King Karol

King Karol logo, 1971

King Karol was a New York City, New York-based record store chain founded by Ben Karol[1] and Phil King.

Extant prior to 1971,[2] lasting through at least 1984,[3] and defunct for some time by 1993,[4] King Karol was one of New York's "largest [and most] comprehensive" music stories.[3]

Aside from its main branch at 126 West 42nd Street in Manhattan,[3] King Karol by mid-1971 had outlets at 460 West 42nd Street, at the corner of 10th Avenue; 940 Third Avenue, at East 57th Street; 609 Fifth Avenue, at 49th Street, in the KLM Building; and, in Flushing, Queens, at 40-46 Main Street.[2] Later, the chain opened at least one other location, at 1521 Third Avenue, at East 86th Street,[5] and, by mid-1975, at 1500 Broadway, at West 43rd Street.[6]

In 1981, Ben Karol experimented with record album rentals, similar to the then-emerging market for videocassette rental, after having studied successful record rental systems in Canada. He told an interviewer, "The record industry isn't that great these days. You sit around and think of ways to stimulate it, try to come up with ideas based on what similar product is doing. ... [T]he whole video tape business is now going rental".[7]

King Karol also operated a mail order record business through P.O. Box 629, Times Square Station, New York, New York 10036.[8]

In the media

The King Karol branch at 460 West 42nd Street, with its lit sign in a nighttime scene, is visible during the bus-chase sequence in the 1973 New York City police film Badge 373, immediately before the bus crashes into an Army/Navy store.

References

  1. ↑ Lewis, Lisa A. (1991). Gender Politics and MTV. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Temple University Press. p. 23. ISBN 978-0-87722-942-1.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 King Karol advertisement, The Village Voice, June 17, 1971, p. 48
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Pareles, Jon. "Music to Go: A Guide to Disk ad Tape Shops", The New York Times, September 21, 1984: "New York's two other largest comprehensive stores [in addition to Tower Records are] J&R Music (732-8600), at 23 Park Row, and the main King Karol (354-6880), at 126 West 42d Street...."
  4. ↑ Martin, Douglas. "Strictly Business; How the Music Stopped for The Record Hunter", The New York Times, Section B, p. 3, January 4, 1993
  5. ↑ "Brookhill Announces Leasing of 4 Manhattan Retail Spaces". Real Estate Weekly. December 23, 1992. Retrieved July 13, 2012.
  6. ↑ King Karol advertisement, The Village Voice, June 2, 1975, p. 106
  7. ↑ Harrington, Richard. "Record Rentals: Cashing in on Home Taping", The Washington Post, June 28, 1981, Style; Show; K1
  8. ↑ King Karol advertisement, The Village Voice, May 20, 1971, p. 44

External links