Manny's NYC Closing

[WahmBoomAh]

Originally Posted by cameron

48th St. died when WE BUY GUITARS closed down. I don't even know the real name of that store. Everyone called it by the text on the big sign out front. Bought my first real pro-quality musical instrument there in the 80s, an early-70s Fender Jazz bass.

Sam Ash bought the first larger "We Buy". The Friedman family moved to a smaller location. Sam Ash bought the smaller location too.
Richie Freidman (the owning family`s son ) stayed on in the small second location as Ash`s vintage guy for a minute (now reopened "We Buy" on LI as an appt. only place )...Ash took over Manny`s in a crusade to own the block .... what`d they do after that? ...flood the stores with chinese crap (samson ...."sam`s son" or son of sam ? ) that you can find in any shopping mall in the country.
I put alot of the blame on Ash`s buisness decisions ... sure they`re a company looking for profit in a tough market but their quest to grow has a rebound effect on the musicians that helped them to grow. Most pros I know have a pretty sour opinion of Ash. They once had a family vibe too and great salesman /managers ..(.Joe from Hempstead ? you out there?) who actually earned salaries. Sure the internet is tough on them ....but remember they cut salaries (commission only) well before the net took off.
they lost the love for the community and the community for them.
Now they have to deal with zero loyalty ...so be it.

48th st Custom fled when ESP moved to LA and Asia took the hit with their own economic slowdown .....I haven`t a clue what happened to Stuyvesent Music ???? anyone out there know about them ?

Add real estate values to that and it`s inevitable that whole street`s days are numbered .
The guys who are in it for the glory and passion of the instruments will relocate somewhere(Richie, Rudy) .... the suits will vanish into a puff of Wall St. fairy dust (wishful thinking!)
The net`s a double edged sword though .. How else would so many up and coming builders reach the public? I thank the net for my Koll!
Sam Ash co. delveloped the growth of PRS from an 8 guitar output to what it is now .. That might be the last buisness model of sucess via a store`s collaboration of a quality product (in many`s opinion at least).
At this point I`m just rambling so I`ll tie it up .,., I`m personally really sad and will be crushed as I age into the future and will see some skyscraper there. I can remember the old timers now who used to tell me how 52`nd st looked....time keeps on slippin .....into the future !

[pete692]

Everybody from major manufacturers to the suppliers and retailers are gonna get stung hard. I see alot of mergers, bankruptcies and just plain desperate measures coming to even the "giant" players in this industry. Buying a guitar is a luxury that until now I've been able to indulge in yearly, but those days are quickly becoming a memory.

[susudio]

Originally Posted by Timmo

Wow!
I can almost feel your story and time.
Must have been a special time and place........

A special time indeed. As a teenager coming from the suburbs in the mid 60's with your "band" you had to go the 48th. We all had a band. Had to dress the part going into NYC. We were so cool!
Yes 48th st was the Mecca. I bought my first acoustic in 1967, a Hoyer, at Manny's.

[Nitebob]

Originally Posted by WahmBoomAh

Sam Ash bought the first larger "We Buy". The Friedman family moved to a smaller location. Sam Ash bought the smaller location too.
Richie Freidman (the owning family`s son ) stayed on in the small second location as Ash`s vintage guy for a minute (now reopened "We Buy" on LI as an appt. only place )...Ash took over Manny`s in a crusade to own the block

48th st Custom fled when ESP moved to LA and Asia took the hit with their own economic slowdown .....I haven`t a clue what happened to Stuyvesent Music ???? anyone out there know about them ?
!

Stuyvesant Music was owned by Steve Freidman, brother of Ritchie, son of Larry. He sold his inventory to Richie when he had Accent Music.

nitebob

[Godfrey D]

Bought my first electric guitar there in 67. A Guild Starfire 3. I remember the salesman was this little black dude named Billy who always wore sunglasses. He was the coolest dude and was there for what seemed like "forever". I always delt with either him or Stuie - Manny's son. I still have my Alex Axe #065 which I bought down the block. I seem to remeber an Orange Julius stand on the corner of 48th and 7th.

too bad it is all gone the way of buggywhips and spitoons.

[Evan Gluck]

I worked with both Billy and Stu. Miss them both. Billy was the coolest!

[bjjp2]

Bought my first electric at Alex Music. Bought my second electric at 48th Street Custom. 48th street in those days was an incredibly exciting place to visit.

[wutnot]

I work in Midtown and I always go to the 48th street guitar shops during lunch to see what is new on the shelves and try a few things out.

Last summer Gene Simmons was in Manny's doing an interview. He seemed like a jerk though. Seemed like he was very annoyed to be there doing the interview.

I cant really grab a stool at rudy's and play for a half hour, so Sam Ash is now my only option.

FYI the guy at Manny's said he is unsure what they will do with their Suhr and Anderson stock, cause Sam Ash isnt an authorized dealer. They probably will just sell it as used stock at Sam Ash to get around it, but maybe they will have a huge sale before the end of May.

[Husky]

Originally Posted by wutnot

FYI the guy at Manny's said he is unsure what they will do with their Suhr and Anderson stock, cause Sam Ash isnt an authorized dealer. They probably will just sell it as used stock at Sam Ash to get around it, but maybe they will have a huge sale before the end of May.

I talked about this with Sammy Ash at NAMM as he told me about Manny's. We will continue our guitars with Sam Ash, they will have a boutique section.
In case you guys dont know Sam Ash owned Mannys.

[AlChuck]

I bought an amp at Manny's in 1976, the first Gallien-Krueger combo amp. It was a funny experience because I was being helped by a sales guy after being ignored for quite a while, when John Entwistle came into the store. The sales guy totally ditched me and went over to suck up to Entwistle. I was pretty irritated but I bought theh amp from them anyway...

[jspax7]

Sad to hear about Manny's. When I was in NYC, (3 years ago) Manny's didn't live up to my expectations. Then I found out they were bought by Sam Ash. Figures....

I wonder how GC and Sam Ash expect to survive in this economy. The overhead must be tremendous. It will be interesting to see if "the bigger they are, the harder they fall" expression will play out.

I'd personally like to see a return to the independent retailer, and America becoming a producing country instead of a consuming one, after the dust settles. (if it ever does)

Back to basics...

[blanche]

Originally Posted by WahmBoomAh

Richie Freidman (the owning family`s son ) stayed on in the small second location as Ash`s vintage guy for a minute (now reopened "We Buy" on LI as an appt. only place )
)
!

thanks, but it's not "appt. only"

We Buy Guitars in Bellmore, NY

http://www.webuyguitars.org/

[franksguitar]

I bought my first wireless at Manny's a Nady 49R that opened up garage doors!!

[WahmBoomAh]

Originally Posted by blanche

thanks, but it's not "appt. only"

We Buy Guitars in Bellmore, NY

http://www.webuyguitars.org/

Cool ....thanks for clearing that up . Sorry ...i guess i go the wrong impression. A couple of years ago I called and went there . Richie told me at the time to let him know when I `d come because they weren`t a walk in type shop ...IIRC ..don`t want to cause any trouble !
AMAZING place and Richie was very nice and generous with his time even though he knew i wasn`t there with the big bucks.

[blanche]

Originally Posted by WahmBoomAh

Cool ....thanks for clearing that up . Sorry ...i guess i go the wrong impression. A couple of years ago I called and went there . Richie told me at the time to let him know when I `d come because they weren`t a walk in type shop ...IIRC ..don`t want to cause any trouble !
AMAZING place and Richie was very nice and generous with his time even though he knew i wasn`t there with the big bucks.

it's more about having stuff on display if someone's coming for the first time, or it's been awhile...it's pretty casual actually. It's never a bad idea to call just to make sure the person you want to see is there, though. I have the repair shop there and I always tell people to call first, just cause I don't want them to be upset if I left to get my son out of school or something.