J&R Closes Lower-Manhattan Brick-and-Mortar Store, Future Uncertain

"Sad news” is how Franklin Karp, chief operating officer at Audio Video Systems, characterized the news that longstanding lower Manhattan CE retailer J&R had shuttered its doors after 43 years. “It’s been brewing for a long time,” said Karp, former CEO of one-time J&R competitor Harvey Electronics, which closed in 2007. “Between 9/11 and [the impact of] Amazon, they never were able to adjust,” he said, citing J&R’s proximity to the World Trade Center and the 2001 terrorist attacks’ devastating impact on local businesses.

J&R founders Joe and Rachelle Friedman alerted customers to the closing in a letter on the J&R website Thursday that read: “A lot has changed in these 43 years, including not only the way we listen to music and the technology products we sell, but the way people shop and socialize.” They said amid changes in technology, real estate trends and retailing, they need to “reinvent ourselves as we continue to look ahead."

J&R outlived New York area CE retailers Crazy Eddie, Nobody Beats the Wiz and Newmark & Lewis, which succumbed years ago to the changing CE retail landscape. “Back then J&R was a pariah,” Karp told us. “We didn’t want to have any lines in common because they sold cheap,” he said, recalling his days at Harvey. “They believed everything should be discounted.” For a long time, “they were the hip place to get a discount and then they weren’t,” he said.

While local high-end AV dealers Stereo Exchange, Park Avenue Audio and Innovative Audio Video -- along with Karp’s Long Island-based Audio Video Systems -- have managed to survive largely on custom electronics business, J&R never made the transition. “They made some loose efforts at it,” Karp said, but they “never really got behind it or made it a real focus,” he said. With declining foot traffic at retail, he added, “where were they going to get the leads from?"

JR.com was taking orders Thursday and a customer service rep told us the retailer was still taking orders “for now.” The store’s brick-and-mortar phone line still had its automated message listing store hours and directions Thursday, though the store was closed. The customer service rep said all available information about the closing of the brick-and-mortar store was in the letter on the website. We were unable to reach Rachelle Friedman through the company phone directory and there was no means to leave a message.

The Friedmans’ letter on the website includes two illustrations: a photo of the business’s modest storefront when it opened in 1971 and an architectural drawing of a gleaming multi-story glass structure standing in its place with a caption that reads “2015.” According to the Friedmans’ letter, J&R closed its doors at 1 Park Row on April 10 “so that we can rebuild this location into what we hope will be an unprecedented retailing concept and social mecca.” The New York Times reported Thursday that J&R hopes to reopen next year but that a date hasn’t been set for re-opening, nor has a building design been finalized.

Karp called J&R’s store closing an “unfortunate sign of the times” -- a reflection of the commoditization of the CE retail business by Amazon “and to a lesser extent, B&H.” He lamented that a store that could offer consumers the chance to audition products had folded. “Where are consumers going to go to hear a broad selection of headphones,” he asked, citing J&R’s prowess for headphone demos back in the day. “No one is going to duplicate that experience, and certainly not Amazon,” he said. Three to five years from now, the CE retail landscape “is going to be so different that other than walking into a Best Buy, I don’t know where you'll find an electronics store,” he said.

J&R vendors Panasonic and Samsung didn’t immediately respond to questions. A Panasonic spokesman said any reports of J&R being “closed for good” are “speculative” at this time “so we'd likely not add to the speculation.” The Friedmans in their letter thanked customers for their “patience and understanding during this transition period.”