Alphaville owner Steve Karchin sits in his West Houston Street store. (Nicole Breskin/DNAinfo)By Nicole Breskin
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
GREENWICH VILLAGE — Soon Manhattanites will only be able to get their vintage Garbage Pail Kids cards online.
Antique toy store Alphaville is closing after 16 years of providing residents with a window into the past on West Houston Street.
Alphaville — known for its eccentric array of decade-spanning collectibles including vintage copies of Rolling Stone and Jetsons board games — will close next week.
Alphaville will close next week after 16 years in business. (Nicole Breskin/DNAinfo)“Everything imploded,” said Alphaville owner Steve Karchin. “Our lease was up. Our central air unit let out its final gasp. And, fatigue is kicking in.”
Alphaville's heating and air conditioning unit broke irreparably last month, leaving Karchin in the cold and facing thousands of dollars worth of repair bills to install a brand new system.
“Four weeks of freezing was the icing on the cake,” said Karchin, who was bundled up in his store under six layers of clothing. “I knew it had run its course. But there’s still a lot of nostalgia in letting the store go.”
Alphaville sells French vintage dolls from the 1930s. (Photo: Courtesy of Alphaville)Alphaville opened in 1994 to capture the nostalgia of generations of locals longing for retro collectibles that they grew up with, offering a rare collection of memorabilia from the 1940s to 1990s.
It was the pefect spot for nostalgia seekers to pick up a copy of ‘60s flick Wolfman, Garbage Pail Kids stickers from the 1980s and a box of old Rolling Stone magazines, including a iconic issue with Eddie Van Halen on the cover from 1995.
The store also has boxes packed with kitschy, collectible figurines and a bin full of yo-yos.
Vintage copies of Rolling Stone show Ethan Hawke and Eddie Van Halen on the covers. (Nicole Breskin/DNAinfo)Alphaville will sell off its in-store merchandise with discounts of up to 50 percent off over the next two weeks. Then the business will move exclusively online, although Karchin said nothing compares with interacting with the collectibles.
“People always come in and say, ‘I had this when I was a kid,’” Karchin said. “They get a real kick out of it.”
Greenwich Village resident Judy McKenna came to the store looking for vintage robots made from found materials, like bottle caps and Altoid tin cans.
“It takes me back to my childhood. I don’t know any other store like this,” McKenna said. “It’s such a shame to see this store go.”
Despite the fact that his sales were solid through the recession, Karchin is concerned vintage will no longer be relevant in a digital age.
“It’s a cold, untactile world online,” he said. “I worry that, as time goes by, vintage will be forgotten.”
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