Blame downloads.
Blame the chains.
Blame whatever.

But my local mom & pop record store just put a big sign up in their window:
CLOSING SALE

No, they did not carry everything I wanted, but he would order it for me, no problem. Don and his 80-year-old mom behind the counter, listening to BTO or Ozzy or Deep Purple...

My kids loved that store and so did I, despite its shortcomings.

Oh well, just another in the long succession... all things must pass.


And yeah, Jen, it is Beautiful Day.

Buy the store and keep it open.

Just like Empire Records. I'll start a band with Renee Zellweger.

Were I single, childless, and solvent, I would.

small business loan, you can do it.

I will buy solely from you, even if i move out of state.

Can't you just let Phil start his Renee Zellweger band? Why do you stand in the way of his dreams?

Seriously dude. I was think, we could cover Sugar High, i bet she can sing the shit out of that.

Boo!

What was the store name?
Can you order stuff online?
Are they having some great clearance sale prices that you can cash in on?

I'm trying to figure out if I'm more nostalgic for brick and mortar record stores or steam-powered passenger trains.

Oh shit!

I know, or knew, the owner. I used to go in there ALL the time and talk to him when I lived and worked in LaGrange. His mom always used to help him out there.

He's a super, super nice guy, so I'm sad to hear about this.

BUT, the store did not always have the best selection. And the prices were a little too high for a suburban second hand store. I think that may have been the problem Todd.

On a positive side, the Indianapolis indie record chain Luna just opened its third location in the city and seem to be doing very well.

Guys, you don't get Best Buy Reward Zone points at the mom and pop stores.

Nope, but I get a free cd after I buy ten regularly priced cd's at one of the locally owned Homer's outlets and they have a massive 99 cent sale each year where I buy a crap ton of promo and advance released copies of the indie albums I was too poor to afford during the year or wouldn't normallly take chances on.

And therein lies the problem. I've tried to be a good buyer and buy locally from indie shops when possible, but when they started weeding out the interesting, unusual stuff, I had to start buying online. I don't want to sit around thinking that I'll check for (name something unusual) the next time I stop in, only to find they don't have it. If I order it, it'll be two weeks before they finally get it. I can order something the moment I want to and have it in my mailbox 5 days later, and cheaper than the local stores would sell it for. I realize that this is a vicious cycle, but I really don't think music buyers should be blamed for wanting a lower price and easier convenience. There used to be a time when I could walk in and scour the racks for an hour, repeatedly saying "Wow, they have this?!" Those days are long gone - I'm in and out in 15 minutes, and that's including a thorough walk through all the aisles. Now my reaction is, "Wow, look at how many copies they have of every major release, and very little else!"

These places are killing themselves off. They don't have the variety they need to sustain the hardcore music buyers. I realize that we account for a small amount of customers, but our buying habits are pretty extreme. Do all these stores need to keep so many Dave Matthews CDs on the shelves?

One local store that I loved, CDGB, had the right idea - they carried pretty much everything, but didn't keep a billion copies out on the floor of each title. The put the artwork in the bins and you brought it to the counter when you found what you wanted, and they grabbed a copy from their own stock. It kept the store filled with a tremendous amount and wide array of music. Awesome store, but they closed a few years back - not because of sales but because of some kind of family problems that they wanted to be back home (Indiana, I think?) to help with. I don't go a week without missing them - the best music store Phoenix has had, for me at least.

Edit: It's Iowa they moved to, and they're here: http://www.cdgbs.com/

I'll be spending my birthday money on tons of music this weekend. It would kill me to see my local indie store go under.

And I'm sure you paid a lot more than you would've at Best Buy or Virgin Records, who would've had the album you wanted in stock already. Or even online.




Uhhh...perhaps this was the problem. You gotta change with the times. There was a similar record store in Queens and all you saw were older white men wearing Iron Maiden shirts. And all they had in stock were albums from classic rock artists and heavy metal bands from the 80s. How do you run a business like this?