Did we post this before? This is where you can unload your real junk. I hear this is where you can get mint copies of Reader's Digest and Longine's Symphonette box sets for $200
I've seen a few images of places that say "We Buy Records", so I don't know. A friend of mine who ran a used record store had to deal with someone just about every day who brought in a box of moldy useless junky records who argued back when told "No thanks" that the sign says "YOU BUY RECORDS" . They went on and on almost every time, sometimes threatening to turn him in for lying and false advertising.
Great used record shops should start having a new type of adult party: Sleepover parties with a few friends. Bring your own sleeping pads and beverages. If you don't like their sound system, bring that too.
Probe Records, Liverpool, as I remember it in the 1980s. Then the city centre had a makeover, this happened! Probe is still going strong in new premises, not quite what it was, but still fighting:
This is bizarre. Apparently someone got the idea that if you didn't have interesting shops in town to draw tourists, just mock them up, and draw tourists in that way.
And they can fill the sidewalks with cardboard cutouts of people too, and play crowd noise over loudspeakers. When you look at street scene photos of any city or town, of any size, from the years 1880 to 1960, it is mind boggling how many people were once out and about. It isn't just the automobile that killed it. There were vehicles all over the streets in those years too. In my city, take what was once the busiest area of the city, Broadway and State. You know that old rule for pedestrians? Look both ways before crossing! Today, I firmly believe that you don't even need to bother to look at all. There are no cars. Nothing for blocks. Stop in the middle of the street, tie your shoes, tuck in your shirt and adjust your tie. Look up at the sky. No worry. The city is dead, no matter how many office buildings replace the once busy shops. Oh, there were once a half dozen music stores within eye shot of that corner.
One of the first places I bought records in the mid 1970s. Roy Hurst's market stall, Wigan Indoor Market, Lancashire, England. Looks like Mr. Hurst was troubled by a leaking roof in this pic. Back then this place seemed like a treasure house to me.
Notice that the circa 1949 shop sign says "Folk Music Headquarters", not Country Music. There was a time when the two labels were virtually synonymous. Today, there is an entire category of "folk music" fans who firmly state that they cannot stand "country music", not any of it, not no how. They are not just talking about contemporary light rock that is called country. They hate it all. I guess they just don't like Southern or Appalachian folk music. Sounds like a little prejudice to me. I always liked that old statement from Louis Armstrong. Sometimes this is attributed to others, and sometimes the word horse is substituted for pig: " All music is folk music. Leastways, I never heard a pig make music." I have seen it reported as that quote, but I have also seen it stated as another Louis Armstrong quote (maybe he said different variations on it many times): "all music is folk music; I ain't never heard no horse sing a song,"
I spent a lot of time at Moby Disc in the San Fernando Valley (suburb of Los Angeles) in the 70's. They had a couple of stores packed with stuff. Huge used selection way back when it's competition were the big chains who did not carry used. I think they went under around the turn of the century (that feels weird to say). Who, what and where is this?
