if it's the same Redscroll, these guys are a goddamn pain in the **** to deal with on Discogs Don't know why but going by the look I was fully expecting this one to be adjacent to a funeral home.
There must be some southern or mountain states where it's still legal, surely? Georgia? S.C.? Idaho? Makes sense when you consider that a lot of the customers may not even speak English. Look at that photo... imagine you were a non-native-English speaker and you're trying to decide which of these are people's names and which are made-up group names: ELVIS COSTELLO FLEETWOOD MAC FRANK ZAPPA Keeps it a lot simpler to just file everything based on what's on the cover (excepting "The", apparently).
Hey! How many on this thread either worked in, managed, or owned a record store at one time? I worked for a year five nights a week, 6PM to 10PM, in a well stocked store back in the vinyl only days. I worked three jobs back then. One from 8AM to Noon in a chemistry lab, one from 1PM to 5PM as a carpenter, and the night job at a record store. I had an hour to get from one job to the other. Had to walk. Who could afford a car? Most nights it was kick back, open and play records and talk to people about music. A nice come down from 8 hours of much harder and more hazardous work. But when I got home, I was so wound up that I could not play a full side of any record. In those pre-computerized inventory days, it was nice that I could give anyone a sale price on any record. Customers loved me. No photo of the shop exists to my knowledge.
yeah started my own in NZ in 98, just me and the wife. Ran it for 2 years then came back to Japan so Minime could start school at the same time as the other sprogs. oh God all the mistakes I made with that shop, just cringe now. I just want another chance wifey....
I was an employee for Musicland in the early 90s. It was a small shop located across from Things Remembered at the Westland Mall in Columbus, OH. The mall was a thriving destination for decades and a popular place to waste time for me as a teenager. The store sold overpriced CDs and Cassettes all attached to large plastic theft prevention pieces (which countered any effort to save the environment by removing the long box and phasing out records imo). I was extremely fast at putting away inventory, running the register, and finding what the customer wanted. The best part was getting the new releases before my friends but the worst part was the stupid music videos. It was mandatory to play VHS tapes of current music videos like Ace of Base that would display on 27" TVs mounted from the ceiling. Yeah. I was a classic rock and metal guy so I quickly began to hate that and went into the food industry from there. Today [Wasteland Mall] is an abandoned post apocalyptic ghost mall with only the echos of past shoppers haunting the 800K Sq. Ft. structure falling into disrepair...
What do you get when you mix dehydrated orange flavored powder with hardcore punk? TAANG! Originally based out of Boston in the mid 80s, the label soon moved their headquarters to Southern California. A few of my favorite bands affiliated with this label are The Freeze, Gang Green, Dropkick Murphys, and the Mighty Mighty Bosstones. This store had incredible gems on the walls and was packed with tons of punk (of course) as well as a variety of other genres and DVDs This is a video still taken from my visit to San Diego in 2015.
I've done all 3. Managed Platterpuss, Cedarhust NY, worked at Beacon Hill Music & Strawberries, Boston & (briefly) co-owned the original Smash CDs on St. Marks Pl., NYC. And retail wasn't even my main vocation...
slight digression but we could do with some of you guys bashing the calipers off of my struggling sickly little "wholesale record outlets" thread... Wholesale records distributors?
Where can you find healing power through positive thinking and vinyl records? Well, I don’t know if positive thoughts can prevent disease but Mind Cure Records in Pittsburgh, PA cures my need for more vinyl! When I ducked out of the rain into the building and up a short flight of stairs, I found myself surrounded by vinyl and art adorned skateboard decks with artwork so good I could never picture someone adding wheels and grinding up the wood. I quickly had a stack of records and had to start deciding what to put back. Owner Mike Seamans is one cool guy and keeps the shop curated with the latest metal/punk releases (+ more) and has his own label sharing the store name. I haven't been there for awhile and his social media presence seems to have waned over the last few years but I loved the limited run of 45s he did in '14 complete with custom artwork sleeves adorned with the store name written out in a gruesome intestine font. ...typing this up makes me wonder "What are the Mud City Manglers up to now?" Happy hunting out there!
If anyone can find a photo of Flo's Records in Pittsburgh, that would be great. It was a great store in the 1970's.
The blurry image of the store front must have been due to my hands shaking in the 4 °F weather that night. This is Rolling Stones Records just outside of Chicago towards the north west. I was surprised to see thousands of CDs hanging from the ceiling as I made my way past dozens of bins filled with DVDs and CDs to the vinyl section.
nice. all that glass though. for my store I couldnt get insurance unless I got huge bars put in across the front window. Looked like prison. Was at the seedy end of a posh street though. Within 2 years ended up being the only store on the block of 5 or so that wasn't broken into. Easier for US stores to get insurance?
Insurance regulations vary from state to state, aside from specific location. I think the biggest deal in the USA is if you own your building. If you rent, the landlords will kill you and probably jack up the rent if you are successful.
Collectors tend to have habits of collecting odd things...including record store bags. I noticed Tribute posted some a few pages back so I pulled out mine and took a few pics last night:
I was hoping someone would pick up on that! That's a real gem as far as record store bags go in my opinion, maybe the Tower is 2nd place? I only visited once in like 1991 and I remember posters, stickers (which I bought), cassettes and CDs. I think they did have LPs and 45s from what I've read but I don't remember seeing them during my visit. I was very excited when I received these bags as a gift by participating in a documentary John Kane is editing called "Rock n' Roll Supermarket". Production seems to be indefinitely delayed but I'm still hoping it gets released. A short documentary film about Boston's own Stairway to Heaven...or Highway to Hell...whichever way you look at it.
Interesting... 1991 was towards the end of their run. I was in high school in the early 80s and Stairway to Heaven advertised (or sponsored shows?) on WBCN all the time. I never went there that much but they definitely had every kind of poster, t-shirt, patch, button, etc.
Uncommon Shop Layout? I'm sure we've all experienced unorganized chaos at one time or another but the gentleman who owned Yesterday's Records (closed) organized A-Z alphabetically...with a twist. It drove me crazy. I asked him "Where are the Red Hot Chili Peppers?" He huffed, marched over to the P section and said "Right here!" like I was slow. Yeah. Pink Floyd was under "F". Blue Oyster Cult under "C" it seemed absurd to me.
How many of us gravitate to the disorganized shelves down by the floor anyway? Myself, I probably have everything by any artist that interests me who has a bin card just for that artist. I always look in the generic "letter" card bins for artists that I never heard of before
