Long Islanders share memories of Sam Goody as its last two U.S. stores close

When the last two Sam Goody record stores close next month, Deborah Lawlor will still have her memories of buying 45 rpm singles at the Valley Stream location in the Green Acres Mall. A lifelong fan of 1960s Motown and pop, Lawlor might hear an old song on WABC and make a mental note to go find it. Among the records she probably bought at Sam Goody: “You Can’t Hurry Love” by The Supremes, “Red Rubber Ball” by The Cyrkle and numerous tracks by The Temptations and The Beach Boys.

“They were small but pleasant memories of my youth,” Lawlor, a 72-year-old former library worker in Lynbrook, said. “To be honest, I wasn’t even aware that there were any open anymore.”

Long Island hasn’t seen a Sam Goody since the Valley Stream and Plainview stores closed abruptly in early January of 2003. The country’s two remaining stores are in faraway Ohio and Oregon, but for locals there’s something symbolic about the decades-old chain finally shuttering. For those who grew up in malls, the demise of Sam Goody — whose slogan was “Goody Got It” — is another blow to the romantic old notion of shopping at a real, physical store.

“The digitization of music, the introduction of iTunes and where we are in the streaming atmosphere, it’s a completely different world,” Terry Tompkins, a music business associate professor and program coordinator at Hofstra University, said. “Think of any retailer, whether it’s a chain store or an independent store, which has looked at music as a loss leader,” he added. “They are all struggling to survive in the physical marketplace.”

The rise of Sam Goody roughly parallels the rise of rock and roll. Launched in the late 1940s by Sam “Goody” Gutowitz, the business began as a discount store on 49th Street in Manhattan. By 1959, Goody (he legally had his name changed) operated at least five locations in the tristate area and was doing about $7.5 million worth of business per year, according to Variety. The chain grew but also changed hands often, eventually ending up with Trans World Entertainment, which owns the retail chain FYE. Goody was living in Woodmere when he died in 1991 at the age of 87.

The Valley Stream store was "my first exposure to working and how retail works,” said Jeff Goldman, who worked there while attending college. Goldman, 72, who became a lifelong salesman, recalled the store as a convivial place where he might chat with customers, flirt with girls (including his future wife) and occasionally spot Mr. Goody making a store visit.

Goldman, who grew up in Franklin Square and now lives in Florida, also remembered fans swarming the store to buy George Harrison’s “The Concert for Bangladesh” album, released in December 1971. “We didn’t even have the opportunity to take them out of the boxes and put them in the display,” he said. “We were just opening up the corrugated shipping containers and handing them out as people came into the store.”

At the Sam Goody in the Ohio Valley Mall in St. Clairsville, Ohio, music hasn’t been the central focus for years, according to assistant manager Matthew Horvath. “There was a time when we carried a lot of CDs and DVDs and vinyl, but streaming kind of put an end to that,” Horvath, 45, explained. “We carry plushies, toys, T-shirts, things like that.”

Horvath’s store is slated to close at the end of February. “I’m bummed,” he said. “We just all really appreciate the business over the years, and I’m going to miss a lot of the regulars.”

By Rafer Guzmán

rafer.guzman@newsday.com