Other Music’s closure after two decades is a tragedy for New York’s crate-diggers

It’s no surprise to see another small business fall prey to gentrification, but the loss of this record store and its knowledegable staff is a particularly bitter blow

“When Other Music closes, I’m going to move to LA.” That’s the refrain my friends would hear me say from time to time when talk of whether I would finally wise up and move my struggling film-maker butt to a city where there’s actually real work. But it was actually that simple. The New York of my frustrated teenage dreams, where cool shops were a place to hang out for hours, had slowly given way to something else: a city where luxury hotels, condominiums and tricked-out pharmacies were popping up like hives on the body of a person with a seafood allergy who’d eaten some salmon by mistake. The small, hip store where you could actually find things nobody heard about, converse with a knowledgeable staff, and be assured to walk out with something special, was an endangered species. Yesterday, to the chagrin of anyone with taste, it went extinct. Other Music announced it will be closing its doors after more than 20 years on 25 June.

The store sits on West 4th street between Lafayette and Broadway in the heart of Greenwich Village. For me, Other Music was both the heart itself, and the place to soothe my heart in times of distress. A trip to the store was both a learning experience and a hunt – for that one, unique piece of music that, even though many others might be listening to the same thing, you could imagine was designed especially to ease your sorrow, lift you up, get you energized, and take you on a trip to someplace else. Someplace other.

Read more at the Guardian