This store is still turning.
Rock and Soul, the Midtown -based record store accredited by nourishing Mark Ronson’s first races, Wu Tang Clan and Grandmaster Flash, celebrates its 50th anniversary on the day of the record store on Saturday and attributes Itars.
The Manhattan store was first a humble electronic store on the seventh avenue that became a vinyl paradise in the early 1980s and, later, a refuge of equipment for DJs of the large apples, and its act of transformation is not yet.
“The most important thing is that you should not be afraid to evolve: we continue to change,” said CEO Sharon Bechor, whose parents Joseph and Shirley opened the business in 1975 after emigrating from Israel.
The store, which moved to West 37th Street in 2023 due to an increase in income, currently remains afloat when complementing vinyl record sales with DJ equipment and lessons, Bechor told The Post, but what keeps it makes its usual customers return.
“Each hip hop artist began here,” Bechor said, listing the names of Mc Hammer to Biggie Smalls. “Mark Ronson still enters and will find inspiration in other music, other people. You never know who you are going to find here.”
Another clientele of celebrities over the years has included Lindsay Lohan, Spike Lee, Run DMC, Pauly D and even Harrison Ford “because his son wanted to be DJ,” Bechor said.
The store won notoriety for the first time in the 1980s for its selection of fixed records as other stores exchanged vinyl for CDs, and the DJ quickly went to Rock and Soul for new releases to include in their mixtures.
“Everything in the store was mouth and listened to what people wanted,” Bechor said. “We never pay for advertising. All [my parents] Did was listening and finding out what people wanted, and when more than one person asked for it, they would order it. “
Bechor recalled that the business model was a resounding success throughout the 1980s and 90s, and Shirley became a local “celebrity music mother”, and is still remembered by DJ in the buds like the guardian of the store that shouted on the subject to open the merchandise.
“These really famous guys would be expelled from the store, such as [Hot 97’s] Funkmaster Flex was allowed to return for so long that he was sending his henchmen to try to buy records for him, “Bechor laughed.
But as the times changed, so did Rock and Soul, Bechor, and when the music world turned online, the store changed to sell DJ equipment to reach the end of the month in the 90s.
“People looking for vinyl records will come more frequently, but we can be heroes for both [vinyl and] On the side of the DJ team, “said Bechor, added that, although the interest of the new generation in the vinyl is certainly welcome, it is enough to pay the invoices in its entirety.
“It is difficult to make money on albums that you must have a very good selection, some years we broke, because we have a great selection and maybe we only sell 30%,” Beechor added.
In another part of the Big Apple, other owners of record stores lamented on the difficulties of the industry while they were going to the day of the Records store, a national celebration of independent record stores.
“If you are trying to get you rich, it will not happen,” said Village Revival Records, Jamal Alnasr. “They are not the 90s where you sell many physicists, CD: we are in the digital age … you do it because you love it.
“And if you don’t love it, I don’t think you can stay in this business child,” he said.
Alnasr said that most of his 30 -year -old business is sustained by “Oldies”, from the sales voltage of Elvis records to thousands Davis to Tina Turner.
But uncertainty still persists for Ansr, 52, who said that the post is “very concerned” about the possibility of tariffs of foreign imports that reach the record industry, since most of the vinyls are pressed outside the United States.
“I bought something from Europe and … the merchandise [alone] It cost me about $ 2,800, “he said.” I think I paid tariffs and shipments like $ 1,000, maybe. ”
“[Tariffs] Perhaps more of the artists of every day who will try to press their albums, “said Gustavo Guerra, also known as producer plug, DJ, producer and owner of the Chinatown record store. I don’t think I will change much in that aspect.
“People will always love to look for records,” he added.
“Unfortunately, each [gear] The company wrote us an email with new prices, so prices will increase everywhere with all the items we carry, “Bechor told the publication of the tariff problems of the store.
And “when oil prices go up, vinyl does so,” he said.
Bechor Notes That Equipment Rentals Have Helped The Store Stay Out Of The Red As Of Late By Lending Dj Equipment To The Likes of Chelsea Piers, Terminal 5, The Whitney Museum and Even Times Square New Year’s Eve Crews-But At The End Of The Day, ITS AND THE SE DAY, ITS AND THE Ity and Day, It Day, It Day, It Day, It Day and The Day, It Day and The Day, It Day and The Day, It Day and The Day and the Day, that. The spirit of the soul alive in Manhattan.
“We have a loyal client base: tourists will definitely enter,” he said, “but our real base is the local people who have a long time here and only loves music.”