Reported on October 14, 2009.

The central Brooklyn record store whose inventory Biggie Smalls once combed for his next hot track may not be around long enough to be visited by the borough’s next hip-hop star.

Birdel’s Records, seller of cassettes, CDs, and records of all sizes for more than 50 years, is on the market. Owner Joe Long says if he does not find a buyer by the end of the year, he will shutter the Bedford-Stuyvesant store.

Joe Long, owner of Birdel's Records, says he will close the store this year if he cannot find a buyer. Photo: Ryan Tracy.

“I’ve been holding on and holding on and trying to maintain but the rent is just too high. I’m not making rent,” lamented Long, who is in his 70s and has worked or owned the store for more than five decades. “I feel as though that at this age now I’m ready to live a little longer, do something different.”

Standing behind the store’s counter, Long can look down at pictures of himself posing with hip-hop legends, including Jay-Z and other notable Brooklyn natives. He used to allow Biggie-Smalls into the store’s basement to listen to records. Now, Long is hearing from potential buyers.

But he will not sell to just anybody. Long is hoping to turn the Nostrand Avenue storefront over to someone who will keep the Birdel’s name alive. He said this month he had received several inquiries that look promising.

“I think it’s going to happen,” Long said of the sale.

On a block that has long drawn shoppers to central Brooklyn, Long’s struggles are not unique.

At Respect for Life Books & Things, which occupies the storefront next to Birdel’s, owner Jibriel Muhammad, 42, said revenues are “cut in half” compared to two years ago. He owes back rent, but believes the business can survive for the foreseeable future.

“I find myself keeping my same prices but giving more” in order to make a sale, said Wilson, who has owned the bookstore for 13 years. “You might buy a $20 DVD but I give you another DVD free, so it would be like you spending $10 per DVD, but I got to get that $20 … It’s just a matter of the revenue coming in.”

David’s Brisket House, a 35-year-old Nostrand Avenue standby, changed ownership a year ago. Store manager Sultan Alsamet now says business is “too slow” to maintain the deli’s full traditional menu. He has dropped “hot food” items like collard greens while maintaining the historical selection of sandwiches.

Business is good, Alsamet said, “but it’s not like before.”

Long, who also heads a local merchants’ association, said other businesses have been hit harder.

“It’s really hard, it’s really hard right now. And if you walk up and down this street, you’ll see … for-rent signs on these stores and the stores that is closed,” Long said.

In an effort they hope will reverse that trend, local merchants and politicians have established a Business Improvement District, or BID, along Fulton Street and Nostrand Avenue. The BID designation allows the city to collect a fee from local property owners to repair sidewalks, plant trees, and hire private sanitation and security workers along Nostrand Avenue and Fulton Street.

Those new services began this month, but that may be too late for Birdel’s – unless a deal materializes by year’s end.