Second Best Theatre Shop in City to Close

[GlindatheGood22]

Posted: 7/29/13 at 5:31pm

Ughhhhhhh. They were so great for windowcards.


First Colony...

Updated On: 7/29/13 at 05:31 PM

[flyinghighwithwicked]

Posted: 7/29/13 at 5:43pm

This is so upsetting. I buy TONS of stuff from that store every single time I am in the city. At least the other two are staying open, but I really don't like this. At least I will get to go one more time next month.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 7/29/13 at 5:58pm

My feelings on this are mixed. I have some great memories of this place (meeting a vocal score shopping Liza Minnelli in 1996 and chatting and chatting for what seemed like an hour) but this was also my first job in the city in 2004. They paid $7 an hour (and to this day I think still might pay right around this) and getting a raise was absolutely impossible. Not to mention the fact that the bosses are honestly some of the worst people you'd ever want to come in contact with, taking lavish vacations constantly and bragging about the thousands they spend on dinner alone while you're figuring out if you can afford a hot dog from the cart outside. But it's still a Times Square "institution", in a way and because of that, I'll be sad to see it go.

[Phantom4ever]

Posted: 7/29/13 at 6:03pm

First those beautiful theaters were destroyed to build the hotel, and now even the theater shops can't stay open.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 7/29/13 at 6:12pm

Yeah but they were still ridiculously priced. $22.50 for a single CD or $40 for a double CD? 10 years ago, it was hard to get people to buy those, even the foreign tourists. I can't IMAGINE how difficult it is to get them to buy them now.

[forgetmenotnyc]

Posted: 7/29/13 at 6:36pm

This has to be the stupidist thread ever. No name mentioned?

[Phantom4ever]

Posted: 7/29/13 at 6:44pm

I, for one, wouldn't be able to identify these stores by name, only by location. They are underneath the Marriott Marquis.

[GlindatheGood22]

Posted: 7/29/13 at 6:46pm

"This has to be the stupidist thread ever."

Going on my resume.

[forgetmenotnyc]

Posted: 7/29/13 at 7:42pm

haha. Glad you like it enough to put on your "resume"? (Why?) Actually it should be spelled "stupidest" but it kinda works to be supremely stupid mispelled, right? I was just assuming that previous comments that mentioned the whereabouts/name had been removed. Poor unnamed little store. I guess everything is being changed under the Marriott.

[somethingwicked]

Posted: 7/29/13 at 7:48pm

It was always bizarre to me that these two stores were owned by the same people and sold identical merchandise and yet they existed literally two steps from one another. Considering there are two additional identical stories under the same ownership right across the street, I'm hard pressed to see why this is so upsetting. If anything, the fact that all four have lasted as long as they have in such close proximity is something of a miracle.

As far as the practices of the owners are concerned, for what it's worth, I too have heard very disheartening things about how little the employees of these stores are paid and how poorly they're treated.

Updated On: 7/29/13 at 07:48 PM

[Bettyboy72]

Posted: 7/29/13 at 7:57pm

I wont miss either of these stores. They were staffed by know-it-all theatre wannabes who were so condescending and rude, the prices were outrageous and customer service was non-existent.

Jordan, I am sure you were lovely when you worked there, but everyone else was a total a@#hole.

[fashionguru_23]

Posted: 7/29/13 at 8:21pm

Bettyboy, I agree with you about the staff being know-it-all theatre queen wannabes. One a few occasions, I would have to correct a staff member, because they were giving incorrect advice for a piece of merchandise.

My favourite was correcting a larger, bald staff member when he said that the Mame cast album is something to have, because Angela Lansbury is dead...little did he know she was a few hundred yards from him in The Best Man!

Will sort of sad to see the store go, as I always got a fun feeling in a quiet little store at night, in the middle of Times Square. Although, the better location is the one with the bookstore in the back, beside the St. James.

Updated On: 7/29/13 at 08:21 PM

[Bettyboy72]

Posted: 7/29/13 at 8:32pm

I once had an employee, completely unsolicited, tell me that I had forged Bette Midlers signature on my Playbill because "Bette doesn't sign". I said "maybe she didn't sign for you because you're a rude assh#@le"That shut her up

[Scarywarhol]

Posted: 7/29/13 at 8:53pm

I had an experience with one of their older staff, maybe an owner, being very rude to me as well. Haven't been back since. The audience for a store like this isn't so huge that you can go around being condescending to your core market.

[dramamama611]

Posted: 7/29/13 at 9:07pm

Hey, foregetmenotnyc, since you feel the need to point out someone else's mistake, let me help you: misspelled. Mis+spelled.


I always prefered Theater Circle -- but I seldom buy anything -- too expensive!

[suestorm]

Posted: 7/30/13 at 9:20am

first colony now this. but you can get any of the stuff they sold here on ebay, or amazon, and probably for a lot cheaper.

[forgetmenotnyc]

Posted: 7/30/13 at 5:30pm

Dramamama - if you look again you will see that I was correcting my OWN misspelling with 'stupidist/stupidest. Geez!

[anmiller07]

Posted: 7/30/13 at 6:05pm

I didn't realize these were the stores in the Marquis. My first time in NY I went their and purchased the Showbusiness DVD. They charged 50 bucks. I was all to eager to buy. Haven't been back since but it did make me say "aww" when I saw it was them that would be closing.

[Kad]

Posted: 7/30/13 at 7:05pm

This is not so much a loss to me- I have memories of going there when I was visiting the city, and you could sometimes pick up something from a long-closed show, but they're not nearly as iconic as Colony.

Now if Triton Gallery or Drama Bookshop were to shutter, THAT would be beyond tragic.