Vinyl at Target - The Cycle Repeats

So I was at Target and they are redoing the shelving in the media section. I come upon this:



It's baaaaaaaack. Can't wait to get some of these in clearance like I did back in the day

 

I never see vinyl at Target. I must not be drinking enough.

 

It's just like a living museum, on an annual tour!

 

In the meantime at my local Barnes & Noble the vinyl section has been cut to 1/3 of what it was and moved to the far back corner of the store from it's former location near the front. When they first offered vinyl it was right up front, not a good sign.

 

Picked up a few on clearance as well last time my local tried it a few years ago.
A musical instrument shop just started carrying new releases
Robert Plant's latest was over 40 bucks

 

Hmm. I'm gonna have to check my local target.

 

I snagged 2 Pink Floyd DSOTM's and 2 WWYWH's for $15 each on those clearance deals.

 

Yeah I got The Joshua Tree for like 10 bucks.

I mean, they want $46.99 for The Wall. That will turn off a lot of people, or it will make people naive (for lack of a better term) and they will think it's what it's supposed to be.

 

I think the weirdest thing about that picture is using their logo as their website address. Was it too difficult to type out "target"? How am I supposed to check their selection of vinyls when my computer doesn't have a target button?

I saw records at Bed Bath and Beyond once. The section was gone the next time I was there. I think they wanted $40 for the Born To Run reissue and the only tables were Crosleys. Wonder why that venture didn't take off.

 

And 4/9 of the vinyl titles on display were also being sold at Target, at 1/5 the price, back in the '80s. Le plus ça change...

 

New vinyl as a profit center looks good on paper, but rarely ever pays off. The margins seem great--around 30-40%. But it's not returnable and defect return rates are significant. So you get stuck with the slow moving titles (which eventually wind up shop worn and unsaleable) and you get stuck with returns from customers.

 

These lessons must be learned over and over again it seems.

 

It would be nice if some of their exclusives with bonus tracks would get a vinyl release...

 

Well, Target were too far ahead of the trend the last time they tried it. Best Buy was too, and I noticed the other day that they have added
some basic vinyl album titles back into their tiny music section (Zeppelin, 'Appetite for Destruction', Guardians of the Galaxy sndtrk). They are
at list price, I guess, because they were all like 40 bucks. I guess it's a novelty thing for Christmas, as people are often buying for others that they
don't know all that well anymore, or at all. "Hey, I have to get my brother in law something, and he has a neck beard and wears old concert shirts. He'd love an old fashioned vinyl version of 'Dark Side of the Moon,' I'll bet!' I'd guess that it will disappear again in January and come back for holiday shopping next year.

 

It's even possible that Target and BestBuy are using a rack jobber for this.

Back in the vinyl era, most stores with a record department who were not record stores (e.g. department stores, drug stores, etc.) used rack jobbers to service the record section. The jobber was an independent contractor in charge of stock and inventory of the vinyl section. This was a huge business back then. As non-record stores moved out of carrying music in the late '70s, it gradually dwindled.

But it's something that would make sense now, since these stores aren't carrying enough music anymore to justify their own music infrastructure.

 

I haven't checked my local store lately but I know B&N was betting hard on vinyl - huge expansion in their music area just a year back.

Was hoping it would work for them but it was definitely a risky venture.

 

It seems to do better in some areas than others. The B&N closest to me has not downsized their main vinyl LP section at all, but the one or two extra displays in other areas of the store have disappeared. However, in another B&N that we visit in a more upscale outdoor mall, the extra display in front of the coffee bar remains as it has for about two years now.

 

I'd be shocked if Target wasn't doing this, especially if they are just testing the water.

What I like are the displays in the first post. Are those waterfall displays made of cardboard? They sure look like that in the picture. Cardboard displays - now there's commitment for you.

 

The thing is: Are there any rack jobbers left? Handleman was the giant, and they basically went belly up and sold their assets to Anderson about a decade ago. (Handleman was even the sole racker at WalMart and couldn't make a go of it!) I'm not sure if Anderson is still in that biz.

 

My local Target store moved the music selections to the very back of the store. Last week I tried to buy the recent The National album on CD. It wasn't in stock and when I inquired about it, the clerk informed me that no one buys CDs any more. The are no vinyl records displayed. So, local conditions may vary.

I held my breadth concerning the young clerk... he seemed to be part of the "Crap Generation", not willing to pay for music, but claims to listen to everything (at low resolution).

I wish my local Target would emphasis music as well as it did in the past. Their de-emphasis on music was a loss for me. I'm glad some forum members are having success at Target.

 

Yes, they are, and they still service Walmart. link

 

They are making exactly the same mistake they made last time, and it's going to fail again. You can't stock ten titles and expect to be a go to place. It's like stocking a dozen greeting cards and expecting to do great business. As others have said, I'll be a customer during the clearance sale.

 

My B&N is still fully stocked, significantly, and I was shocked to see an exclusive to them of a nice Four Seasons comp I ended up buying.

 

Our local Costco is now completely outof the music biz and they had only maybe ten dvd titles. Kinda discouraging.