most insane record store experience I've ever had today

Discussion in 'Marketplace Discussions' started by statcat, Feb 4, 2018.

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  1. statcat

    statcat Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    New Jersey
    First off this is not an attack. I won't be naming names and I don't expect anyone who replies to either so please refrain from doing that. Just following the rules stated at the top of this forum. This is more about wacky unbelievable experiences in stores.

    I went to a record store today that was incredibly bad beyond belief. It was run by an old man who watched my every move. He literally followed me around the entire store as if I was going to steal something. As soon as I went inside he basically said that he knows the value of everything and the records don't have any prices but expect to pay what they're worth. He said he has a $5 area but I don't look like the the type of person that would want to look through that area. :sigh: The place was dirty with stacks of albums on top of each other in different areas. Honestly there was some cool stuff in there but what does it matter when it's priced well beyond the actual value?

    I brought him a couple of albums to price fully knowing to expect the worst (common 80's stuff, one was Thomas Dolby She Blinded Me with Science 12" single :D) he wrote down these outrageous prices on a piece of paper after looking online for about 10 minutes. $25 for that one and $20 each for the others :laugh: Now this is sight unseen too since I wasn't allowed to actually view the record condition. They could be trashed for all I know. The covers certainly weren't flawless or even in plastic sleeves. My God I have no idea how this guy stays in business. If felt more like an episode of Hoarding Buried Alive than a store.

    Can anyone top this?
     
    Last edited: Feb 4, 2018
    Lost In The Flood and somnar like this.
  2. Dave S

    Dave S Forum Resident

    There's a place in Las Vegas...
     
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  3. Wally Swift

    Wally Swift Yo-Yoing where I will...

    Location:
    Brooklyn New York
    There was a record store on Grand Ave in Baldwin, Long Island that was exactly as you described.
     
  4. Gaslight

    Gaslight ⎧⚍⎫⚑

    Location:
    Northeast USA
    If we're avoiding names, there's that store on Carmine Street (NYC) that certainly had that same general feeling of "why are you in the store". Plus the unrealistic prices.

    Honestly wouldn't mind knowing this other store if it's PA/DE/NJ/NY based - might cross my path one day. And would have some fun with it, if so.
     
    Muzyck likes this.
  5. statcat

    statcat Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    New Jersey
    I knew there must be another place that operates like this :laugh:

    Yes I totally got the "why are you in my store? How dare you come in here..." vibe.

    I have no problem naming names just don't want to cause some sort of riff on here if it's that strictly enforced. I have no idea if it is or not, just read it across the top of this forum.
     
    Last edited: Feb 4, 2018
  6. Jeff Kent

    Jeff Kent Forum Resident

    Location:
    Mt. Kisco, NY
  7. Wally Swift

    Wally Swift Yo-Yoing where I will...

    Location:
    Brooklyn New York
    There was another shop close to the one that I mentioned earlier. So, since we were visiting the other shop anyway we would sometimes stop at the Grand Ave place just to mess with the "big man".
     
    Gaslight likes this.
  8. nosticker

    nosticker Forum Guy

    Location:
    Ringwood, NJ
    I know which store you're referring to. Everyone gets treated like that there. The man has a laundry list of mental problems.



    Dan
     
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  9. Jeff Kent

    Jeff Kent Forum Resident

    Location:
    Mt. Kisco, NY
    [​IMG]
     
  10. Gaslight

    Gaslight ⎧⚍⎫⚑

    Location:
    Northeast USA
    Two NJ folks and a quite Google Maps / Reviews check later and I'm good now.
     
    statcat likes this.
  11. Raunchnroll

    Raunchnroll Senior Member

    Location:
    Seattle
    Part of life experiences! Its been a few years now but I remember a few stores once in business like that. Typically you have an owner that has little or no overhead. They own the building or the rent is dirt cheap. Every item in the store is a $20 gold piece -- and please don't handle it. Over time the store stock remains static with the same items on display, growing dustier by the year. Oh and the smell, usually those places have a distinct odor of unwashed old man with an essence of mold and eau-du-rodent.

    I have a couple friends who were experts at triggering the ire of owners like that. One time my friend asked about a couple of items, he pulls them from a case and sets them out & says how much he wants for them (way over value). My friend cheerfully goes 'OK great, I'll take that one' pointing to a similar item still in the case priced ten times higher. I thought the dude was going to have a heart attack. Often we'd get told to leave.
     
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  12. statcat

    statcat Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    New Jersey
    yep this was more than apparent
     
  13. statcat

    statcat Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    New Jersey
    Wow you summed it up to the tee honestly.
     
  14. Without naming names, sounds like the sister store of one on Melrose near Fairfax in Los Angeles.
     
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  15. GroovyGuy

    GroovyGuy Forum Resident

    Location:
    Halifax, NS Canada
    That's brutal. I have a shop never me that is much the same. If I want to sell something it's worth hardly nothing but I I want to buy it than it becomes rare. I had him offer me $1 for a copy of Neil Young Decade on CD because "I could get $5 for it - tops. A couple of months later I was in there and he was selling the same CD for $20. He'll tell you he prices things high to allow for "haggling room" but then refused to negotiate on prices as he "knows what things are worth". Maybe that's why I've seen the same crap in his store for 2+ years. I have no idea how that place makes rent every month ......
     
  16. statcat

    statcat Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    New Jersey
    Yes I was super curious what he would offer to someone. While I was there he was talking to someone else browsing. This guy said he had lots of stuff he could sell him if he was interested. The owner said "well I look at collections but I often don't find anything or if I do it will be only one or two records. You can see I have more than enough records..." yeah I wonder why :D
     
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  17. japes

    japes Senior Member

    Location:
    richmond, va
    This reminds me of s store I visited in Dallas...except without the paranoia about shoplifters.
     
  18. patient_ot

    patient_ot Senior Member

    Location:
    USA
    Funny. I'm guessing he doesn't know that CD is still in print. You can order a new copy from Amazon for less than $15.

    Reminds me of a store near me that sells budget line back-catalog CDs at premium prices. An old Motown album that you can buy for $4.99 at Walmart or Amazon sealed new will be $14.99 or $18.99 there. It's like they forgot it's not circa 90s at a mall store. This same shop has a bunch of "rare" and "out of print" hip hop CDs in the racks too, though if you look at them closely they are CD-Rs with inkjet printed covers. Yes, stores still exist that try to pull that. All the LPs are under the CD racks on the floor, so you'll jack up your back if you're browsing for too long. Owner/clerks are also always hovering while you browse also. The shop used to have a second location but that closed years ago...I wonder why.
     
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  19. LitHum05

    LitHum05 El Disco es Cultura

    Location:
    Virginia
    I went into a pawn shop not too long ago and had an experience like this. Records were trashed beyond belief. Still, I was bored so I looked around. I found a copy of a Beethoven record on Deutsche Grammophone and thought: what the heck, I'll see how much this is. The seams were a bit ripped, even. It was worth no more than $2 in the state it was in. I asked someone who looked like he worked there if he did the pricing at the store. He replied: YEAH, I WORK HERE! I said: I'd like to know the price on a particular record. Reply: WELL, BRING IT HERE (with impatient hand gestures). I brought it up and he proceeded to rip the seam further as he pulled out the record with his grubby fingers. He than said: MAKE ME AN OFFER; I SAW YOU LOOKING ON YOUR PHONE ALREADY! (I was looking for opinions on the best performance of that particular Beethoven piece, not the price of the record). I said I could offer him a dollar, and he said that he never takes anything less than $5.00 on records.

    I said, "Oh, yeah..." and walked out. He ran to look at his computer as if I'd found gold for him.

    Loser.

    98 percent of the records there were Goodwill caliber (lots of Mantovani).

    I think sellers are especially bad when they feel over-matched and have zero clue about what they are selling. They don't want to lose out so they get nasty ahead of time.
     
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  20. davmar77

    davmar77 I'd rather be drummin'...

    Location:
    clifton park,ny
    I remember that place. It was in a shopping center.
     
  21. live evil

    live evil Senior Member

    Location:
    ohio
    I don’t understand record/cd stores that match high prices on the internet. Why am I in your store in the first place if I could have stayed in the comfort of my home, and had someone ship it to me?

    It also drives me crazy that they never use the same logic on common items that can be bought online for $1 plus shipping.
     
  22. kwadguy

    kwadguy Senior Member

    Location:
    Cambridge, MA
    Why are we not naming names? If a store sucks, a store sucks. Save people some time and effort.
     
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  23. statcat

    statcat Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    New Jersey
    "Per our policies, criticisms, complaints or attacks on individuals or businesses are strictly forbidden in our forums." I would've had I not read that.
     
  24. Wally Swift

    Wally Swift Yo-Yoing where I will...

    Location:
    Brooklyn New York
    I don't think so. Pretty sure it was a stand alone building. It was on the left side of Grand Ave if you were traveling south from the SS Pkwy.

    I just Googled the name which gave me the address and then Googled the address. There's a restaurant there now and it's still one building.
     
  25. Wally Swift

    Wally Swift Yo-Yoing where I will...

    Location:
    Brooklyn New York
    There was one record store near where I grew up that was probably one of the best record stores that ever existed. He specialized in a couple of genres and was the gold standard of such an endeavor. But the owner was not liked. He made everyone feel like a potential thief and was generally rather rude if/when you tried to talk to him. But the store was just so darn good you learned to deal with it. Many, many years later I started running into the owner periodically and we've struck up conversations about the old days. I have ribbed him about the negative aspects of visiting his old shop and he is quite different now. He acknowledges that he was heavy handed back then and he is somewhat apologetic. He told me that stealing at one point was really bad there. He's actually a rather likeable guy when not completely stressed out.
     
    InStepWithTheStars likes this.
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