Why are so many record stores still closing?

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by radickeyfan, Jul 15, 2016.

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  1. Depends where you live maybe. There are 15 plus record stores in Seattle. Many of them are doing quite well. They’ve adapted and there is a vital music scene here. .
     
    Scott Sheagren likes this.
  2. BuckNaked

    BuckNaked Senior Member

    Location:
    Connecticut
    Indeed. And given the age of the baby boom generation, a lot of inventory will hitting the market over the next 20 years.
     
    tspit74 likes this.
  3. Channel Z

    Channel Z Forum Resident

    Location:
    Illinois
    I would put The Grateful Dead on this list also.
     
    dkurtis likes this.
  4. plynthe

    plynthe Forum Resident

    Location:
    **** this ********
    It's like divorced guys being down on the concept of marriage- hot take!
     
    Marc Perman and troggy like this.
  5. plynthe

    plynthe Forum Resident

    Location:
    **** this ********
    Foot traffic. Very hard to keep good, used product in stock when you're one of THE tourist destinations in the city. Even worse in Hollywood.
     
    Matthew Tate likes this.
  6. Dave S

    Dave S Forum Resident

    That's not why I like stores.

    1) I enjoy browsing.
    2) Often I will buy things I didn't realise I wanted. Or didn't know existed.
    3) I'm looking for rarities that can be expensive online or even non-existent.

    The reality is that used prices for most CDs is very low. Even for someone who hoovers up CDs most weeks, there are still plenty of good albums that I will leave in the bins, even charity shops.
     
    Reamonnt likes this.
  7. Dave S

    Dave S Forum Resident

    It's very hard to keep good, used product in stock period.
     
    Matthew Tate likes this.
  8. troggy

    troggy Papa-Oom-Mow-Mow

    Location:
    Benton, Illinois
    Was that Weirdo? I visited Boston just a couple of months after she closed.
     
  9. Scott Sheagren

    Scott Sheagren I’m a Metal,Rock,Jazz Fusion,Gaga type of guy.

    Location:
    06790
    Hell yeah they have tons of vinyl for great prices.rock jazz metal blues rock pop
     
    Matthew Tate likes this.
  10. misteranderson

    misteranderson Forum Resident

    Location:
    englewood, nj
    In the NYC Metro area, I'd add Steely Dan, '70s Bowie, and even some '70s Joni to the list of original pressings that don't stick around very long and sell for anywhere from $8-15, or more.

    I picked up a perfect 1977 CSN S/T for $2 a couple weeks ago. One of my favorites, and when I asked the owner of the shop why it was so cheap, she said "we have six more of them." So there you go.

    "Record stores will be gone in a year or two." Maybe where you are, but I don't think so around here. I'm almost never in a store alone, and often see younger people browsing and buying, though -- I suppose significantly -- nobody under 25.
     
    Crimson Witch and Matthew Tate like this.
  11. Crimson Witch

    Crimson Witch Roll across the floor thru the hole & out the door

    Location:
    Lower Michigan
    Detroit-area record stores
    still in business :

    • Dr. Disc Records,Windsor
    • Ah Some Records,Windsor
    • Sunrise Devonshire Mall, Windsor
    • Peoples Records Detroit
    • Paramita Sound Detroit
    • Detroit Threads, Hamtramck
    • Shantique Music Detroit
    • Stormy Records Dearborn
    • Hybrid Moments Ferndale
    • Found Sound Ferndale
    • Dearborn Music Dearborn
    • Dance Zone East Pointe
    • Melodies and Memories East Pointe
    • UHF Music Royal Oak
    • Street Corner Music Oak Park
    • Village Vinyl Warren
    • Trax 'N Wax - St. Clair Shores,
    • Solo Records Royal Oak
    • Slick Disc - Trenton
    • Flipside Records Clawson,
    • Rock Of Ages Garden City


    ...
    not to mention Barnes&Nobel
    bookstores, which still sell vinyl LPs & CDs

     
  12. Eleventh Earl of Mar

    Eleventh Earl of Mar Somehow got them all this far.

    Location:
    New York
    Streaming music that's stupid easy.

    Like you can still pirate all the albums you want but even in the past decade you had to kind of know how to do that. Now you can just have all of it and have no knowledge of how to even use a computer.
     
    ian christopher likes this.
  13. Tartifless

    Tartifless Forum Resident

    Location:
    France
    In Paris they overestimate record prices, sell bootlegs, Don't let you listen to records on a table and are more expensive than the more expensive discogs sellers !
    I guess this is the reason why they die here...
     
    ian christopher likes this.
  14. danasgoodstuff

    danasgoodstuff Forum Resident

    Location:
    Portland, OR
    It's the rent, my favorite store is still in business because Terry owns the building.
     
    GentleSenator and Greenalishi like this.
  15. BillyMacQ

    BillyMacQ Forum Resident

    Location:
    Brooklyn, NY
    3 reasons why many record stores go out of business
    1. Ridiculously overpriced stock. My local shop consistently has .50 cents and $1 records priced at $5 or even $15. #Dumb
    2. Ridiculously old stock. See above - records that are overpriced, don't move. Why go back to a store that has the same old overpriced stuff? #Dumb
    3. Jaded and snarky people working at the store who still think it's 1985. You're not Jack Black's character in High Fidelity. Get over it. #Dumb

    3 Reasons why many record stores are doing well
    1. They price and grade records appropriately knowing that today's shopper is equipped with a smartphone that gives him/her immediate access to a wealth of info.
    2. They combine selling records with something like a cafe' with coffee - something that keeps traffic moving in and out of the store whether people are buying records or not.
    3. The people working there act like they want to be there, want to be helpful, enjoy music and don't treat the whole thing like a competition to see who's more hip.

    Love,
    Billy
     
  16. Greenalishi

    Greenalishi Birds Aren’t Real

    Location:
    San Francisco
    This can't be overstated. So many local longtime business' who survive. Got an opportunity early on to buy and were able to and that's why they last. Rent is a killer of small busisness'. No place has rent control for commercial stuff.

    I've heard rumblings even from my local fave Aomeba that they struggle. I'm not sure what i would do if i lost them. I'm there every week almost. Love the place so much.
     
  17. jimac51

    jimac51 A mythical beast.

    Location:
    Allentown,pa.
    If I'm reading this right,the store mentioned is not out of business,in spite of doing all of these wrong things. Any reasons why this place remains open?
     
    Matthew Tate likes this.
  18. This is a key factor. Obviously some stores are in busy areas where there is foot traffic but many stores now are way off the beaten path and if some store owner had a vision, they would have tried to buy a building somewhere where and when property was cheaper. A records store and an adjacent cafe can be a real winner to kick off a new neighborhood.

    If I were opening a shop today (which I am not) I would try to do this and definitely have a cafe, lunch spot within the same building. That can offset a lot of the overhead if done correctly..

    I know it has been written here before but I've been to many stores where the owner just doesn't seem to give a crap of their clientele. A recipe for failure IMHO.

    I assume you are speaking of Music Millennium??
     
    danasgoodstuff likes this.
  19. danasgoodstuff

    danasgoodstuff Forum Resident

    Location:
    Portland, OR
    Yes, I've known Terry for decades, been a customer since even before he got there, worked at the long gone NW 23rd Ave. location and met my wife there.
     
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  20. shark shaped fin

    shark shaped fin Forum Resident

    Location:
    Los Angeles, CA
    Sorry if all this has been covered previously, but I'm amazed at how many record shops (and ones that are purportedly *great* stores) are actually pretty terrible, in my own estimation.

    I live in Los Angeles and there are stores I frequent around here that are usually good-to-great but the best remains Amoeba for a pretty good reason, just in terms of depth and reasonable pricing. If I want to find a decent copy of some Led Zep or Sabbath or Neil Young or Dylan, or Kate Bush or Bowie or whatever, I'm probably gonna be able to find it there.

    On the flipside you get a lot of people who have hopped on the vinyl train more recently, decide to make some money on it, and stock their stores with a ton of common and unloved records, or deservedly forgotten records, overprice them, and you're lucky if you ever find something you want there. I want to add I'm not someone who's just looking for the artists I mentioned in the previous paragraph, I tend to dig pretty deep. But I had a record shop open two blocks from my house a few years ago and I was ready to throw money at them, and during the three years they were there I never found a single LP I wanted. The entire Echo Park/Highland Park/Glendale/Silver Lake/Los Feliz area around here seems to be one shop after another exactly like this (with occasional, possibly apocryphal exceptions.)

    There are a ton of shops like this in the L.A. area, including ones I've seen on totally misleading and poorly-researched listicles of "the best record stores in L.A.", most of which seem to be written by people who would have been duped in the first wave of the VNYL monthly record club scam.

    Then again, I don't know. I may have standards for record stores that are completely out of whack... :sigh:
     
  21. Mr Bass

    Mr Bass Chevelle Ma Belle

    Location:
    Mid Atlantic
    Are you saying these stores never sell on Discogs/Ebay etc?

    If they do sell there then look for their (cheaper) listings on Discogs buy them and tell them you will pick them up at the store.
     
  22. Kal Rubinson

    Kal Rubinson Senior Member

    Location:
    NYC
    OK. Thanks. Unfortunately, I don't do vinyl any more.
     
  23. Danby Delight

    Danby Delight Forum Resident

    Location:
    Boston
    Yep. I still miss it. Angela works part-time at Stereo Jack's now.
     
    troggy likes this.
  24. Frangelico

    Frangelico Forum Resident

    Location:
    USA
    Even before the rise of Amazon and online sales, retail has been a notoriously difficult business. Historically amongst the highest bond default rates of any industry sector. I wish it was the way it was in the past with record and book shops and such :(
     
    ian christopher and Matthew Tate like this.
  25. misteranderson

    misteranderson Forum Resident

    Location:
    englewood, nj
    Things are looking up in Detroit in general, aren't they? That city's been down so long it had nowhere else to go.

    I think every big city must have a record store named Flipside within 20 miles. There's one around here too.

    The closest Barnes & Noble to me here in Northern NJ just got rid of their music dept. They're sending their stock up the road to a bigger store.
     
    Crimson Witch likes this.
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