I forgot to add that there was a Korvettes in the Sunrise Mall when it first opened . I'm not 100% positive , but I think it was where Wal Mart is now .

TSS and Korvettes were great back in the day . TSS was the first place I ever came across imports . I was lucky enough to live not too far from all those shops in Massapequa , I had a Korvettes 3 miles west of me in Massapequa and one 3 miles east of me in West Islip and a TSS a mile south of me in West Babylon . There was also Looney Tunes in West Babylon . He's doing something right , they're still doing a very strong business .
One of my favorite shops in NYC was Second Coming Records in the Village on Sullivan St .

I was a frequent visitor to Second Coming in the late 70s-early 80s. They basically moved a block over to Thompson St and became Generation Records. Still there.

Nice to read about memories from other NYC-area regional music fans....also nice to see King Karol mentioned. I worked in the Flushing store...was the 2nd guy they hired...the 1st guy they hired became the drummer in the Plasmatics!

Many stories and adventures from that store...in a way we out Hi-Fidelitied "Hi-Fidelity!"

yeah it was just south past the LIRR station on Main Street. Across the street from that great Flushing pizza slice place near Woolworths.
I can still remember thumbing through albums in the store. Believe I bought an ELP album there. The place had a great selection.
Wish I could go in a time machine and go back for a day.

I saw the movie and the record collecting was covered in the beginning.

Or am I thinking of Ghost World?

Many of Harvey's stories dealt with collecting records and selling them - not just to collectors, but to co-workers in the hospital.

The record collecting aspect that appeared in the movie was adapted from American Splendor #4's "The Young Crumb Story," which told of how he met the cartoonist R. Crumb, although the movie took liberties with what really happened (at least as depicted in the comics). In the comics, Harvey was introduced to a collector named Marty Pahls; Crumb, who was staying with Pahls, was mentioned almost as an afterthought ("he collects, so you can meet him too"). In the movie, Harvey met Crumb at a garage sale when Crumb noticed Harvey was considering the purchase of a Jay McShann record for 25 cents ('it has a lamination crack, but I think I can still use it").

Yes, I'm a big Harvey Pekar fan (see my signature)... I still can't believe he's gone.


Sketch by Rick Parker, drawn especially for me at the MoCCA Art Festival in New York

Are we talking about a bridesmaid or...?

Heh... no, but here's a true story from that wedding.

The bride was a friend from high school, and I ended up sharing a hotel room with another friend (Steve) who was also the bride's former boyfriend. We found out that the groom's friends had been giving him a lot of grief about Steve's attendance, and had in fact come *this close* to persuading him to come up to our room the night before the wedding and challenge Steve to a fight. Can you imagine how that would've turned out? The groom coming down the aisle the next day with a big ol' black eye, or worse... us in jail? Who knows?

Also, turned out Steve wasn't quite as over the bride as everybody (including himself) thought, so we decided to kill two birds with one stone, exacting our revenge by stealing all the champagne from the groomsmen's table and then proceeding to drown our sorrows. After the reception we continued in the bar, and by the end of the night Steve needed to be carried back up to our hotel room. Good times.

Hahaha. That's rule #1: Never invite the exes to the wedding!

I had no idea he was still alive until so recently, but the founder of the Korvette chain, Eugene Ferkauf, died on Tuesday at age 91. I still have some LP's I bought at Korvette's with $1.98 stamped on the sleeve (no shrink wrap in those days!)

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/07/busin ... at-91.html

Cutler's record store in New Haven closing after 64 years in business
NEW HAVEN — In an inevitable sign of the times, Phil Cutler Wednesday disclosed he soon will close his family’s record store after an amazing 64-year run.

Cutler, 53, who has for decades carried on the business started in 1948 by his grandfather, Nat Cutler, said he based his decision on a combination of factors, including the weak economy and declining sales of compact discs.

But Cutler emphasized: “This is a retirement celebration; it’s not sad. We’re still making money. We’re going out on top.”

He said he will shut his doors June 30, and, starting today, everything in the store will be discounted by 25 percent.


Cutler’s has been a cultural centerpiece of New Haven’s Broadway for generations of teenagers, and their parents, too. The old place has outlasted hundreds of other record stores done in by Internet downloading of music.

Cutler said the intimate neighborhood ambience of his store helped keep it going. “People seem to love to come in and chat: first, second, third generations. And that will be sorely missed.”

There are three record turntables spinning in the front window, often with the store’s live-in cat, Wally, curled up alongside them. Inside, the walls are covered with record albums ranging from Hank Williams, Connie Francis and Glenn Miller to Led Zeppelin and the Rolling Stones.

There was just one customer in the store Wednesday at 6:15 p.m. Her name was Jenna Park, 19, of Woodbridge, and she was shocked when she was told Cutler’s will close. “This is one of the stores I really like. It gives off a nice, comfortable vibe. I’m so used to seeing this store as part of Broadway.”

Bob Briar, one of the store’s long-serving employees, said he began working there 38 years ago, when he was 17. “I wanted to be in a place I really enjoyed.”

“It’s a sad commentary, what’s happened to the music scene,” Briar added. “It’s not nearly as vibrant as when we grew up. We had the Beatles, the Stones, the Who, Zeppelin, Chicago. Now, it’s rather superficial; lightweight pop hits.” Continued...

In addition, Briar said, record companies “priced themselves out of the market,” especially when people could download songs at home.

Cutler is so appreciative of Briar and his two other long-serving employees, Mindy Peterman and Kyle Mullins, that he helped arrange for Briar and Peterman (and Mullins, if he accepts the offer) to get hired by Campus Customs, just down the street.

That business, which operates out of the space once occupied by York Square Cinemas, is a retailer and manufacturer of Yale University merchandise. It also has a producion facility behind the store. Cutler himself runs the production operation there, juggling those duties with overseeing the record shop.

Cutler said when he learned of the openings at Campus Customs for his employees, he knew it was a good time to close the family store.

“Those three people mean a lot to me,” he said.

“My grandfather had the foresight to start a store on Broadway in New Haven,” he noted. “It brought us all the fruits we could ask for, emotionally and every other way.”

His grandparents, Nat and Lee, outgrew the original space at 41 Broadway and moved to 33 Broadway in 1953. There were two listening booths for customers to hear records.

Nat and Lee Cutler’s son, Jayson Cutler, took over operations in the early ’60s after their deaths. Promotional visits were made by Brenda Lee, Tom Jones, the Everly Brothers and Tony Bennett.

“People love that store and I loved being there,” Jayson Cutler said over the phone from his home in Branford.

He said he left the store about 20 years ago; he’s now 75. “It’s a piece of New Haven that’s not going to be there. But he’s going out while he’s
Phil Cutler said this timing is important to him. “I wanted to go out with people having good memories. We could stay another 10 years, but I don’t want to string it along.”

He said the resurgence of interest in vinyl (records) is now what keeps the store profitable. However, in 1999 he downsized, moving to 27 Broadway.

Cutler said he has had a good relationship with his landlord, Yale University. “I’ve been lucky to have them.”

Abigail Rider, director of University Properties, said, “The Cutlers have been the epitome of a fine family-owned business and we’re proud to have them as tenants.”

Phil Cutler, who began working alongside his father at age 13, said above all the job enabled him to meet “terrific” people. “I’m on a first-name basis with New Haven. I’ve got 100,000 brothers and sisters walking around and I’ll always have that. You can’t put a price on it.”

Cutler’s Record Shop In New Haven Going Out Of Business

Phil Cutler loves his customers, is on great terms with his landlord and has a healthy business — and he’s shutting it all down.

Cutler’s Record Shop, the New Haven store his family has owned and operated since 1948, closes for good June 30, or earlier, if the store sells out of inventory.

“This is the time,” Cutler said Thursday afternoon. “It’s just the time.”

The shop has been a Broadway institution for decades. Tony Bennett, Tom Jones, the Everly Brothers and generations of local music fans have all browsed in Cutler’s, which has occupied three different storefronts over the years, including its current home, a 2,000-square-foot space at 25-27 Broadway. Cutler started working at the family’s business in 1971 when he was 13, and later dropped out of the University of Hartford to help his father, Jayson, run the place.

“It’s my whole life,” he said. “This store financially, emotionally and whatever else has done wonders for my family.”


The shop is on solid financial footing, Cutler says, and he’s tight enough with his landlord, Yale University, that he hasn’t had a lease in years. He’s certain Yale is charging him far less in rent than the space is probably worth.

So why close?

Two reasons. One is that he’s keen to get out before the ongoing upheaval in the music industry comes any closer. His concerns are real: Overall music sales increased in 2011 for the first time in seven years, but most of the growth was digital, according a year-end report by Nielsen SoundScan. Sales of compact discs continued their years-long decline, falling 5.7 percent to 223 million units.

Cutler’s also sells new and used vinyl, and though new-LP sales have been resurgent in recent years — 2.8 million units in 2011 — they represent too small a fraction of overall sales to make much difference.

“It hasn’t quite filled the gap the CD is leaving,” Cutler said.

Also, though, he’s been working at Cutler’s for 40 years, often seven days a week. After “80 million days in a row,” he says, he’s ready for a break.

“It’s exhausting,” Cutler said. He currently splits his time between the record store and Campus Customs, a screenprinting and embroidery business up the street, where he plans to be more involved once Cutler’s closes.

Customers in the store Thursday were saddened by the news that Cutler’s is closing.

“It’s touching me just being here,” said Ramon Delgado, 35, of Hamden, who started coming to Cutler’s with his parents as a kid. “One of the greatest things I loved about being here was you couldn’t go to Strawberry’s or Coconuts and find some of the stuff you could find here.”

Like other customers, Delgado praised the staff for being friendly as well as knowledgeable.

“Everybody knew their stuff, from hip-hop to classical to punk to heavy metal,” he said.

That’s what drew Susan Fowler back repeatedly over the past 30 years.

“It’s that personal touch,” said the North Haven resident, a classical and jazz fan who described herself as “middle aged.” “Everything has its time and its season, and to be part of that is a blessing.”

It’s a sad day for New Haven’s music lovers. Cutler’s Record Shop, the venerable establishment that introduced generations of fans to a lifetime of incredible music, announced yesterday that they’d be closing shop at the end of June 2012 after 64 years of business. The breaking news reached me via Edwin Bartlett of CT Out and About. Trusting that Ed would break the news easy, I clicked through to read his article. I encourage you to do the same if you want the details.

Since the news broke, I’ve been watching it spread across social networks as New Haven natives, Yale colleagues, local alums, musicians, artists, promoters, producers, students, faculty, adults, teens, and kids alike all mourn this loss. And truly, there’s mourning. Everyone has a Cutler’s story. It’s personal.



"Very sad to learn the Cutler's in New Haven is closing. A very special place for me.... I used to ride the bus down there all the time after school and was even in their first (only) TV commercial. I learned so much about music hanging down there... very sad indeed." - Andrew Higgins

"I remember we were there when we heard the news of Jerry Garcia's passing." - Chris Serapiglia

"Cutler's is closing. What can you say. That sucks." - Karen Kupiec




Yep. I’d already been thinking a lot about Cutler’s as of late, thanks to Record Store Day and another thing that I’m writing. I made a recent visit there after a long break and it was a place completely different from the Cutler’s of my memory. The storefront appeared diminished next to the bright, energetic, glass walls of the new Apple Store a few doors down. Where was the vibrant energy? The pumping bass? The unknown-but-catchy tunes streaming from the overhead speakers? There was once a time when I’d go to Cutler’s every day. I’d enter the store, say hi to the clerk, grab a New Haven Advocate, and walk past all of the listening stations to the very back, admiring cover art and listening to the tiny, tinny sounds from the headphones one after the next as I anticipated listening to every single one on the walk back to the front checkout. I couldn’t wait to discover a melody, a hook, a track that would change my day for the better. I could always rely on Cutler’s to catch me unsuspecting and surprise me with an album I couldn’t leave without. At Cutler’s, I discovered Elliot Smith, Aimee Mann, Gillian Welch, Jonatha Brooke, Erin McKeown, The Beta Band, Bright Eyes, Mates of State, and so many other artists that came to represent ages and stages of my life.




My visit in February was a special visit, to bring my son to the store and share the joy of treasure hunting among the used CDs. He was about a year old the first time we went there together and he got a blue egg shaker from the assortment near the cash register. This time, he selected Bruce Springsteen’s Greatest Hits. When we checked out, our music was placed into a white plastic shopping bag. “What happened to Cutler’s trademark yellow bag?” I asked. Too expensive. I almost saved the receipt for that Bruce Springsteen CD, to commemorate the visit. I didn’t, because it seemed trivial and unnecessary. How many yellow Cutler’s bags and receipts did I once have? Countless.



So with Record Store Day just last month, I re-watched High Fidelity, and visited Cutler’s again. I went to explore it from a sociocultural perspective, and with my librarian glasses on, researching my next Social Eyes column, “The Case for Place.” Digital content is pushing libraries and bookstores out of existence, and record stores have suffered this fate, too. Cutler's struggled to maintain relevance as the market changed. This is a difficult truth, which former customers are acknowledging in the wake of yesterday's announcement.

"I've been going there since I could drive. They used to have EVERYTHING and recently, in the last five years, I have struggled to find the most basic indie rock music. What is the point of Cutler's if they aren't going to supply their customers with what they should have? I dont need a SubPop t-shirt or a Charlie Sheen t-shirt a bunch of novelty toys. All I wanted was the new Dirty Three Record or ANY Damien Jurado records." - Tom Nolan

My friend Matt Scott observed, “at least Cutler is retiring, not being shoved out.” Good point. But I can’t help but think about my February evening visit, and that other Broadway store, so full of bright energy and shopping customers. While Cutler’s may not be literally shoved out of its retail space, it’s been figuratively shoved out by the winners in the digital music space. And less than a year after Apple moved in right next door.

Cutler’s, thanks for the music and the memories. We’ll miss you.

had some good mom and pop's here in wichita falls....
cosmic squire - was also a book store. the owner was a huge willie nelson and bob dylan fan but was also familiar with tangerine dream
golden oldies/rainbow records - (same owner) bought an autographed copy of kiss' "the originals" there signed by all four
recycled records - which was a record store in front and a head shop in the back

as my tastes became a bit more varied i had to drive down to ft worth/dallas which had....
peaches
bill's (still there)
forever young (still there)
metamophosis
groove entertainment (still there - cant remember what it was called prior to that, but the same owner)

whenever i hit austin i always stop into waterloo (still booming) and there used to be one called unicorn records on south lamar where
i bought all of the cocteau twins in one stop.

oklahoma city had a great little shop called rainbow records. there was also a little hole in the wall in duncan, ok. i would hit after albums
became harder to find and i was still resisting the compact disc.

I worked at Music Plus in 1984-1985 and HATED minding the cassette wall.

I'm still shocked the "record store" era is over. It was a fun time when I was a kid and teenager but all things change and this is one of them. Music changed and I guess we must adapt.

The record store era still exists in NYC, but stores have been closing at an alarming rate.

Sad about Cutler's -- I was in there at least once a week in college in the late 70's (Rhymes was on the same block) and made many purchases there. I always went back there when I was in New Haven for reunions. Now there will be one less reason for me to go back.

Just got home from a benefit here in Atlanta, where I ran into the guy who used to manage the Sounds Familiar store that was about four blocks from my house when I lived in Columbia, SC, and that I visited faithfully most every Tuesday from 1990-1994. Hadn't seen him in 18 years. His wife chaired the benefit. Small world, big reminiscing for us all this evening.

Looks like J&R is undergoing another drastic contraction. The 2nd floor and the basement have signs reading "pardon our appearance." Some of the DVD bins are empty, and many of the soundtrack and cast recording CDs have disappeared.

That is sad.