The Last Days of the Last Kim's

As you may already know, Kim's Video & Music on First Avenue is not long for this world. They've just increased their goodbye discount with a 50% off "Everything Must Go" sale. I was told they expect to close either by the end of July or the middle of August. 

As for reopening elsewhere, I was informed (in typical Kim's style): "The sign says Closing Sale. If we were relocating, it would say Relocating Sale." So, no.



This is the last location of the once great Kim's mini-empire. Originally on Avenue A, opened in 1987 in Yongman Kim's dry cleaners, it expanded to multiple locations, including two on St. Mark's Place, two on Bleecker, and one uptown.

The 21st century has not been kind to Kim's. The Avenue A location, known as the "mean" one, shuttered in 2004. Kim's Underground on Bleecker is now a Duane Reade. In 2008, Kim's Mediapolis uptown closed, thanks to a rent hike from Columbia University and the popularity of Netflix. Also in 2008, Mondo Kim's on St. Mark's shuttered. The inventory shipped to Sicily--and was never heard from again. That was the end of rentals from Kim's.

At the same time, we learned that Kim's would open a retail establishment in the former Kurowycky butcher shop. Many of us were relieved to hear that Kim's would continue--and that a planned upscale celebu-chef restaurant would not open in this space. (Though I was rooting for the XXX rumor to be true.)


Kim's Grand Opening: 2008

Who knows what will come next? But you can bet it will have deep pockets. The listing says "Ideal for Bank, 711, Starbucks."

Yongman Kim let his newsletter subscribers know the score: "We are NOT closing because record stores are dying, business is bad, it's not like it used to be and oh terrible world. The lease is up in July and the rent is being raised to an amount we simply can't work with."

Once again, the rent is too damn high.