By KIMBERLY ACEVEDO
Now, with no lease or settled agreement, the store he came to love will be closing its doors for the last time on Tuesday, April 30. We've had a great time here. We've had a great run for 11 years. Geiger said. We love the people that we have dealt with.
Melodies has provided the community with an assortment of pop, hip hop, classical and rock music intended for all ages.
But in the recent years, music stores have been hurt by growing technology, Geiger said. He attributes the burning of CDs from the Internet as one of the major reasons there has been a dip in sales.
The [music] stores, are doing poorly now, Geiger said. Even the big ones. It certainly hurt the business.
Even when business slowed down, that never stopped Geiger. And he never gave it a thought to leave the music store business. At one time there was a lot of walking traffic, Melodies employee Charles Ruderman said. But for the last three to four years it has stopped.
According to the property owner Frederica Gold of Manhattan, Melodies is closing its doors only because It's going out of business.
But Geiger said, As far as us going out of business, there was no intention of going out of business. It was strictly their decision that's putting us out of business.
Years ago, Geiger said, he had a lease but within the last few years Gold changed it to a month-to-month deal.
When asked about the change in lease, Gold said she'd rather not give out that information.
When Geiger and Gold couldn't work out a lease agreement, Geiger was forced to shut his doors for good. And some employees are upset and feel that wasn't fair.
I think it's sad, Ruderman said and he feels that Geiger got a raw deal.
But for Geiger, it's going to be hard saying good-bye. I will miss it quite a bit.
Rumors have spread on what will take the place of Melodies. A Spanish/American Grocery seems to be in the works but Gold, who's family has owned the land since the 1940's, said she can't talk about it yet.
But for Geiger, there is not another music store in his future. He plans on taking a small vacation and then finding another job shortly after. You usually make the best of it.
