NYC's Bleecker Bob's & Southpaw are closing down*

It was effectively closed to the common record buyer and music enthusiast anyway, due to the outrageous prices. The only people who could afford to shop there were out of town tourists who didn't care that the street value of a scratched up late seventies repressing of Houses of The Holy was 5 dollars and not 120 dollars.

 

The West Village has/had more than one ridiculously overpriced store. House of Oldies was even more expensive, but at least the stock was in decent condition.

 

Say what you want about being overpriced but I picked up a NM vinyl copy of The Stones Bridges to Babylon (a year or two ago) for $25..I considered it a steal (check Ebay)..sorry if Bob is closing.

 

Back in the seventies, Bob's was the go to store if you wanted British imports sooner rather than later. Every week it seemed as if another 50 singles had been released, and if you were a regular reader of MM or NME reviews and had to have that 45, Bob's was the place, although I loved Discophile on West 8th with their handy pocket reviews of records. And sometime New York Doll Peter Jordan was always happy to chat and spin records. If I saw Bob in the store I wouldn't even bother going in, a true creep if there ever was one.

 

Touche!

JG

 

I once sold House of Oldies about 5 milk crates full of records.

 

I saw a couple of Japanese tourists at Bleeker Bob's a few years ago leaving with at boatload of records - many 45's.

While much of the stuff is overpriced, they were willing to negotiate the price of a rare industrial record down 50%. It had been cleaned on their VPI, and the sound was dead quiet.

One of the guys in there is pretty hostile if provoked. I used to see him at this really sketchy after hours club downtown. Guy partied like a madman.

 

That's probably Bob. He is notorious for being a (string of words I can't say here).

 

Seems it's done for.

 

I was one of the 'dipsh*tted' tourists who bought my Sonic Youth's 'Daydream Nation' deluxe edition when I was there in 2007. I paid full retail of $29.99 for it....and when I just looked this up on Amazon....look what I got...???????

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000Q3648S/ref=olp_product_details?ie=UTF8&me=&seller=

New from $380 and used from $99 !!!!!!!!!!


WTF ?

The original Blast First issue is SO MUCH better....I have a mint- Geffen deluxe edition I'll sell for half what the marketplace sellers are getting !!!!

Bleeker's was a bargain !!

 

Before I tell my Bleecker Bob story, I want to make sure I'm telling it on the right guy.

During my very rare visits to NYC over the last 40+ years, I've been to his shop two or three times. So is this the guy who has a really bad tic that results in violent head shakes? If not, does this description fit any other long-time NYC record store proprietors?

 

Yogurt anyone?

http://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/201...cord-counter-alongside-new-frozen-yogurt-shop

 

Just read your post. I agree with you. House of Oldies is more expensive. However, his stock is pretty good. I've bought enough stuff fom him over the years and I've actually gotten some decent prices on UK Beatles albums. The owner Bob, is a little rough around the edges, but he is actually a decent guy. It's my favorite shop in the city.

 

Spin talks about Bleecker Bob's. I am sorry to see it close, but not so sorry to see it go.

http://www.spin.com/#articles/bleecker-bobs-golden-oldies-new-york-record-store-final-days/?page=0

 

Great read. Thanks for sharing.

 

Nice pics too, saw it this morning on SPIN's twitter feed.

 

That was both a good and thoroughly depressing read - even though I'd never bought anything at Bob's any of the times I'd been in there.

 

Agreed. It is a shame to see a landmark like that go out of business, even if it was a flawed landmark.

 

Man that article brought back memories.

Where else in the world could you go to a show then spend the rest of a Friday night jumping from record store to store until 3am.

 

This reminds me of the late 70's early 80's when I was also reading NME, Melody maker, etc. and had to have the latest 7 and 12" singles by Costello, Joy Division, PIL, etc. and found BB's ad in the back of Goldmine and did a fair bit of mail order business with them. Friends of mine were "how the hell did you get THAT already"? Or WHERE did you get that? This was when I lived in Charlotte, NC and at that time the amount of imports we got was decent, but not like the good shops in major cities like NY. Fot that, I thank them, although I never visited their store, never been to NYC for that matter.
Adios amigos.