Rough Trade to open new store at Rockefeller Center in New York

Rough Trade have announced that they are opening a new branch in New York City’s Rockefeller Center, to be named Rough Trade Below.

• READ MORE: The CD revival? It might become the punkest music format out there 

It will be the second Rough Trade site at the midtown Manhattan location and will be based on the ice rink level, directly opposite the 47th-50th St-Rockefeller Center subway station.

Set to open in the spring, the store will include new and used vinyl records, new and used CDs, artist merchandise, audio hardware, Blu-rays and more and will also play host to regular in-store performances and appearances.

Rough Trade co-owner Stephen Godfroy has said: “We’re extremely excited to be opening Rough Trade Below this spring, helping us further cater to the tremendous demand from music lovers across the five boroughs and beyond.”

We’re expanding here in the heart of NYC, opening a second store at Rockefeller Center… located below our current store!

Our existing store stays, while our new store will add and expand the vinyl offer, merch and much much more.

In-store live performances + talks will now… pic.twitter.com/VmMbHwWf38

— Rough Trade US (@RoughTradeUS) January 23, 2025

“It’s clear that the ethos of Rough Trade – to narrow the gap between artist and audience – has struck a tremendous chord here in New York. Creating an even larger mecca for the music lover is an exciting prospect, especially for our intimate live events, where the world’s most exciting artists perform in-store for the admission of purchasing their new album. Creating a focus of counterculture in midtown Manhattan has thankfully proved to be a wildly successful move, and we look forward to creating an even stronger creative community as the year progresses.”

Rough Trade’s other New York site opened in Williamsburg, Brooklyn in 2013, becoming New York City’s largest record store, before relocating to 30 Rockefeller Plaza in 2021.

The chain of music retail shops was founded by Geoff Travis in Ladbroke Grove, West London in 1976. It went on to spawn the record label of the same name in 1978, although the two entities separated four years later.

Rough Trade currently has multiple stores in London, including one in the former Tin Pan Alley that opened in October, as well as bases in Nottingham and Liverpool.

Last year, Rough Trade managing director Lawrence Montgomery said they were looking to open more stores, particularly in London. “We always keep an eye on opportunities in the UK but we are respectful to the great indie stores around the country, so we are very specific when looking at opportunities,” he said. He also added that the chain were “assessing a couple opportunities in London, where we have a strong team and operational set-up.”

It follows the huge resurgence in the vinyl industry in recent years, with the number of independent vinyl stores hitting a 10-year high last year and vinyl outselling CDs for the first time in 35 years in 2023.

The post Rough Trade to open new store at Rockefeller Center in New York appeared first on NME.