F y e

I was pretty sure this place had closed over the past year or so,
and indeed I was at Bay Terrace last weekend and it appears
(and was told by another shopper or employee at Barnes and Noble)
that FYE has indeed shuttered the Bayside store. I was never particularly thrilled
with FYE or their sort of high prices on things, but at least it was another
music and DVD shop to go to. We’re clearly gonna lose all of these now,
too, I’m assuming. The FYE in Glen Cove LI might still be open, I’m not
sure at this writing, though. Meanwhile the irony was that Barnes and Noble here,
last Sunday anyway, was bustling and just busy as can be, mainly with families
with small children, but really a cross-​section, and the café was super busy, long lines,
and a full to capacity seating area.
So, it seems there’s still quite a demand for Barnes and Noble in this area, if nothing else, which I suppose is encouraging. But I was sad to see FYE gone. The parking lot here is a nightmare, plus a bunch of us driving up here on Bell Blvd. that day were treated to under-​construction crap roads, and even a Jeep-​load of angry young men with like NRA stickers all over the vehicle, giving everyone/​anyone the finger and making faces and generally
being nasty and belligerent road-​arses. Queens’s finest. Reminded me why I don’t
come over here much. Meanwhile I can go to Flushing Meadow Park and never run
into jerks like that, ever. Go figure. But RIP FYE. For Your Extinction. I love downloading
music, buying on Amazon and using Spotify as much as the next guy, but this is getting
downright depressing, at least if you’re old-​school like me.
Anybody under 30 years old, I’m sure, probably couldn’t care less. But the thing is FYE reminded me too much of Sam Goody in the old days, overpriced, not a great selection, and no patch on the former Tower Records or Virgin Megastores, obviously, no matter what.
I wish someone would have a marketing brainstorm and bring back Record World (anybody
remember them?) in places like Target or Walmart or whatever, somehow, a throwback.
Record World was so great and beat the hell out of Sam Goody and Coconuts
and FYE by a landslide, into the 1980s or so. Then it all started to go wrong…
And now things are as wrong as they can get. The lone indie record store in
Bayside, Breakdown, closed down last year as well, so this FYE might have been
the final nail in the coffin. The only music Barnes has is overpriced new vinyl.
If you want music on CD, you have to drive all the way to the Carle Place Barnes and Noble
superstore now.

best place in the world for dvds and cds. only place left really. we need places like this. dont just resort to digital