J&R Express at Macy’s:
Helping New Yorkers Know

J&R Express held it’s Grand Opening Ceremony at Macy’s yesterday. The crowd was overflowing and the energy infectious. Comedian Steve Harvey and Yankees legend Graig Nettles were on hand to assist J&R founders Joe & Rachelle Friedman in the ceremonial cutting of the ribbon. Rachelle then joined RADIO 701 WOR DJ Joan Hamburg for an onsite interview. Click below to see some of the photos.

Downtown’s J&R Music and Computer World opened up a new electronics boutique (J&R Express) at Macy’s in Herald Square. There are several benchmarks that seem to show how these New York institutions share historic parallels that make this relationship a dependable one.

New Yorkers know and regard Macy’s at 34th Street as a beloved bastion of retail where nearly anything can be bought and for its annual Thanksgiving Day Parade. For nearly 150 years Macy’s has been a part of the New York lifestyle. Originally called R.H. Macy and Company, the store began on 14th Street in 1858. At that point, most of the population lived and worked below 14th. Later, it moved to 18th Street and Broadway. At the turn of the 20th Century, Macy’s moved to 34th Street and Broadway. Through years of success, Macy’s expanded and took over almost the entire city block from 34th to 35th Streets and from Broadway to Seventh Avenue. Macy’s neighborhood was dubbed Herald Square because of the established presence of the New York Herald Tribune, a newspaper located at the south side of 34th Street and Broadway. The area was home to many major department stores including Gimbel’s and Ohrbach’s. Macy’s stands today as the exclusive and only major department store at Herald Square. It is still called The World’s Largest Department Store with over 2 million square feet of selling space, according to Guinness World Records.

J&R began as a record store, near City Hall, in historic downtown Manhattan in the 1970’s, about the same time that construction was completed on the nearby World Trade Center. At the time, the area was dotted with small electronics and camera stores. J&R opened a store on Park Row. It, too, began selling home entertainment electronics but with a more urbane, friendly, consumer-centered philosophy that drew more customers to the store. By the 1980’s, J&R outran their competition and became an exclusive purveyor of records and electronics in the downtown area. By the dawn of the 21st century, J&R occupies nearly the entire block on Park Row, between Ann and Beekman Streets.

From the 1890’s to about 1910, Park Row was referred as Newspaper Row. Coincidentally, the New York Tribune building (the Herald Tribune) was just over one block north. Pace University currently occupies that space.

Though J&R doesn’t have its own parade yet, it is an active participant in the annual downtown River-to-River festival and produces many free concerts at City Hall Park throughout the year.

As the electronics and personal computer industries exploded to greater popularity, J&R’s unique approach to retail combined with a young, new league of knowledgeable sales staff, rode with the tide to further success. Not only did it completely erase neighborhood competition but toppled chain stores throughout the metropolitan New York area (including Crazy Eddie’s, Newmark & Lewis, and 47th Street Photo). When the World Trade Center was destroyed in 2001, J&R survived the devastation of downtown to remain and grow as a leader in retail electronics and media.

Macy’s, however, could not ride the tide of the expanding electronics field. By the late 1990’s, it gave up selling home electronics and computers.

J&R’s presence in the popular Macy’s Cellar may be a magic elixir that will help Macy’s return to being a viable source for practically anything. For J&R, it’s an opportunity to establish itself as a solid, reliable electronics presence in the midtown area.

The common roots are present. The complementary relationship is considerable. Is this a marriage made in heaven? Visit and shop the J&R Express section at Macy’s and let us know what you think.

This entry was posted by Dr. Iz on Thursday, August 24th, 2006 at 3:19 pm