Hmm. As soon as you mention ‘music instrument shops’, I think of one which closed down a while ago here in Lancaster, UK, where one could actually walk in, get sneered at by the elitist owner, and walk out again with a grudging purchase ('cos this predates ubituitous online shopping, and there was no viable alternative). Non-musician friends/family going in to buy a gift had it even worse.
Same with the bike shop next door: road bike riders were welcomed, but the owner was openly contemptuous of mountain bikes (Lancaster is on the edge of prime mountain biking areas…).
Same, to a lesser extent, with the specialist sci-fi bookshop: the owner wasn’t deliberately rude, but seemed incapable of engaging with ‘civilians’.
If the price of being able to walk in and chat to an enthusiast is already being a hardcore enthusiast, I can’t sincerely express surprise, nor regret, at the ‘loss’ of such places.
[Sorry; that didn’t have much to do with Manhattan rents, either!]
