Midtown's Music Row Is Offically No More

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It's definitely not a secret that New York City is expensive beyond belief, with older shops around Manhattan being forced to close as retail rents hit an all-time high. And just three days into August, we are saying goodbye to NYC's historic Music Row with the closing of both Rudy's Music Shop and Alex's Musical Instruments.

Businesses have slowly been disappearing from this strip of instrument, sheet music, and repair shops on West 48th between Sixth and Seventh Avenue for years now. Rudy's Music Shop, the four-floor guitar and repair shop is joining the likes of Sam Ash, who relocated to 34th Street. Others, like Alex Musical Instruments, the last music store on the Row, are not so lucky, joining the ranks of those forced to leave for good. Owner Alex Carozza told the New York Post that in order to stay, his landlord asked for an increase in rent from $4,000 to $12,000—a simply unreasonable rent for the shopkeeper already managing a too-high rent.

Believing that "the time comes for everything," Carozzo is taking the closing of his shop in stride. Fans, however, do not share his sentiments and have taken to social media to express the loss of the historic district. Take it from Jeremiah Moss, the blogger behind Jeremiah's Vanishing New York, who wrote: "When you have different districts you have a diverse city, where you move through the Flower District, the Diamond District, the Garment District. [NYC is] getting bulldozed by this wave of sameness."