Music and book lovers may be grieved to learn that All Books & Records, the eclectic store on Federal Highway near Sunrise Boulevard, is closing.
Featuring used goods and relying on both sale and barter, the store has been a Fort Lauderdale original for 22 years.
Owner Rod Cronk said disputes with his landlord, Green Star Co., and revenues unequal to his debts underlie his decision to mark down some inventory and box up the rest. On Tuesday, Green Star served Cronk with a notice to pay his back rent in three days or give up legal possession.
Still, Green Star President Benjamin Wohl said in a phone interview that he hadn’t known Cronk planned to close.
“If he pays the rent, he is more than welcome to stay as long as he wants,” Wohl said.
But by Tuesday, the poetry and much nonfiction were already packed up. Paperbacks were on sale for $1. Red sale stickers marked many CDs. Cronk maintains that he has a 10-day grace period after such notification and he hopes to continue his going-out-of-business sale for at least another week. He said that customers with credit slips should come in and use them.
“It’s sad,” said Maria Brooks-Biddle, a professional dog trainer from Hollywood, who browsed the audio-book offerings. A longtime customer, she said All Books & Records reminds her of stores in her native Boston, or New York’s Greenwich Village. It’s easy to see why. High shelves divide the 12,000-square-foot store’s rows, filled with offerings from encyclopedias to art tomes; genre fiction to classics; plus the unusual, out-of-print and obscure. The music section, stuffed with tapes, CDs, videos and vinyl, has drawn browsers such as Dion and Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page.
The store’s demise marks the end of Cronk’s Broward County enterprises. Cronk, 56, opened his first used bookstore in Galt Ocean Mile 29 years ago. Next came the store near Sears on Federal Highway. An Oakland Park Boulevard store followed, and the Galt store was closed. The Oakland store closed in 2003 after a 16-year run. Cronk, a Fort Lauderdale native, said he didn’t want to close his last store.
“This is the last thing I thought I’d ever be doing,” he said. His troubles began in 2000, he said, when zoning problems killed a planned Margate store and led to an accumulation of debt. Meanwhile, sales started slipping as shoppers turned to the Internet or patronized big-box bookstores, though the store is still in the black.
On a more immediate note, Cronk charges that the landlord failed to replace ancient air conditioners. Wohl disputes this, saying that work was done, and maintenance is Cronk’s responsibility.
Still, four workers now man a store that once employed 12. Cronk owes four months back rent, which includes the last two months and two months from several years ago, he said. After the store closes, Cronk and his wife plan to move to Central Florida, where they already own a house.
“There are a lot of nice customers I’m going to miss,” he said.
The store’s fans come from all parts of the city. Nicki Grossman, president of the Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention & Visitors Bureau, said she has bought sheet music at the store.
“When you lose that personal touch and someone who is willing to go the extra mile, something’s lost,” she said. Still, she added, perhaps another unusual store will arise in place of All Books & Records.
“I hope something fun replaces something fun,” she said.
Karen-Janine Cohen can be reached at or 954-356-4668
