New local record shop

[spzretent]

In this day and age with record shops closing at a rapid pace I was pretty excited when I saw a new record shop opening in my city. They did a great job hyping it.
These folks clearly did not do their homework. They bought out the remaining stock from a shop that closed 3 years ago. This was stale stock that didn't even sell at 90% off before they closed.
Their new stock is a hodge podge of Dischord/Sub Pop/and whatever Forced Exposure stocks. IE not much. No direction what so ever. Their good used stock is already picked over.
I had $12 credit in their shop today and couldn't find anything.
No wonder the internet has killed off all the good shops. No one stocks anything I want anymore around here. Its only when someone sells their collection who used to shop at my store that I get excited.

[jadams501]

There are disadvantages, too, but that's one of the nice things about living in college towns. There's a big financial incentive to stock product for a hungry and diverse clientele. In this day and age you have to sell the "lifestyle" almost as much, or more, than the music itself.

[redcloud]

In this day and age with record shops closing at a rapid pace I was pretty excited when I saw a new record shop opening in my city. They did a great job hyping it.
These folks clearly did not do their homework. They bought out the remaining stock from a shop that closed 3 years ago. This was stale stock that didn't even sell at 90% off before they closed.
Their new stock is a hodge podge of Dischord/Sub Pop/and whatever Forced Exposure stocks. IE not much. No direction what so ever. Their good used stock is already picked over.

Well, I hope they make it. It saddens me that record stores and book stores close down. I feel thankful that Portland has record stores in abundance and they are all well supported as is Powell's Books. Powell's is easily amongst the best bookstores in this country. Even nicer that it was born in Portland and has remained locally supported - even in the age of Amazon and kindles Powell's is always packed. In fact, it's such a great bookstore that it is one of the first things tourists want to do when they visit Portland. Can't say enough good things about it. I hope that it never falls from grace nor has to close its doors.

Regarding mail order records...Forced Exposure is pretty good. In fact, I can't fault them. They have good stock and the few times that I have ordered from them they were speedy and seemed to understand the value of customer service. Neither of which Midnight Records could get their heads around.

[redcloud]

If all you care about is paying $1 for an LP and selling it for $10 to $20 then good luck.

What a shame! Yea, they probably wont last.

I do think buying and selling records is tricky right now because there are SO many books and the internet that help fuel the price of harder to find records. Finding real bargains is getting more difficult. Also, there are many hipsters who didn't grow up with records and have no real clue about what large press run/easy to find records should cost. Maybe they (hipsters) are the ones driving up the costs? Either way....any store that puts that much mark up on their product will find it hard to survive.

But then again....look at pizza restaurants!

[spzretent]

You have a captive audience when you run a used record shop. They dont even pay cash which is a BIG mistake. Especially when you cant find anything to trade for with a $12 credit slip(still burning a hole in my pocket).
I have better records for sale in the room I am typing from than they do in their entire 2000sq foot shop. And they all fit in one crate!

[toomilk]

A new record store just opened up in San Diego. It's a consignment store called Groovy Records. The name aside, this place is not half bad. I bought some old Patsy Cline, Wanda Jackson, and Astrud Gilberto LPs. I'm lucky to have so many great record stores within a mile radius of me (I believe the exact number is 6). Each has their own personality and caters to slightly different types of music fans. That's probably why the main core of them have been open for years.

Speaking of record stores, I just downloaded this iPhone app called "The Vinyl District." It uses your current location and lists or shows the closest record stores to you on a map. You can then see their Yelp ratings, call the store, see their hours, and look up directions to get there. This thing is my new travel companion.

[redcloud]

A new record store just opened up in San Diego. It's a consignment store called Groovy Records.

My favorite record store in Portland is Crossroads Music. It too is a consignment shop with 25-30 vendors on the floor. You go through the various marked bins and when you buy they write down the seller's initials or number. I have found many, many good records here. All decently priced. The vendors though know what things should sell for so again, it's harder to score the really rare record for a steal but many of the vendors travel all over the state and beyond to buy records and then bring them back to Portland to sell. Obviously there is a good market here.

Another really good record store in Portland is Exiled Records.