Harvey's Closes Flagship Manhattan Location

[Paul H Benson]

I worked in midtown Manhattan from 1965 to 1988. I often spent my lunch hours visiting sudio shops including Harveys on 45th street. I purchased small items that I could carry home from the 45th st store--eg phono cartridges. When it came to a pair of speakers-DCM Time Windows, I made the purchase in a Harvey store in the suburbs near my home.
I have fond memories of visiting Harveys--I enjoyed just looking at their window displays.
It is sad to hear of their closing. I do not know if they tried to focus on surround sound and custom installations--seems like that would have been an opportune area in Manhattan

[MoosePond]

My very first sales call in September of 1972 as a charter member of the newly-formed Bose factory sales team was to Ralph Blatt at Harvey's 45th Street and I'll always have fond memories of this flagship location. That same day I also called on Leonard Levy at Leonard Radio, Paul Sampson (son of Harvey founder Harvey Sampson) at Liberty Music and Mike Kaye at Lyric HiFi. Those were the days when we had some real gentlemen in this industry and they were all very kind to a "freshman" salesman who was just starting his career. It's a sad day and the CE business in Manhattan will never be the same without these pioneers.

[Revko1]

That is very sad, I've been going to that location for years. I would take my lunch hour to go and check out the latest gear...It's a real shame, now I have to go to best buy down the block to check out mass production crap!

Is the ABC location open at 17th street ? Two hour lunch......

Revko1

[WRRHalum]

Originally Posted by AVRevForum.com

Harvey’s is not going out of business as a chain. They still have a store on 19th Street in Manhattan, as well as other locations around the area that are serviced by a loyal clientele. They also reportedly own a Bang & Olufsen franchise in the city, as well as in Greenwich, Connecticut.

by: Jerry Del Colliano
Source: Informationweek.com

Ah, the reporting source! A link would be even more illuminating: http://www.informationweek.com/blog/...y_for_rad.html

[omniclassic]

While Harvey's was later known as a HiFi/Stereo dealer, I go back a ways when my father used to go there for electronics parts, and it was known as "Harvey Radio". Later when I entered the recording field, working for Record Plant and Elektra records, I knew it as Harvey Pro Audio. At that time, Harvey's top man was Donald Plunket who was also president of the AES(Audio Engineers Society) for a while. So for me Harvey's was always more than just a Hi Fi store but a supplier to the world of professional audio in New York.
Bottom line is: Missing Harvey's goes very deep for many of us.

More into music than the gear.

[optides]

Sorry to hear about Harvey's 45th street being closed, but I have my tale.
In 1983, just as the CD was about to be commerically released, I visited Harvey's for the last time. I spoke with a gent I thought was the manager, about the forthcoming innovation hitting the market.

He seriously told me he did not think anything much would come of it -- too expensive, both players and media. Vinyl and cassette would continue to reign.

I guess in the past his grand-father scoffed the disc, thinking the Edison wax cylinder was the thing. And his father, the microgroove vinyl LP, as shellac 78's were the thing. And his uncle, the minicassette, because reel-to-reel was too good and high in fidelity.

And that fellow's son probably was ridiculing the iTunes revolution the other year, because SACD was pure and good.

I think this is probably typical in the industry as a whole, perhaps because of inventory considerations, perhaps because many can't think to far forward -- hey, they are salesman and sales managers, not visionaries!

Good luck to Harvey's; to Myer-Emco in my area, which Harvey's almost bought, and many others.