Iconic East Village Bar Shuts Because Millennials Don't Care, Owner Says

EAST VILLAGE, NY — The East Village's legendary HiFi bar is closing this month because the new generation of East Village bar hoppers are "indifferent" to the quirky rock bar.

HiFi, located at 169 Avenue A, will close at the end of October, owner Mike Stuto announced on Facebook. The watering hole has long been a local favorite, and served as a starting ground for some of today's most successful indie rock bands. The bar is also famous for its massive jukebox that holds more than 4,000 records.

Stuto said that the renovations he implemented several years ago to try and attract a younger crowd were unsuccessful.

Watch: Iconic East Village Bar Shuts Because Millennials Don't Care, Owner Says

"The generation of people who inhabit this neighborhood on weekends remain mostly indifferent to the place," he wrote on Facebook. "HiFi seems to occupy a place square in the middle between "dive bar" and "mixologist paradise" -- and while I hoped that would help us have a broad appeal to the newbies, it turns out that it translated as utilitarian (aka boring) to their tastes."

He added: "There is no shame in being a 50 year old who no longer knows how to appeal to 25 year olds."

The bar first opened in 1989 as Brownie's, where it frequently hosted indie-rock bands including Spoon, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Death Cab for Cutie. (For more information on this and other neighborhood stories, subscribe to Patch to receive daily newsletters and breaking news alerts.)

Stuto said that the longtime bar had not been subject to a dramatic rent hike, which is a frequent death knell for many local businesses in the East Village.

"I want it to be clear that the building's landlord is in no way to blame for this outcome," he said on Facebook. "Yes, the commercial rents in this neighborhood are all over-the-top insane, but at every turn, throughout the roughly 20 years that Time Equities has managed the building they have been an ideal landlord in pretty much every sense of the word."

The bar will host a final "juke joint" featuring its famous jukebox on Saturday night.

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