J&R is a well-known retail store in New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

, located on Park Row

Park Row (Manhattan)

Park Row is a street located in the Financial District of the New York City borough of Manhattan. It was previously called Chatham Street and during the late 19th century it was nicknamed Newspaper Row, as most of New York City's newspapers located on the street to be close to the action at New...

, across from New York City Hall

New York City Hall

New York City Hall is located at the center of City Hall Park in the Civic Center area of Lower Manhattan, New York City, USA, between Broadway, Park Row, and Chambers Street. The building is the oldest City Hall in the United States that still houses its original governmental functions, such as...

.
J&R stands for Joe and Rachelle Friedman, the founders, who established the company in 1971 after emigrating from Israel

Israel

The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...

. The heavily trafficked store has expanded from selling LPs to the current umbrella encompassing J&R Music World and J&R Computer World, selling everything from Blu-ray Disc players to the latest electronic gadgets. The store remains the largest retailer of recorded music in the New York City area.

J&R also had a location at Columbia University

Columbia University

Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...

, which closed in 2003. J&R later opened a J&R Express at the bottom level of Macy's

Macy's

Macy's is a U.S. chain of mid-to-high range department stores. In addition to its flagship Herald Square location in New York City, the company operates over 800 stores in the United States...

 Herald Square.

Online sales

With the main J&R location just a block from the World Trade Center

World Trade Center

The original World Trade Center was a complex with seven buildings featuring landmark twin towers in Lower Manhattan, New York City, United States. The complex opened on April 4, 1973, and was destroyed in 2001 during the September 11 attacks. The site is currently being rebuilt with five new...

 site, the company lost millions of dollars of electronic equipment due to the September 11, 2001 attacks

September 11, 2001 attacks

The September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks (also referred to as September 11, September 11th or 9/119/11 is pronounced "nine eleven". The slash is not part of the pronunciation...

. But, the company's growing online sales helped sustain the company. J&R has an Amazon Marketplace

Amazon Marketplace

Amazon Marketplace is Amazon.com's fixed-price online marketplace that allows sellers to offer new and used items alongside Amazon's offerings, and customers to buy those items directly from the third party sellers using amazon.com's infrastructure....

 agreement with Amazon.com

Amazon.com

Amazon.com, Inc. is a multinational electronic commerce company headquartered in Seattle, Washington, United States. It is the world's largest online retailer. Amazon has separate websites for the following countries: United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Japan, and...

 to sell merchandise through that channel, in addition to its own online store.

Summerfest

Since the summer of 2002, J&R has sponsored an annual music festival in City Hall Park, featuring R&B and other performers. In June 2007, Summerfest performers included Mario, Bobby Valentino, Tank

Tank (American singer)

Tank is an American R&B singer, songwriter and producer.-Career:Tank was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and moved with his family as a child to the Washington, D.C. suburb of Clinton, Maryland. He was a multi-sport athlete at Crossland High School and was offered the opportunity to play college...

, Carl Thomas, Collie Buddz

Collie Buddz

Collie Buddz is a Bermudian reggae and dancehall artist best known for his single "Come Around". Although born in New Orleans, Louisiana, he was raised in Bermuda. He performed on Shaggy's 2007 album Intoxication on the track "Mad Mad World". In 2008, he performed the song "SOS" on WWE The Music,...

, and Canadian Brass

Canadian Brass

The Canadian Brass is a brass quintet founded by Dr. Charles Daellenbach and Gene Watts in 1970. In addition to maintaining a heavy international touring schedule, the Canadian Brass have recorded over 80 CDs and DVDs...

.