How did Best Buy put Indie Stores Out of Business?

I don't think that says anything about people's desire for music, just their desire not to own a hard copy.

 

You must have better flea market stuff than I'm seeing. There virtually no classic rock in any of the thrift stores that I visit, nor the only used store. My local record store has a great selection of CDs, but only because they are price relatively high and are incredibly slow sellers (they still have Bowie Sound+Vision new).

 

Actually, big box (not just Best Buy) did absolutely put records stores (not just indie ones) out of business with their loss leader practices. They sold CDs for less than it cost us (I worked record retail in the early 90s when this started) to BUY them. Sometimes for pennies more. Before we even discuss store overhead/employees/etc.

This enabled record companies to raise the list prices (thus cost) of CDs even higher--because they were being sold at $8-12 regardless of cost, so by the end, most everything was a $12-13 COST.....

Record stores tried to compete by offering more than records....nick knacks and books and such, but by 2000 they were getting loss leader pricing from Amazon on BOTH CDs and books....

Once the records stores were dead, big box raised prices slowly to try to make money off CDs (since they no longer had competition) and found they couldn't--so they've mostly stopped stocking anything outside of some smattering of stock left in warehouses and the top 40 of CERTAIN genres whose audience still buys CDs. Unlike records stores--they never gave a **** about music, so they simply stopped. It's no longer an effective loss leader for them....and they don't like having to hire anyone who knows anything about it....and they can't make money off it, so....screw it.

We will see this with everything Amazon sells over the coming decade. They lowered prices to kill off the local stores by leveraging investment captial. They will raise them again to be profitable. When they don't need to stock everything, they won't. I already hit CDs I want that they don't have in stock. Where do I get THOSE? Right--their "marketplace"....Ebay....various international online shops with off the wall pricing and shipping policies.

It important to note that "indie" stores are still in business. It's the record selling chains who catered to everyone that they sunk. The hipster catering indie record shop is going strong in 2015.

 

You summed it up nicely. I think it's funny that now Best Buy seems to be struggling to stay afloat. One near me recently closed.

I think Amazon has already raised prices considerably on music. I rarely buy from them anymore because I can almost always find titles cheaper elsewhere on the net. Plus, Amazon collects tax in my state so that doesn't help. I recently noticed more CD-R on demand titles at Amazon and almost bought a couple before reading the fine print! Sorry, but $12 for a CDR is a joke. They're probably burned from MP3s anyway.

 

Given that my local market is seeing more record stores open than close -- I can think of one Boston-area store that's closed in the last five years, and five that have opened...including one in the spot where that store closed -- I don't necessarily agree with the idea that big box stores, online sales, OR downloads are killing record stores. In some places, they're doing just fine.

 

BB beat out other major retailer music chains with pricing and even selection. Tower was the exception. BB didn't beat take out independent stores as much as other big-box retailers. Then file-sharing and downloading changed the game.

 

I'd say the internet killed record stores/record buying/concert going in general.

Why go to a concert when you can sit home on Facebook and contact ALL of your friends. Years ago you could go to a bar and hang with a group of your friends, see a band. That is becoming obsolete.

A new band has formed? You can bet their demo is downloadable for free online. You can bet there's a live performance or two of them already on YouTube. And when their record comes out, it'll be available for free in minutes.

Why buy a record when you can search it out on YouTube and listen to it as much as you like from the comfort of your couch? Or just download it for free of course.

Yes, big box stores hurt by selling all the big selling releases for cheap. That's why small shops carry the stuff the big guys won't touch. That kept them in business. Now, the stuff the big boys won't put on the shelves is available for free on the WWW in minutes. So the small stores are burnt at both ends. No one wants to pay 2 bucks more for the new Arcade Fire record. And no one wants to pay a cent for the new DIY/independent band's record.

pre-internet, even small bands could garner thousands of fans with a tour and a demo or 7" EP. There were 10,000 fans hungry for new music for every 1 band that was formed. Now post internet there's 10,000 bands for every point and click savvy fan. Indie music is a huge loss, and indie stores are suffering the most from it.

 

One of my local gets in the good stuff. Helps when they actually pay - for instance buying a 2,000 count collection for a couple bucks per unit that is mostly great stuff. Other stores in won't outlay the cash in one go. Most of them come from guys with industry connections...and more likely than not they will tell other connections that a store will pay cash for good stuff in a transaction that takes 30-60 minutes.

If you pay peanuts, you get monkeys. Some stores only offer credit instead of cash.

 

My experience -
When Best Buy opened they had a HUGE selection including imports. Blew away my local independent's and Wherehouse's selections.
The breadth of their selection drew me not price. All CD at the time.
Their selection is pathetic now. Not worth looking at.

Working in Hollywood I continued to frequent Aron's Records which was still a crowded happening place ... until Amoeba came to town.
With the resurgence of vinyl independent stores are starting to pop up again. Woo-Hoo!

The reality is of course that you cannot beat the price and selection on the internet BUT there is nothing as fun as combing through the racks at a real life brick and motor store.
Your mileage may vary ...

 

Here's what Best Buy is allegedly up to in Canada...

http://www.vancitybuzz.com/2015/03/future-shop-closing-stores-across-canada/

 

i had the same experience at best buy. the had a great selection in the beginning. same thing when i
went into a brand new borders store. for a short time they had the a great jazz cd collection.

 

Yes that's me also. I like to look around and see if I come across something I like...accidentally. We seem to be in the minority here though.
I'm afraid we will start losing members to heart trouble here, because they like to sit on their butts and order online only rather than actually getting up getting moving and going to a store.

 

Digital music played a hand. It's convenience, plain and simple.

I love spending all day at a record store, but I've gone to several shops to find they don't have what I'm looking for. Then the store offers to order it for me. Well, I can do that myself online.

This is the state of most brick n mortar retailers. It's just easier and less time consuming to search online and have it delivered instead of wasting gas driving around looking to see who has it.

I've worked retail awhile, and though I am passionate about music, but I also can see how CDs & vinyl are seen as products on a shelf.

Also, many independent record stores are unorganized. I can see how it all gets away from them and, all of a sudden, they can't stay in business.

 

I don't see raised prices on CDs at amazon, not generally. I see the new Glen Campbell at $10 and Ghost On the Canvas at $9. Steve Martin/Edie Brickell CD at $9. Lots of catalog stuff at 4.99 and some even 3.99. Yeah, their SACD prices and imports are expensive, so I wouldn't buy there.

I can't get to a brick and mortar so I don't mourn their loss, except in the abstract. Who killed mom and pop? I think it was amazon as much as Best Buy. For me, it is amazon marketplace that is superior to mom and pop stores, even if there was a mom and pop across the street. I regularly order great catalog items from around the US, or even UK or Germany -- for $4 plus a few pennies -- including shipping.

There's nothing wrong with a nostalgia for the old days -- I have fond memories of record store browsing myself. But it is what it is. It's an online world -- not just downloading, but buying CDs too.

 

To be fair, Tower Records was running on life support for years before they finally went under. From my understanding from a few people pretty high up in the chain near the end, they had longstanding horrible accounting and money management practices dating back to the late 80's that crippled them as a profitable competitor by the end of the 90's. Obviously downloading, the decline of physical product sales and record company belt tightening banged in the final few nails into their coffin but they possibly could have lasted a lot longer and possibly ridden out the entertainment industry physical media bust operating on a smaller, more efficient scale... or at least outlasted Virgin Megastores who crapped out about 3 years later.

 

Yeah, you have a point. Some used stores are only paying pennies for each CD, so sellers are probably going to chance their arm on ebay or amazon rather than take the immediate cash (even if there is a used store in their neighborhood, which is often not the case). I've been to used stores charging £5 or £6 per disc, which is quite high, and their stock was much better.

 

From 1985 to 1990 I worked in/managed Sound Warehouse locations and from 1990 - 1994 managed Sam Goody/Musicland locations around the Dallas area. At some point (from 90-94 specifically) it was cheaper for me to go to Best Buy and purchase a crap load of inventory than it was to buy from corporate or a one stop. Personally, I got all my collection as promos and only had to shop RPM Records (God bless Randy) and Bills to get my import fix. At the end of the day, my sale prices (dictated by corporate) were higher than Best Buy and Circuit City for their regular prices. I relied solely on foot traffic that was too lazy to head to BB and teens with disposable income to stay ahead. Best Buy and Circuit City were in cahoots with the labels who were hungry for movement of units. Movement of units, in the SoundScan era, equals quick and easy chart position. Best Buy and their "category killer" ilk did not necessarily kill the independent or large music retailer. It was a concerted effort between them and the labels.

When I was younger we went to the record store like we went to the grocery store. It was a regular, weekly event. Once the public at large realized they could get the same Madonna cd for several dollars cheaper at a store that wasn't a "music store" they started shifting their shopping habits. Best Buy made their money from other sales like washing machines. They didn't care that they were losing money on music sales... People were buying appliances and the labels were subsidizing their loss on the music. While free downloads via Napster didn't help the industry as a whole, they weren't doing themselves any favors by devaluing music to start with. Now that even Best Buy can't sell a cd to save their lives, I can't help but feel that Record Store Day is a way for the labels to apologize and try to make up for being a-holes to the true music stores. Of course (with all apologies to Dennis Miller) this is just my opinion... I could be wrong.

 

I think stores such as Our Price, HMV and Virgin put many of the smaller stores out of business here in the UK. They in turn were cannibalized by the supermarkets and Amazon/Play.com (who used the tax free Channel Islands to distribute their CDs). Downloads and streaming have eaten away at the CD sales, so even supermarkets aren't stocking them except in the bigger stores. My local independent record store survived because it has always specialized in vinyl.

 

I still work in Hollywood and go to Amoeba Records weekly. It's always busy ... sometimes really, really busy.
It's not people buying the latest Taylor Swift, it's people going through the jazz, rock, folk, reggae, goth, country, classical, indie, soul, oldies, hip-hop, rock, Brazilian, lounge ... they have a Hawaiian section! LP's and CD's, crazy DVD selection, books, magazines, T-shirts, vintage posters ...

If you build it they will come ...

 

God, I wished we still had something like this in New York City !

 

when best buy first opened they had a killer selection of CD's.

imports, new releases, catalog titles were all there in and in good supply.

little by little the inventory started to shrink, the imports were the first to go, and then the deep catalog titles. they have however, always sold new releases quite cheap.

a local store, now gone, had an owner who would buy his stock for new releases at best buy for 9.99 or less because they were cheaper than he could get them from his supplier. he did it on regular basis, visiting best buy when they opened on tuesday morning and usually buying 3 - 10 copies of every title, based on what he thought he could sell. those that didn't sell, he would return the following tuesday for new stock. this is the same guy who got real greedy and started selling used CD's as new. which his customers didn't take long to catch onto and he quickly went bottoms up.

 

The big box stores and major online retailers didn't put the indie shops out of business.....CONSUMERS did! There is no loyalty any longer and real respect for personal service...it's all about price. I'm guilty of doing my fair share of shopping online as well, but I also support my local indie shops and prefer to give them my business. I'm probably about 30% online & 70% Indie and I hope that doesn't change, and I will support them for as long as they are around.

 

Indies just aren't able to compete with online retailers like Amazon when it comes to price and breadth of selection. I'm relatively fortunate to have three decent indies in my town--one used store, two new with some used stuff--but I can't tell you how many times I've gone downtown with a lengthy list of stuff that I was hoping to score only to walk away empty handed. If I'm looking for a particular mastering or a deluxe edition, it's rare indeed when I find what I'm looking for at bricks and mortar retailers. I guess it doesn't help that I buy CD's when the indies increasingly are shifting over to the more lucrative vinyl market. I'd like to support local retailers more, but I can't do it when they don't offer the discs that I really want to buy.

 

Tesco and Dunne's is the equivalent of best Buy over here. In 1990 they started selling new release CD's at below cost prices. Only the top 20 chart ones mind you.
What the used record store workers around 1990 used to do was to go to Tesco/Dunnes and buy up all the new releases that were on sale well below cost, to sell in their shops. Cheaper than buying from the distributers.
New releases were much more important 25 years ago than they are today.

 

Yeah, Best Buy bought Futureshop in 2001 and kept both brands active, even to the point of having both stores in the same locality in places. Then Saturday morning they closed all the FS (with no notice to staff or customers) and are reopening half of them in a week as Best Buy.