Archetypal haughty record store owner

Oh yes, Pete Burns he was a real character, woe betide if he didn't approve of your purchase, he actually looked like a typical long haired hippie at one time before he went weird. But I'm talking nowadays, Probe isn't exactly the most welcoming of places to purchase music.

 

I used to go to a store in Blacksburg VA back in the early 90s. I was usually looking for Grateful Dead and related jam band stuff. The clerks there always gave a sneer when I went to make my purchases.

 

Hi Siegmund, As a founder member of Penny Lane, I was pleased stumble across your comments. Good to know that we are remembered this way after all these years. Thank You.

 

Do you mean Olympia? I'm not aware of a store with that name here.

 

I meant Everyday Music on Sandy! I regret impugning Rainy Day.
The problem at Everyday was limited to one guy who was really haughty. Everyone else there was really nice.
I've shopped at your place too, LH, and found it to be great, BTW!

 

The Record Collector on Melrose, still being himself, in 2019. Yelp reviews are spot on.

 

No, never in my entire 60 years. Only Jack Black in the film.

 

Shortly after moving to Cambridge, MA in the late 70s I was in a record store there, and heard the owner dismiss a guy who was trying to turn him on to something with "Nah, I'm not interested in white artists after 1958". It seemed like such a perfectly absurd combination of attributes to use as a cut-off that I've been immune to numbskulls in record stores ever since.

 

Thanks!

 

There is store in Texas named Forever Young Records & they sell online as well , the owner drove me away in the mid 1980s...

He now sells online & price gouges everything I've run across from his store on Discogs ie., The Curse Of The Mekons on NM vinyl $199.00 + SH

This dude is not only a haughty MFer but a rip-off to the uneducated to boot

 

There's a now defunct store in Orlando I visited a bunch of times in the late 90s.

Dunno if I'd called the owner "haughty", but he was opinionated and would make critical comments about what you bought if he thought they were warranted.

I remember he really sneered at the NIN boot I bought!

 

I also remember a store in LA where the owner got upset when I asked if he carried any bootlegs back in 1986.

Admittedly, it was a brazen question to ask, but hey, I was 19 - I didn't realize it was such a loaded issue!

He kinda went off, like "how dare you ask that of me?" Seemed really insulted.

Again, a lot of this is on me - it wasn't appropriate to ask, especially because he could've thought I was there to "spy" for the authorities - but he could've also been calmer in response and just said "nope, we don't carry those!"

 

There were some pretty obnoxious clerks who worked at the Princeton Record Exchange back in the 80's/90's.

 

There was one in Greenwich Village that I encountered on my first visit to NYC - I brought up some really cool stuff to trade, and he was interested, though he also wanted to point out minor flaws that he saw. When I told him that his stuff had some minor flaws as well, his response was, "That means nothing to me."

Yep, he was a real treat to be around.

 

No "haughy" ones I can remember. I used to get praised for my purchases sometimes, which would make me feel like I'd just aced an exam: "Chronic Town--not too shabby."

 

Really? I've mainly gone over the last 10 years, and I've always found the staff there to be really nice!

 

As I stated in my post, this was back in the 80's/90's.

 

Yeah, I know - I'm just surprised that the staff at PREX was ever rude/haughty, given that they've been consistently pleasant over the last 15 years!

 

I don't know about 'haughty', but there is one young guy who used to work there in the 80's/90's who was a real jerk. At least he was a jerk to me. This guy was a behind the counter clerk who I recall as being very obnoxious on a number of occasions. He certainly wasn't the owner or manager.

I don't know why that would surprise you. Haven't you ever encountered an obnoxious clerk in a record store?

It seems to me that an independent record store in a wealthy, ivy league town is precisley the kind of place you would expect to find a fair share of obnoxious, arrogant clerks.

The people who work there are now are for the most part fine. I've been a regular customer there for many years and am on a first name basis with several of the employees.

 

Oh G*d - is he still around? - I never see the shop open anymore...

v

 

Hmm - remember... hmm - a bit hesitant to name names, but really it wasn't so bad - Eric, from the Tower Record Classical Annex at Sunset... to me it was a win if he greeted my picks with silence - the little laugh always hurt the most!

One time, though, my choice of Lorin Maazel Mahler's Cycle on Sony with the Vienna Phil actually triggered more than a few words of contempt...

On the other hand he was (and I hope still is) super knowledgeable and helpful, so I was pretty sad when Tower closed - hope he landed on his feet - as well as all the other employees, of course...

v

 

Sure I have, but I've been to PREX dozens of times over the years and never dealt with staff that wasn't pleasant and helpful.

Not questioning your story but I'm still surprised given my interactions there...

 

Must be the swagger of the Oatsdude.

 

Oatsdad, I grew up and currently live 20 minutes from Princeton. I've been shopping at PREX regularly for the past 30 plus years. So, the fact that I had a bad experience with a clerk there many years ago is not at all surprising.

In fact, it's probably surprising that I haven't had more bad experiences considering the hundreds of times I've been there.

Actually, I've had more bad experiences with other customers, than with employees at PREX.

Have you never had a bad experience with a record store employee? If so, please explain that.

I have to think that the vast majority of us on this forum who frequent record stores have had the occasional bad experience with either an employee or another customer.

 

Well, yeah - I charm ladies at 30 paces! Like MTM, I can turn the world on with a smile!