Why are so many record stores still closing?

Except postage from the US to anywhere now costs way more (almost double) than the other way round, and it's almost always really slow. Paying £17-18 to receive a record in 2-4 weeks is ridiculous, and the almost guaranteed crushed corners because of the poor quality record mailers many US record shops use.

 

Same thing from Canada. Last time I checked the post office said it would cost $60 CAD (£34!) with tracking assuming I can keep the package at 599g or less. It's cheaper without tracking but still about £22. Hence, selling to the UK (or anywhere in Europe) is generally not going to happen.

 

Weird, that's my complaint about UK mailers, which seem to be manufactured from the flimsiest material available.

 

Probably why the most successful stores I know of are focused on vinyl, yes, but especially on second-hand CD sales, where the markup is huge.

 

Agreed. Last time I did a purge and took some items in to trade in, the buyer at my local store actually thanked me for bringing quality titles in excellent condition. I'm thinking they get a lot of people bringing in trashed records because vinyl is popular and they think every trashed record is worth a fortune.

 

I recently did this at my local store. I took in all my CD dupes. I actually got the idea from this thread that a stagnant inventory will kill a small store. It's not an obvious thing that you can help a store by selling as much as you can by buying.

 

someone should tell that to the fellas at the shops around here. they always seem overburdened and irritated by the volume of buys they have to "deal" with.

 

Where? When I've sold to Music Millennium, they've been nothing but appreciative,

 

Because they are not selling enough.

 

I can only report on what I see, I have no knowledge of nationwide trends. The three Reckless Record stores in Chicago seem to be thriving, I would say 75% of what they have is used LPs and CDs but they do a huge RSD. This year it seems busier and busier with more hipsters, hope they are making money. This week I was in Orlando and visited Park Avenue CDs, and that seemed to be thriving too, lots of staff and customers and this was on a Wednesday mid-day. What surprised me the most is 80% of inventory was new stock, very little used CDs which was disappointing to me, but seems to be working for them. Although used LP section was also small, they take very good care of their records, all packaged neatly and marked consistently with condition (I’ve only seen In Groove in Scottsdale do this better than Park Av). Also visited Retro Records, mostly used, and if you can make a judgement on one weekday visit, might be one of the struggling ones as described above, but I did pull some early pressing CDs from there. Probably only useful info for someone traveling to Orlando but I am stuck waiting for plane right now.

 

selling vinyl?

 

I will shoot myself in the foot right now and tell you the best record store in the Dallas area is Recycled Books on Denton's (TX) square. Best selection, best prices and best condition. He stocks M- used and new release vinyl and Cd's. He also sells 7" singles as well. All of the VG+ vinyl will grade out to most buyers as M-. The jackets will range from VG+ to M-. After 36 years of collecting vinyl in the Dallas area, it is the only store that I will go to today. His prices are very fair and he will give discounts for larger buys. He is also the only buyer that I will sell to. He consistently gives about 40% of Discogs equivalent for used M- records. A word of caution to sellers - he will not buy titles that he currently has in stock unless they are good sellers and he will only buy M- to M-- media. He also gives more for used Cd's than anyone else. He is honest and knowledgeable. I usually never give away my hot spots, but the owner and record buyer (Don) deserves the mention. I have shopped at his store for 36 years and sold to him for about 6 years. This is not Half Priced Books - if you take him 50 good condition records to sell, you may walk out with 30 that he will not buy. But the cash price you will get for the 20 he purchased will beat anywhere in Texas. He also gives a higher value for store credit.

 

Next time you are in the area come check out Ramm On Records.

 

Great shop. I've been going there for years.

 

I co-own a record store in a flea market and can tell you the following:

Challenges:
- little profit margin on new records and most new CDs
- people who bring in their collections to sell often have very high expectations regarding value, especially for the more desirable genres/artists
- conversely, customers want low prices, often well below regular market value
- Amazon (once had a guy pass on an album because it was 3 cents cheaper on Amazon)
- Barnes and Noble and FYE

What works for us:
- store credit
- gift giving holidays
- regular loyal customers
- word of mouth referrals
- indie only exclusives
- just the right amount of competition (yes, really - no competition is as bad as too much)

What makes it worth it:
- our customers
- Baltimore is a music city and people still love their physical media
- enough profit to pay the bills, keep stock flowing in, and tuck a little aside
- the fun of it (a lot of small indie stores close when the magic fades - the magic gets you through the rough times)

We aim to be a full time store in a few years. Praying it all continues to work.

 

Yes. I've sold to them twice, all vinyl. Called in advance, as recommended on their Website, brought the records in, no fuss.

 

If you are ever in Melbourne, drop in to a store called Basement Records, located in the Block Arcade. One could spend hours there browsing - in fact, one did.

 

I don't 'browse' in record stores...

I spend waaaaay too much money.