| Author | Message | ||
     Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 1799 Registered: 05-2005 |
Here's a link to a New York Times article from April that I just came across today. It's called Spinning into oblivion and makes kind of depressing reading for people like us who've spent some of the happiest hours of our lives in record shops. So many record shops in Sydney have closed since I first lived here in 1992, including two on the same street in recent months. I mentioned on another thread about paying $22 for the new Panics album and then subsequently seeing it for $19.50. That got me thinking that I used to pay more than that 15 years ago for new release CDs. I think it was about $28 back then, which is probably the equivalent of around $35 now. I remember paying $35 each in 1992 for import copies of the debut Sugar and PJ Harvey albums because I couldn't wait for the domestic release. Paying that kind of money now I'd be expecting a three disc box set or something. I'm glad music is much cheaper now, but I don't want to contribute to killing the thing I love. Thoughts anyone? www.nytimes.com/2007/04/05/opinion/05sac hsnunziato.html?_r=1&oref=slogin | ||
| Rob Brookman Member Username: Rob_b Post Number: 989 Registered: 08-2006 |
As someone who buys a large percentage of his CDs online, I guess I'm part of the problem. I still go to used stores to search for unexpected finds, but I rarely buy new CDs in a physical store anymore. So for me, bemoaning the loss of brick and mortar records store is like someone who buys all their produce at the supermarket protesting the decline of the family farm. I used to spend a huge amount of money in stores that shuttered after I (and obviously a lot of other people) started throwing that money at Amazon.com. I think the fact that makes me sad is a sentimental response - you can find anything you want online, and there's a healthy used market there, too. So I guess I'll miss the experience of record-store shopping. Whether or not that experience is all we'll lose when the last of the small stores close remains to be seen. | ||
| Jeff Whiteaker Member Username: Jeff_whiteaker Post Number: 761 Registered: 10-2004 |
Smaller, independently owned record shops here in the Bay Area have been dropping like flies for the past 10 years. We still have Amoeba (in both SF and Berkeley), which some would argue is all you really need, but we've lost a few very cool record stores that I used to enjoy going to. The most recent loss was Village Music, up in Marin County. This record store had the prestige of being titled "the greatest record store on the planet" by Elvis Costello. One look in the joint and you could see why. But sadly, this landmark of a record store met its fate at the hands of a new, greedy landlord who upped the rent beyond what the shop could afford. I go to Amoeba just about every week. I'll never stop going there. I still buy LPs, and buying LPs online can be very dicey, particularly used LPs because I've found far too many sellers who pass of a crackly record as being in "excellent" condition. That said, I find myself buying more and more CDs online - usually obscure, import reissues of things that for whatever reason, Amoeba doesn't carry. It seems stores like Amoeba aren't phased by the mass shift towards digital, at least not yet. People still crowd Amoeba on weekends, and their stock certainly hasn't seemed to diminish. Maybe I'm being overly optimistic, but I think that as long as one lives in a culturally vibrant metropolitan area with a healthy community of musicians and music obsessives, there will at least be a few record shops left. | ||
| Michael Bachman Member Username: Michael_bachman Post Number: 855 Registered: 01-2005 |
We used to have the Harmony House chain in Michigan (a couple in some other states as well). They probably had 3-4 dozen locations at their peak. They are all gone now. Any decent independents left are an hour or so away from me, so I don't frequent them. I get most of my jazz cd's from the BMG club. | ||
| spence Member Username: Spence Post Number: 1846 Registered: 05-2005 |
Jeff you rlucky to have your small shops at least still hangin in there, we have one in Birmingham Swordfish. That's it. The shops are a watse of time now, I mean Virgin has resorted to selling cheap Stratocater's and bloody crap drumkits to make some money. | ||
| Jeff Whiteaker Member Username: Jeff_whiteaker Post Number: 767 Registered: 10-2004 |
Speaking of Virgin, I reckon the San Francisco Virgin shop's days may be numbered. You know what else has been similarly affected lately? Book shops. While I was a bit excited to see corporate mega-chain Barnes and Noble close its doors in its Berkeley location, I was *not* happy to see independently run Cody's close 2 of its 3 Bay Area locations. Fortunately the 2nd-hand book shops are still hanging on, though. | ||
| Little Keith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 2403 Registered: 03-2006 |
To paraphrase Springsteen (gee, we haven't talked much about HIM lately), record stores are gone, and they ain't coming back. Sadly, all too sadly. At least from my vantage point - there are virtually no record stores where I live. I end up buying everything I don't get second hand at the used shop at Target or Borders. Thankfully, there is still Amoeba, up the road, which always seems to be thriving. I've never been in it when it wasn't mobbed. I think part of its success must be due to its uniqueness and scale - it's almost a tourist destination, event shopping. Sort of like South Coast, a ridiculously luxe, huge mall near where I live (it has its own zip code) - something like 3 out of 4 shoppers frequenting it come from out of town, just to shop. Also, the extremely dedicated, record-lovings souls who run it really know what they're doing and have figured out how to make a decent buck out of the high volume it invariably attracts. Jeff, you bring up an interesting, evil paradox that hadn't occured to me before. Any "thriving, vibrant metropolitan area" that could support an eclectic, well-stocked record store is, by definition, going to have high-priced rents, and will, inevitably, drive them out, due to the greedy landlord syndrome. Sad. The bookstore thing is pretty tragic, too. Though, somewhat hypocritically, I shop at the big category killers. Gots to have me that big ass mochachinafrappawhatsit while I read all the magazines for free! | ||
| Kurt Stephan Member Username: Slothbert Post Number: 1574 Registered: 04-2005 |
Jeff, I'm sorry to hear Village Music went under. I know they were struggling for a long time. I used to live in Marin and went there a lot. I always took music fans who were visiting to see it, and my jazz buff father thought it was more like a cool museum than a record store. What a loss...stupid greedy landlords. | ||
| Jonathan Evans Member Username: Jon Post Number: 116 Registered: 04-2005 |
I live in the UK, and we've lost music-chains such as Musiczone and Fopp. Fopp went first, then Musiczone took them over and that forced them out of business. I live between Liverpool & Manchester, and there's probably 2 or 3 decent stores between them. Probably the best is piccadilly records who have a great website so there's no need to visit the store. Maybe that's an idea for a thread - best record stores online? I get most stuff online, but I still visit record fairs (which I think are also dying out), Its a sad day when you can't spend an hour in a record shop while the girlfriend's off spending money on clothes - its my duty to get a few albums! | ||
| joe Member Username: Dogmansuede Post Number: 315 Registered: 07-2006 |
i'm not sure i really care....which i kind of can't believe i'm saying, but when i look at my collection i can't help but think...i've spent a lot of time in record stores, i've paid a LOT of money for a lot of things i've never really wanted (or listened to) but simply were just making the most of a record hunt. the article even said the regulars aren't buying "as much"...i feel a barb of resentment there. how dare you nerd, not creaming yourself over some swedish 10" non-lp single... i realise a lot of it's all about the chase and i still go into record stores a lot, the thing is i'm walking out empty handed more and more because i'd rather not impulse buy or settle for something else, when i know what i REALLY want can be found for a reasonable price online either new or in good secondhand shape. i also never understood the download phenomenon much.....most people have never bought much music right? they were the ones who bought cd singles and compilations which now aren't selling? i always thought it was the same 5% of us that bought the bulk of the music to begin with.... | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 1807 Registered: 05-2005 |
Joe, I reckon that 5% of us buy 95% of the music. Jeff, is the Virgin you mentioned above the one on Market St? I thought it was pretty sucky the last time I was in there, which was March 2001. The time before that I was there, late Nov/early Dec 1999, it had been much better. | ||
| Catherine Vaughan Member Username: Catherine Post Number: 307 Registered: 05-2005 |
As someone who up to very recently bought everything in record shops, I can see how they're going out of business. A few years back I re-discovered The Triffids (through this very message board, thank you all very much!). In the process of getting the back catalogue, I ordered one CD through my local record shop. Three others I ordered over the net. Those three together, including postage from Australia, cost about €5 more than the one through the record shop... I know they've got overheads, high rents etc, but c'mon... I rarely buy a new release from a record shop any more, and hardly ever from the likes of Virgin/HMV. I still raid their special offers though - no more expensive than the net, and no waiting two weeks before I get it! Not sure if that'll be enough to keep them in business.. | ||
| Catherine Vaughan Member Username: Catherine Post Number: 310 Registered: 05-2005 |
I just proved my own point. My local record shop told me it would cost me about €30 minimum for them to order the new Panics album everyone's been talking about round here. I've just ordered it and another CD from Redeye for €33.. | ||
| frank bascombe Member Username: Frankb Post Number: 185 Registered: 01-2007 |
Jonathon I live north of Manchester but easy striking distance and I can certainly recommend Piccadilly, also Action Records in Preston is very good, probably as good. What both have in common is a different cataloging of CDs, in Picadilly the S/H and new are in different racks based on genre, at action they are all mixed up together and not so man genres. When I go to Picadilly Records I have to decide which category the music I want is in-so many categories it is nearly off putting, but a great experience | ||
| Jeff Whiteaker Member Username: Jeff_whiteaker Post Number: 773 Registered: 10-2004 |
Padraig, yeah, that's the Virgin. To be honest, I haven't been in there since about 2000 or 2001 either. And yes, even at that point I had noticed a marked step down. They actually once had a very good book section with a great selection of art books, and that had pretty much disappeared. The thing with SF Virgin is that its clientele is solely made up of casual music fan tourists who do the downtown SF shopping thing. Since downtown SF is very touristy, Virgin may hold out on that for a while, but in the end, I predict Amoeba may be the last remaining record store in the city. | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 1402 Registered: 03-2005 |
I've been avoiding this thread. Like Rob, I moved the bulk of my purchasing to online quite a while ago. As LK says, our Amoeba is thriving but even there I'm very unlikely to find much of what I'm actually looking for. So I have to echo Joe on that. The last time I did a session of experimental buying at Amoeba, I came up with one good thing and a huge pile of shit. I suppose I should regard it as a victory for getting the one good thing (Corinna Repp). I will continue to go and buy the things that I know aren't too challenging. (I've been meaning to get the Blue Aeroplanes' "Swagger" forever; Amoeba will do for that purpose). But Ashtray Boy? Panics? Not likely. I used to buy most of my music from an independent called Aron's Records which was an easy walk from where I live. The one-two punches of Amazon and then Amoeba knocked them out. We used to have a Virgin "Megastore" on the Sunset Strip. It was always--always--a crap store with the worst selection imaginable. Its failure was richly deserved. It was nice to see that Rocking Horse Records seems to be doing well, and it had some entertaining surprises in it. My only request is that they pull down the lighting level; you need shades in there! I do wish the small specialty shops could manage somehow and I guess they do online. For a super brief time I had a shop just a couple blocks away that sold strictly and only delightfully obscure indie music. For them the big hit was Half Japanese' latest album! Oh well, they didn't have a chance but THAT'S the type of record store I get excited about. The saddest thing is that the loss of the small indie stores means you lose access to the lovely people who sat behind the counter. THEY were the best part of the whole experience. You don't get that at Amoeba, which is so high-volume that nobody can talk about anything. Some of the cashiers try but it's hopeless. This thread is too depressing! Too bad I have to go to work or I'd pull out the old pipe . . . . | ||
| Rob Brookman Member Username: Rob_b Post Number: 992 Registered: 08-2006 |
Reckless Records here in my Chicago 'hood seems to be doing well, and I think they'll continue to. They've always pushed vinyl, even before its resurgence, they have a great used selection, and their new stock leans strongly toward the esoteric, the kind of stuff that's not so easy to find on MP3 blogs and bitTorrent sites. Plus, they're smack in the middle of Guyville (also known as Wicker Park), so they've got a ready supply of hipsters nearby. But we'll see. I became friends with a guy who used to run a small record shop near my house and he told me record store owners were, in his experience, hopelessly bad businesspeople. So maybe all these record shop closings are simply a culling of the herd. | ||
| Jonathan Evans Member Username: Jon Post Number: 118 Registered: 04-2005 |
Frank I used to buy a lot from Action Records in Preston, and they are an excellent shop. But they p***ed me off a while a go (I think it might have something to do with a very Limited Badly Drawn Boy single) so I don't get too much from there now. Record Fair in Liverpool tomorrow...All welcome! Cheers Jon |