Man Oh Manny's
One of my favorite things in the whole wide world is to spend a couple of hours on a Sunday afternoon wandering through Manny's Music on 48th Street in New York City, also known as Music Row. It's a big, wide-open store, with guitars hanging in every nook and cranny. You can take them down yourself and put them back, without some pesky salesguy bugging you. Unlike a lot of other music stores, you can find your own little corner and play in peace, without feeling like you're being sized up, or down. The guitars aren't necessarily unusual, but the experience certainly is.
Look up, and you might be sitting under a framed receipt, signed by Jimi Hendrix. Look over, and you'll see a wall full of autographed photos from just about every legend of music you could imagine, because they all shopped at Manny's. Look across, and puzzle over the famous, beaten up, broken down yellow guitar, for years used by customers to sample gadgets. One of those customers, George Harrison, wanted to buy the guitar, but Ian Goldrich, Manny's owner, wouldn't sell it. Now it rests, its broken-off peghead at its side, museum-like, in a plexiglas case.
Manny's is -- or was -- wholly unlike the Sam Ash store across the street, which is a cramped and noisy little warren of a store. I say "was" because, while Sam Ash has none of the character of Manny's, it owns Manny's ... and has just killed Manny's. Sadly, Ian Goldrich understands. "The fact is it's still the most famous music store in the world from a historical perspective ... but not from a business perspective," he told the New York Times. The photos, the memorabilia and the yellow guitar have been removed and placed in storage, and the spirit that was Manny's will be replaced by "a giant Sam Ash guitar shop." Damn. Your thoughts?
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i love this store, i am
i love this store, i am there every week
Manny's Music
Hey Tim, I don't see why you're getting all sentimental about Manny's Music. I'm sure it was a great store full of character which inspired many, motivated some and helped a few hopeful musicians find purpose in life. But the acquisition and pending bastardization by Sam Ash should come as no surprise to you or the readers of your column. Articles highlighting the affects of the "New Economy", the forces of globalization at work and the innovation which drives our spending habits and marketing efforts dot your daily emails. Unfortunately for Manny's, their story is no different; it just happens to have a unique past in a unique city. An historical city. One where people used to care about Ian. But now people don't care about guys like Ian. They care about price and performance, they and don't care where it comes from. It's basic, Tim. And aside from the fact that I believe you're an artist and/or musician, I'm actually disappointed you went that route with your article.
Thanks Gered
You know, sometimes "cool news" is the opposite of what it is.
Manny's
Tim,
My favorite memory of Manny's took place in the original store that was torn down to build a high-rise back in the 1960's. As a musician I was traveling around the country with a band and we had a gig in New York City. I went to Manny's to buy a new Selmer tenor Saxophone since they usually had the lowest price.
I went to the counter and told the guy I was interested in a Selmer tenor sax. He went in the back pulled one out, put it on the counter and told me how much it would be. I asked if I could try it out and he said sure after I paid for it. So I gave him the cash and started to pull the horn out of the case. He told me there just wasn't enough room to have everyone trying their new instruments out in the store and told me I could go out on the curb and try my new horn our there. Since the store was so busy I joined several others who were sitting on the curb in front of Manny's trying our new instruments.
I don't know if this would be classified as an "Only in New York" event or maybe just an "Only at Manny's" event. It was certainly something I'll never forget.
I wen on to open and manage the original Guitar Center on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles where we never made our customers go out in the street to try their new instruments.
Manny's
They paved paradise and put up a parking lot.
Manny's
In the span of a few short sentences I went from joy to sorrow. In this day and time when the same company can own competing restaurants and position them blocks from each other, would it have been so hard to save Manny's? Did anyone think about the negative publicity of killing an institution? Of the positive publicity in saving one? So sad.
Manny's
Let's see, I am 65. I bought a trumpet when in high school, 5 guitars, since, a very good clarinet and loved the place. Losing it is like ripping part of my heart out. Why couldn't Sam change his other store to Manny's name, at least.
Manny a tear has to fall
The bottom line is often, sadly, unsentimental -- insensitive to concepts like nostalgia, tradition, and intangibles. So, if Ash saw Manny's as a better location, thought the two brands would cannibalize one another, and felt an ego-driven sense of ownership, then Manny's had to go.
It's not as if Sam Ash lacks history. It's as durable a brand as Manny's is... was. The question is, in the small universe that is Music Row, does it matter? When SBC bought AT&T, they kept the AT&T name because of the brand's decades-long attributes and, for the most part, good reputation. Nationsbank bought Bank of America and retained the more prominent brand. But those are national household names. Manny's? Only among the aficionados.
Still, if Ash takes over the space and imposes its less appealing business practices, it may end up with less in the long run. It could go the route of Abercrombie & Fitch which, for decades, had stood beside Brooks Brothers -- physically (their two main stores were side by side on Madison Avenue) as well as metaphorically (Brooks serving the work-a-day/city needs of its customers with Abercrombie providing the apparel and gear for weekends "in the country"). Abercrombie's clothing was considered so durable, in fact, that the company made uniforms for American soldiers as far back as WW I.
For the past two decades, though, Abercrombie switched from a high quality traditional brand to an image-of-the-moment, seasonally vulnerable one aimed exclusively at an under-30 market. And once the shock of its print ads wore off (and the shock of the economy set in), A&F is just another trend-impaired retailer, struggling against a host of other stores.
So if what made Manny's Manny's goes away, Ash may find itself across the street from Guitar Center... and wish it had picked the Manny's name (and business approach), instead.
Manny's
Seriously...it's being closed? I haven't been there in awhile, but it is always a better place to be than Sam Ash. Sam Ash is bright, loud and 'cold'. Manny's was always warm and comfortable...and it was always easier to grab an axe and play all you wanted. Too bad...another store in Manhattan gives way to the larger stores...soon Manhattan will have no character...it will be just one big mall.
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