Rough Trade Above — Local services in New York

Oversold & poorly organized

i don’t even know where to begin. last night i had the pleasure to see black country new road play at the new location ‘rough trade below’ and the performance was excellent. the crowd was very respectful and it was nice seeing them up and personal. however, everything after the event was a disaster and i advise anyone who reads this to not go to the ‘below’ events until something is changed. my boyfriend and i queued a little after 5 pm for doors to be at 6:45 pm. Security told us and everyone else who queued that we weren’t allowed to sit and wouldn’t give us a specific reason, just that we weren’t allowed. we stood until 6:45 pm because we wanted a front row spot for the show and it wasn’t a huge deal, just inconvenient that the 4 people in line weren’t allowed to sit in front of the store. as time goes by and the line fills up, the line gets so long that fans have to start queuing on the other side of the wall. more and more people come and it starts to become concerning due to security adding a second line since the first line was too long. 7 pm rolls by and we are allowed to walk into the store and choose our spots for the event. not sure why 6:45 pm was even put on the dice ticket if we were put inside at 7 pm. a little after 7pm is when the band starts to play and they play a total of 5 songs. for the price i paid for a signed cd and 5 songs, i would do it again. there have been some events hosted by Rough Trade where the artist only plays 3 songs, so it was nice getting an extra 2. After the band says goodbye, the employee starts to tell us that the signing will happen closer to the door and to line up to grab our physical media (cd or vinyl). it took me and hour and 40 minutes just to get my cd signed. For the first 30 minutes we didn’t even move. There was no line formed, everyone was crammed around the table they said to queue. the cherry on top was the staff eating by the stage while 100+ people wait to get their cd/vinyl signed. moving forward, you should give the customers their cd/vinyl to hold onto during the show to speed up the process. You guys didn’t even try to do that for us. The one girl giving out the records told us ‘she doesn’t even work here anymore’. You oversold the event and didn’t organize it at all. I gave the first half of waiting grace due to this being one of your first shows here at 'below' but this was 100% preventable. why should it take ANYONE that long to get their record signed? To also tell us that we were only allowed to get the copy given to us signed was ridiculous! While we waited we saw people get other records signed! Why all of a sudden tell us we can’t to “speed up the process” when it was your fault you sold these many tickets to begin with! You guys didn’t even try to form a line for everyone! WE SPENT MORE TIME WAITING FOR OUR SIGNED ITEM THAN THE ACTUAL EVENT! you’re lucky this crowd was respectful towards everyone’s space because this could have easily became more of a shitshow if people started pushing!!  I never had any issues with ‘rough trade above’ when performances and/or signings were held there, you...

Giving three stars for this reason. I never review places. I’m not about that. But I’m an AVID music addict who has given this place a lot of my hard earned money but my last experience may quite well be my last. Called to see if I could pre order a very limited album through them rather than going through the label direct and actually support the local record store. I clearly stated when I called that if there was gonna be a problem getting it to just let me know because I could get It direct retail from the label but that I would rather buy it through rough trade to be able to physically come and pick up the album as opposed to waiting for it to show up hopefully not damaged on my door step - all good - the release date comes around so I give a call, they have no idea. I call again a few days later, they have no idea. In the process the label itself sells out of the title and NONE are even available on Discogs or eBay because of how limited this thing was. now tell me why I wasn’t told that this may be a a problem - I am actually someone who used to work in the business and I know how it can be with distributors shorting items and what not, things sell out, I get it. But working in the biz when someone had asked me to order something that I KNEW was going to be extremely hard to get - I would ALWAYS take the extra step and either call or email the company to make sure the titles I was ordering were coming in, wether it be from a distributor like ami or direct through the label. I wouldn’t want to let that customer down on the release date. But no. I never got a call. An email, nothing. Feel like I wasn’t given any care when it came to this order - like I was just pushed to the back of the line - although the guy who originally answered the phone and took my order was extremely nice and helpful and sounded hopeful of the whole situation so I’m not knocking him what so ever - and the store is very stocked and organized and i always find stuff I’m looking for there usually without an issue - hence the reason I gave the two stars. But this. This is gonna bother me because now I’ll probably have to pay an awful lot of money for this if and when it ever pops up on eBay or something - just...

First time I cried after leaving a store. I’ve spent a lot of money here and has been my favorite store for awhile. Has contributed greatly to my record collection!

Unfortunately, lately I’ve been feeling really unwelcomed and feel like I’m dealing with racial profiling. Sometimes I’ll walk in, I’ll just do a slight wave or a say a good morning (I work overnight until 7am and sometimes wait until 10 for rough trade to open), and I’m met with an eye roll, a face will be made at me, they’ll look away. I try not to take it personally because it’s still early and they just got to work, so I get it! But then there will be times here and there I feel like a specific worker is watching/following me. I understand they get a lot of customers, so they won’t recognize me as a returning customer maybe. I also understand I may not be the 100% most presentable looking person in the world sometimes, but in all honesty it does hurt my feelings .

All of the above happened again this morning, and I was defeated and cut my browsing short and just bought what I was already holding and left. I didn’t tell anyone because I didn’t want any trouble, and I still don’t! I know some people may have their days. But it was really disappointing. I’ll still be returning because other staff members can be very very friendly and helpful! But the feeling after hours of excitement waiting for your favorite store to open, just to feel like you’re in enemy territory once you’re there can be a...