Princeton area: significant Beatles collection hits PREX

I could use clean copies of both mono and stereo UK gold & black label 1st press PPM. I'd be very surprised if those were in this collection.

 

As a retailer, I can see the need for stickering the actual album. It sucks, but all it would take is one or two scammers on a busy Saturday and you'd lose your inventory quickly. (And the opinion that everyone working the register should "know" the prices well enough to prevent sleeve switching is absurd.) The store has made the decision that the extra retail value sacrificed on sticker-ed albums is less than the potential losses.

The only removable solution I can recall is a tamper-resistant butterfly tag that comes apart when you remove it, but I haven't seen those in awhile. And a diligent scammer can re-assemble those well enough to get a switched tag past a cashier, anyway.

 

Are you going to find out?

 

I might call them. If they don't ship out of state it doesn't really matter though.

 

Just called them. No shipping and they only have a Japanese re-issue of PPM.

 

I'm not a collector and I live outside the US but, on a side note, I lived in Princeton when I was a kid for a couple of years (1977-78). Beautiful place.

My family rented a very nice house there and they had a great collection of old LPs and singles -- including the non-Capitol "Introducing the Beatles" LP -- which my borther and me explored and played extensively. Nice nemories of childhood years.

 

I will pass within 3 miles east of PREX on an Amtrak train later today. But will be with other people so can't get off at Princeton Junction station.

This is a perfect post for the already-existing thread on here (the one on 'do you go record shopping while traveling').

 

I'm sure it is. I knew Bill for many years and was shocked to learn of his passing last month. He was an avid Beatle collector and could find just about anything.

 

I agree with your first statement there, but your second one shows you probably never been to this store.
Store isn't run by just one guy, its got a staff of college young people working in it.

And not to get on the young people, but if you take a $2.99 Elton John MCA release sticker, and stick it on a much more expensive UK James version of the same album,
I'm willing to wager 98 times out of 100, they're not going to catch it.

We're freaks about this stuff, others not so much.....

 

I am sure that some of the longer-tenured staff have been around for several decades.

Every time I have been in there the last few years, I see familiar faces from when I was going there regularly. A little older, of course.

But yes, they do have a lot of college young people working there who wouldn't know the differences. That's not the type of thing you're going to know right away.

 

I just don't see how sticking them on the jacket deters people from swapping prices. Can't you just peel the price off the jacket and swap them, just as easily as if they were on an outer sleeve? I know you can swap the whole sleeve, but not when the sticker is labeled with what the record is, or perhaps a # they refer to on a sheet behind the counter.
A lot of shops will use the small round sticker (like in the vid) and include the price and a small note on what album it is.

Just seems odd to put a price tag on some of those rare albums, that's all.

 

When I was going there regularly, for rare items, they only put the cover out in the bins. The vinyls associated with the covers in question were kept behind the counter in drawers. And I imagine it is required that only a senior person can get the vinyl from the drawers and complete the sale.

 

I think what they do is tell the counter person to match the sleeve/jacket price to what's on the label.
I actually noticed this as well in my local shop here in central Jersey in the last couple months, as pricing stickers started appearing on the labels I was buying.

They're doing it in reaction to something they're experiencing, and I'm assuming this is not an avid collector, but someone swapping and flipping these for financial gain.
(Yes, I'm a fully credential member of the Masters of the Obvious Club....)

 

Prices on the label too?



That's crazy, I've only seen that once or twice, usually at normal stores that have a small record area with used vinyl.

 

Yeah, fair enough, I'd also say my local guy is probably a bit more paranoid than most.
I love scoring deals in that place, and they know I'm looking for them.

 

Efus, is that what they are doing at PREX now? I haven't bought a rare item there since around the year 2000. What I related in my post (pulling the rare vinyl out from behind the counters) is what they did back then, but there was no price on the label itself.

Really should get back there; unfortunately it's about a 3 1/2 hour drive one way for me, and I don't have that kind of time anymore, now that I have a family.

 

I don't know.
I think the last time I went to PREX was about 3 years or so ago.
I generally shop at The Record Store on Rt. 9 in Howell, and Jack's in Red Bank.

I was referring to The Record Store as now stickering the labels.
But to be fair, any record 4.99 and above, comes with a plastic outer sleeve over the jacket, that they put the price sticker on as well.
No stickers on jackets over 4.99.

 

Very nice! Too bad they're so far away from me.

 

Forget the stickers. They come right off without damage. Look at these records! And the prices are great. I picked up a black/yellow mono recolver there NM for $40. Prob from same collection last week.

 

Slightly off topic, but I'll be fast.

Jack's is still open - that's nice to hear. I worked in Red Bank area from 1995-2000, and at lunchtime back then I used to go to Jack's. Much more recently, I also think that something I bought on eBay came from there (noticed the return address on the package).

Never went to a record store in Howell. I usually just went to PREX when I was in the mood. Lived in Deal (right next to Asbury Park).

 

do you have any idea how big this store is and how much product they have

 

Never been, but not sure how that changes anything about putting stickers directly on the jackets. If you can ask $200 for a record, you can put a sleeve on it.

 

I can't open the link at work, but I'm assuming it is a US address, which surprises me he even had a UK LP. The Butchers, I understand... My collection is the mono LPs (other than A.R. & L.I.B.), but ya, I'd gladly take a stereo UK gold & black label 1st press PPM. Heck, I'd even settle for a mono UK gold & black label 1st press PPM! Poor me, I only have the Yellow & black label....

 

I can't speak to that. I can tell you what it was like in the '90s but that may not be the same now.

But something must have happened in the past for them to do what they do.

 

Wonder what PREX had to shell out for this Beatles collection? Hopefully the seller got a fair price for the records.