occupied by the chain's Union Square outpost, is ready for its payday! Billboard.biz is reporting that the New York company Winick Realty has been shopping the two-floor, 58,000-square-foot Union Square outpost around, and according to a corroborating report in the New York Sun, the asking rent is much, much higher than the estimated $100-a-square-foot that Virgin is paying now:

Retailers are expected to pay as much as $750 to $1,000 a square foot for 27,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space at 52 E. 41st [sic! see below] St., the home of Virgin Records. Virgin will be vacating the space in the mixed-use residential tower, which also houses a UA Regal Cinema, on February 1, 2009.

OK, first of all, a note for people who (like me) hadn't had your coffee yet and thought that the 41st St. address meant the Times Square store was on the chopping block too: The Sun means 52 E. 14th St^*, which is the address of the Union Square outpost. So all of you who (also like me) had "Christmas 2007" as that store's last, sale-filled gasp in your office pool are going to lose out, but at least the $85 Gwen Stefani hoodies and cute Japanese sweaters that the store's putting on its main floor in a last-ditch effort to make up for the general lack of demand for recorded music in general will be at least half-price for next year's holiday season, right?

Virgin To Exit Manhattan's Union Square? [Billboard]
A 'Very Exciting Time' For Retail In New York [NY Sun]
Earlier: Virgin Megastores In New York City May Be Closing Sooner Than We Thought

^* Funnily enough, though, there is a music-related tie-in at the address he quoted: 52 E. 41st St. is actually the address for the Dylan Hotel, which some of you may remember as the home of Britney Spears' foray into the restaurant world. Maybe he really liked their portobello burger?

More Repellent Than A Pocket Full Of Kryptonite

Brian Raftery — Thu, 10 May 2007 11:04:50 EDT

Spotted in New York City by Amy's Robot: A flyer for an upcoming solo performance from the Spin Doctors' Chris Barron; as the post notes, it's "taped up next to an ad for a man with a van, and a flyer for a craft fair at a middle school." What's most poignant is that you just know he still has crates of that fourteen-year-old Rolling Stone issue lying around.

Long way down [Amy's Robot, via Goldenfiddle]

Subway Sects Fight For Their Right To Play "Feelings" Using A Wind Chime

Brian Raftery — Wed, 04 Oct 2006 15:28:42 EDT

Anyone who's ever descended into a New York City subway stop has been greeted by the ceaseless woooooo sound of a little free-form pan-flute playing. Today, the Sun takes a look at the rivalry for prime subway-station real estate among such undergound-dwelling musicians, and while the story doesn't get as hardcore as the Biggie and 'Pac saga—heck, it's not even as hardcore as the Mr. Show East Coast-West Coast puppet wars—it does include the best quote you're likely to hear all day:

"Subway musician Lester Schultz, a self-described "nut for the harmonica," has been playing beneath the official Music Under New York banner for six years...

"We used to have a problem with acrobats and dancers," Mr. Schultz said. "There'd be 10 of them, one of us, and they could do somersaults, and they didn't care if we had a pass. They just wouldn't leave."

Wait—ten acrobats? In the subway? We're thinking Mr. Schulz has been playing down below since the Koch era. We're also thinking that if Mrs. Schulz hears him give off that "nut for the harmonica" line one more time, she's taking the A-Train to spitsville.

Competition Can Be Fierce To Bring Music Underground [NY Sun]