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Rocks in Your Head SoHo is Dead
By
Jacob Dobkin
Published Apr 29, 2006
Modified Mar 7, 2008
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By
Jacob Dobkin
Published Apr 29, 2006
Modified Mar 7, 2008
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The last vestige of 1970s SoHo is about to disappear: Rocks in Your Head, the record store on Prince Street, is closing after twenty-eight years of business. Manhattan's loss is Brooklyn's gain: the store is moving to North 5th and Roebling Street in Williamsburg. The Villager reports:
“I’ve been losing money for the last few years, and the rents being what they are, business hasn’t been good,” Barouch said on Monday. “The name of retail is location, location, and when the location’s not any good, that’s why we’re moving.
“I’ve been complaining about Soho for 20 years,” he said. “This used to be an interesting neighborhood. When I first opened, I could stand on the street and at least half the people walking by were potential customers and interested in music. Now, it’s much less. Hopefully, Williamsburg’s a cooler neighborhood.”
The store’s rent is currently $5,000 a month, up from $300 a month in 1978.
A few years back we got rid of all of our Morrissey and Smiths CDs-- Rocks in Your Head bought them for $3/each. That was like $200! Come to think of it, that was right around the time we opened Gothamist-- some of that money probably paid for hosting costs of the site. So without Rocks in Your Head, you probably wouldn't be reading this right now. Weird!
We'll probably need to raise some money again soon, so does anyone have a suggestion for a new used record place below Houston Street?
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Jacob Dobkin
Jake Dobkin co-founded Gothamist with Jen Chung. In 2019, Jake released Ask a Native New Yorker, a book based on his Gothamist advice column.
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