Why are so many record stores still closing?

I know Amoeba in Hollywood is still cranking. I always ask them "how's business" and they're always saying how busy they are. So I think it really depends on the store and the location. Amoeba is a different animal though and can't really be compared with small mom & pop stores.

 

Hipsters definitely. But not the general trendy public!

 

In the case of Seattle, it's because the entire city is being sold out from under people's feet to out of town/out of country developers who clear-cut affordable retail (and housing) and replace them with bunkers that only franchise businesses and hi-tech employees can afford. We've lost 3 record stores so far that way.

Ranting aside, we've still some good ones left though, enough that we can still boast about it, I guess.

 

With 17 million people in L.A. County, Amoeba will rock until the end of time!

 

Those are more rent real estate issues

 

Seattle is still one of the best record store cities. I've only been here 2.5 years and it is better than my old San Francisco except for Amoeba.

 

A few thoughts.

Biggest problem for anyone selling music - Rock isn't dead....it's just smells funny ( stolen from FZ), seriously Rock is as close to being dead as it can possibly be, thank you to the few new Rock bands out there that are carrying the torch for new Rock.Rock needs a Renaissance, it needs new "Rock Stars" ala David Bowie,Mick Jagger,Jimi Hendrix,ect.
Record stores back in the 70's would have never made it if it wasn't for the superstar rock bands albums going 10x platinum.
How sad is the music scene today.....the answer is.....what music scene???

Records - Vinyl is more popular than it has been in 20 years so there is some momentum,but any respectable store need to have a nice selection of used albums in very good shape at reasonable prices.

If you have a record store - create a stimulating environment, and be a ambassador for great music, turn your customers on to great music, but more than anything reward the customer with a groovy environ so they want to come back. How many record stores have I walked into that were filthy, boring,and smelt like cat piss.....to many.

FYE - are you ****ing kidding me....I hate that ****ing place.

Here's hoping mom & pop record stores continue to open and flourish,but with any business that has almost no profit margin...only the strong will survive.

Oh and this business of charging $38 - $41 for a new album will kill the biz....again.

 

The majority of the general public don't care about buying music. They stream or listen to it on YouTube. It just not that important to them.
And the young kids of today will have no emotional attachment to physical media. I'm sure the idea of having things sitting on shelves will seem ridiculous to them. To be honest if your into music, books, films you never really need to step inside a shop again. Everything can be got online.
I go out of my way to go to music shops.

 

Keeping the doors open on just about any small retail business is really difficult. Until you have owned or managed one it's difficult to understand how hard it is to squeeze pennies down to the bottom line. There is always some tax, payroll, repair, utility bill, etc. eating up your money.

Buying and selling records requires a lot of knowledge about the value of records, buy too much of the wrong stuff and you're done.

 

Amoeba also have possibly the highest priced vinyl in LA second only to Rockaway .... There are now more people in the dollar vinyl section and I hardly ever see people with stacks of records anymore in line and the used CD area is always packed.

I think it keeps coming back to price .... What kid is gonna take a chance on Dan Fogelberg's Greatest Hits on vinyl when the beat up old copy is $39.99? .... They'll just stream the damn thing and adapt.

 

My main local store moved into a larger building earlier this year so I assume they're doing well. I stop in randomly and there seems to be pretty steady traffic. Their prices on new vinyl are just as cheap as online retailers. I have terrible luck with online orders arriving with seam splits so I love being able to walk into a store and check out the condition of the jackets prior to purchasing. I only order online if it's something they don't have. I recently bought both the colored vinyl versions of Sturgill Simpson and Betty Davis' newest albums online since they didn't have them in stock. Both arrived with top seam splits. I really do not enjoy ordering online.

 

Does Amoeba own its building? That is a huge difference.

 

going to a coffee shop to "study" has always been a laughable idea. people hang out at coffee shops to be social, or to relax and watch people. you could substitute the word 'hipster' with 'people having fun', and your post would make just as much sense. it just comes off as curmudgeonly, which i do identify with sometimes

 

Too many people down-loading. We have only are selves to blame.

 

God forbid there be a discussion on this forum without a couple of people being complete asses. If you don't have anything constructive to contribute to a conversation, then why contribute?

 

With all due respect...I wrote an entire PhD dissertation in coffee shops. I held office hours in coffee shops. Your opinion does not reflect the reality I lived.

 

You've never met an actual kid or been inside an actual record store, have you?.

Not sure what made me laugh more... The idea of any record store pricing Dan Fogelberg at $39.99 used (that's a $2 record wherever you go) or someone under the age of 20 knowing or caring who Fogelberg is. His appeal has not exactly "bridged generations."

Now Floyd, Zeppelin, Bowie, or Beatles? I've seen kids buy those used records for years. (Albeit for $10-15 apiece, not $39.99, but I appreciate the humorous exaggeration.)

 

is the Mesa FYE still around?

 

Here in Boston, we lost Store 54 in May, because the owner decided he was bored with owning a record store and wanted to concentrate on his side careers as a photographer and sculptor.

Since then, the JP store Deep Thoughts has opened a second location in Central Square in Cambridge, and this weekend, a new store called Blue Bag Records is opening just outside of Porter Square.

So...yeah. They're not closing everywhere.

 

Surprised this has gotten no traction here
...it's the talk of the town in the record biz this week.

➡ WARNER CLOSING ACCOUNTS OF NUMEROUS INDIE RECORD STORES

“Through all of this is the continuing self-fulfilling decline—in which the industry shuts doors on music retailing, then complains about its failure...”

 

You hit the nail on the head. "Gentrification", it's called, and it sucks. Except for the wealthy, of course.

 

The price one pays to be a jaded collector. It's always been that way for all of us. Once you have more and more of the "good stuff", there's less and less left to find.

 

I'm very fortunate in Shelby Township, Michigan; been going to Gary's Records for years. Very fair pricing for extremely clean vinyl. I would be very disappointed if and/or when he decides to call it a day; as I depend on his variety and my wife enjoys the surrounding shops.

 

Everything is closing in NYC. It's mostly Chase banks, Starbucks, and Duane Reades on every block in Manhattan, or at least it feels that way.

 

Which town on L.I.?