It had a well-known retail location on Park Row in Civic Center, Manhattan, across from New York City Hall, from 1971 to 2014.

[1] J&R stands for the founders Joe and Rachelle Friedman who established the company in 1971 after emigrating separately from Israel as young children.

[16] The 171,000 square feet (15,900 m2) company owned warehouse facility in Maspeth was listed on the real estate market beginning in October 2013.

[30] Billboard Magazine reported that J&R planned to sell audio and video hardware, computers, and electronics, along with some music (including vinyl) and movies.

[45] The remaining website at http://jandr.com/, which has been unreachable since late 2022, formerly said, "Stay tuned for exciting updates..." With the main J&R location just a block from the World Trade Center site, the company lost millions of dollars of electronic equipment due to the September 11, 2001 attacks.

J&R appeared to be liquidating its existing inventory via these marketplaces and did not show significant stock in major categories such as digital cameras.

Both J&R storefronts on eBay and Amazon had ceased to offer any merchandise for sale by June 2014 after the series of liquidation auctions[19] had occurred at both the former Manhattan store and the Maspeth warehouse in Queens.

Since the summer of 2002, J&R had sponsored an annual music festival in City Hall Park, featuring R&B and other performers.

In June 2007, Summerfest performers included Mario, Bobby Valentino, Tank, Carl Thomas, Collie Buddz, and Canadian Brass.