Record blues01:00 AM EDT on Tuesday, June 22, 2004BY BRIAN BASKINSpecial to the JournalDownload music illegally. Buy it lawfully from a music Web site. Or copy it off a friend. Just don't talk about it in front of John Connery."I can't tell you how many times I've heard, 'Don't buy that, you can just burn it from me,' " Connery said from behind the counter of In Your Ear, until recently one of Thayer Street's two independent CD, vinyl and music-memorabilia stores.These are tough times for many of the area's independent music stores. The first stop for music lovers back when vinyl was king, independents today hang on through quirkiness and customer service. And as more and more albums are sold on the Internet or through national chains such as Best Buy, a friendly face behind the counter and the latest independent rock hits aren't enough."We've all thought about [closing]," said Chris Zingg, the owner of two In Your Ear stores in Massachusetts, one formerly on Thayer Street, and Zingg Music in Barrington. "We throw our hands in the air and go, 'Why are we doing this?' "He finally stopped asking the question about his Thayer Street store, closing it in late April."The last three years were very stressful," Zingg said after the closing. His Barrington store, in addition to stores in Boston and Cambridge, remains open.He pointed to parking problems, the loss of business to Providence Place mall, escalating rent and taxes as well as music downloading as factors in his decision.The closing of In Your Ear preceded announcements by two other East Side retailers -- College Hill Bookstore and men's clothier Harvey Ltd. -- that they too are going out of business.At Tom's Tracks, now the sole surviving independent music store on Thayer Street, new and used CDs line every inch of the walls, and crates of vintage records crowd the floor. Owner Tom Farnsworth says that, with a few exceptions, such as hip-hop artist Kanye West and the multiplatinum new release by Norah Jones, sales are "nonexistent," down 30 percent last year and 40 percent in 2002.Julia Swearingen, an 18-year-old freshman at the Rhode Island School of Design, spends a half-hour flipping through boxes of vinyl, searching for vintage indie-rock selections to add to a collection that includes The Unicorns, Pavement and the Velvet Underground. Although it's still late afternoon and Thayer Street is bustling, no other customers come through the door during her visit.Swearingen, who buys about four CDs a month, said she's more likely to find the music she listens to at a place like Tom's than at the more pop-oriented chain stores at Providence Place. But she acknowledged that she is in the minority."This music has an audience, but it's not that popular," she said.And increasingly, even these "true music lovers," whose loyalty Ed Wiggins, owner of Slip Disc in Johnston, credits for keeping independent stores afloat, are downloading music for free.Downloading comes naturally to Swearingen and her friends, who were in middle school when Napster first brought free music to the masses in 1999. Swearingen said she previews most music by downloading it via the file-sharing Web site Limewire before heading over to the store."If I like the band enough and I think they deserve the money, I'll buy the CD," she said.THE OWNERS and employees of Rhode Island's independent music stores are not alone in their suffering. Global music sales fell 10.7 percent in the first half of 2003, and U.S. music fans downloaded nearly twice as many singles online as they purchased in stores in the second half of 2003, according to Billboard magazine.While independent owners ponder getting out, big-time music retailer Tower Records filed for bankruptcy in early February, and chains large and small have begun reevaluating their business strategies. Meanwhile, Universal Music Group announced in September that it would drop the list price for albums on its label to $13 from $17-$19 to lure customers away from mp3s and back to plastic."The Internet phenomenon has gutted the business," said Wiggins, who closed a second store in West Warwick after business flattened out in 2000 and never recovered.Competition with larger chains has in some ways been worse for business than the Internet, Farnsworth said, since "big box" stores can afford to sell some albums at well below wholesale price.Even Universal's price cut did little to help smaller music stores, because while the list price dropped more than $4, the wholesale price went down by just 35 cents, Wiggins said.Zingg said he hopes that once the industry behemoths finish their reshuffling, stores like In Your Ear will have carved out a permanent place in the market they once owned."Amazon raised their prices a bit to realistic levels. We're able to compete with them now," Zingg said. "Circuit City and Best Buy will wake up one day and realize they're not making money off of music. I like to think if I can make it through this period, there will be room for niche stores."But Zingg and his counterparts shouldn't hold their breath, said professor Catherine Moore, director of the music business program at New York University.Chains like Circuit City and Best Buy sell CDs to get customers in the store and looking at big-ticket items, not to make a profit on individual albums, she said. Legal online music services like Apple's iTunes, which makes albums available to download starting at $9.99, undercutting even the chain stores, are employing a similar strategy: lure customers in with free music, and try to sell them a $400 iPod or $2,000 desktop computer to play it on."I think it's certainly not a flash in the pan," Moore said. "The secure download business is the way of the future."NEARLY A DOZEN competitors to iTunes have jumped into the for-pay downloading business, but Chris Lima, owner of Richie's CDs, Tapes & Tickets in Kingston, says she doesn't feel threatened. Lima said sales are steady at her store on the University of Rhode Island campus, although increasingly it's local residents, not students, who make up the core of her business."People do like to look around and check out listening stations. It's not something they can get online," Lima said. "Some people like personal contact. We're adding another dimension to the personality aspect, away from the Internet."Personality, and sticking with formulas that have worked in the past, will keep independent music stores open, Moore said. Smaller stores can adapt by narrowing their focus to specific genres, selling their reputation for customer service, and even bringing the long-discarded mail order concept into the 21st century, she said.Although independent stores can't compete on the Internet with the likes of iTunes or Amazon.com, they can bring their eclectic selection and personal level of service online through Web sites devoted to mail ordering hard-to-find albums, Moore said. By keeping track of the number of pre-orders for new releases, and with creative use of e-mail, small stores can predict what will sell before buying albums that will sit on the shelves, she said.Slip Disc has stayed in business by diversifying -- mimicking the big stores by luring customers in with music, then selling them everything else."I've got clothes, gum, DVDs. That's pretty much where the business is," Wiggins said. "It's going to be interesting to see what the product is in five years. There might be no CDs in five years."That's particularly bad news for music stores near college campuses, where students are often the first to jump on board a new technology."Being in the middle of a student area used to be a tremendous plus, and now that's a negative," said Zingg, who said his Barrington store was faring much better than the In Your Ear Thayer Street location that he ended up closing.Farnsworth said he's almost certain that he will soon have to close up shop, which could leave Thayer Street -- in the late 1990s home to five independent CD sellers -- music-free.For Farnsworth, that would bring to an end a 25-year career selling music."I bought my first record when I was 5," he said. "I never wanted to do anything other than this."
01:00 AM EDT on Tuesday, June 22, 2004
BY BRIAN BASKINSpecial to the Journal
Download music illegally. Buy it lawfully from a music Web site. Or copy it off a friend. Just don't talk about it in front of John Connery.
"I can't tell you how many times I've heard, 'Don't buy that, you can just burn it from me,' " Connery said from behind the counter of In Your Ear, until recently one of Thayer Street's two independent CD, vinyl and music-memorabilia stores.
These are tough times for many of the area's independent music stores. The first stop for music lovers back when vinyl was king, independents today hang on through quirkiness and customer service. And as more and more albums are sold on the Internet or through national chains such as Best Buy, a friendly face behind the counter and the latest independent rock hits aren't enough.
"We've all thought about [closing]," said Chris Zingg, the owner of two In Your Ear stores in Massachusetts, one formerly on Thayer Street, and Zingg Music in Barrington. "We throw our hands in the air and go, 'Why are we doing this?' "
He finally stopped asking the question about his Thayer Street store, closing it in late April.
"The last three years were very stressful," Zingg said after the closing. His Barrington store, in addition to stores in Boston and Cambridge, remains open.
He pointed to parking problems, the loss of business to Providence Place mall, escalating rent and taxes as well as music downloading as factors in his decision.
The closing of In Your Ear preceded announcements by two other East Side retailers -- College Hill Bookstore and men's clothier Harvey Ltd. -- that they too are going out of business.
At Tom's Tracks, now the sole surviving independent music store on Thayer Street, new and used CDs line every inch of the walls, and crates of vintage records crowd the floor. Owner Tom Farnsworth says that, with a few exceptions, such as hip-hop artist Kanye West and the multiplatinum new release by Norah Jones, sales are "nonexistent," down 30 percent last year and 40 percent in 2002.
Julia Swearingen, an 18-year-old freshman at the Rhode Island School of Design, spends a half-hour flipping through boxes of vinyl, searching for vintage indie-rock selections to add to a collection that includes The Unicorns, Pavement and the Velvet Underground. Although it's still late afternoon and Thayer Street is bustling, no other customers come through the door during her visit.
Swearingen, who buys about four CDs a month, said she's more likely to find the music she listens to at a place like Tom's than at the more pop-oriented chain stores at Providence Place. But she acknowledged that she is in the minority.
"This music has an audience, but it's not that popular," she said.
And increasingly, even these "true music lovers," whose loyalty Ed Wiggins, owner of Slip Disc in Johnston, credits for keeping independent stores afloat, are downloading music for free.
Downloading comes naturally to Swearingen and her friends, who were in middle school when Napster first brought free music to the masses in 1999. Swearingen said she previews most music by downloading it via the file-sharing Web site Limewire before heading over to the store.
"If I like the band enough and I think they deserve the money, I'll buy the CD," she said.
THE OWNERS and employees of Rhode Island's independent music stores are not alone in their suffering. Global music sales fell 10.7 percent in the first half of 2003, and U.S. music fans downloaded nearly twice as many singles online as they purchased in stores in the second half of 2003, according to Billboard magazine.
While independent owners ponder getting out, big-time music retailer Tower Records filed for bankruptcy in early February, and chains large and small have begun reevaluating their business strategies. Meanwhile, Universal Music Group announced in September that it would drop the list price for albums on its label to $13 from $17-$19 to lure customers away from mp3s and back to plastic.
"The Internet phenomenon has gutted the business," said Wiggins, who closed a second store in West Warwick after business flattened out in 2000 and never recovered.
Competition with larger chains has in some ways been worse for business than the Internet, Farnsworth said, since "big box" stores can afford to sell some albums at well below wholesale price.
Even Universal's price cut did little to help smaller music stores, because while the list price dropped more than $4, the wholesale price went down by just 35 cents, Wiggins said.
Zingg said he hopes that once the industry behemoths finish their reshuffling, stores like In Your Ear will have carved out a permanent place in the market they once owned.
"Amazon raised their prices a bit to realistic levels. We're able to compete with them now," Zingg said. "Circuit City and Best Buy will wake up one day and realize they're not making money off of music. I like to think if I can make it through this period, there will be room for niche stores."
But Zingg and his counterparts shouldn't hold their breath, said professor Catherine Moore, director of the music business program at New York University.
Chains like Circuit City and Best Buy sell CDs to get customers in the store and looking at big-ticket items, not to make a profit on individual albums, she said. Legal online music services like Apple's iTunes, which makes albums available to download starting at $9.99, undercutting even the chain stores, are employing a similar strategy: lure customers in with free music, and try to sell them a $400 iPod or $2,000 desktop computer to play it on.
"I think it's certainly not a flash in the pan," Moore said. "The secure download business is the way of the future."
NEARLY A DOZEN competitors to iTunes have jumped into the for-pay downloading business, but Chris Lima, owner of Richie's CDs, Tapes & Tickets in Kingston, says she doesn't feel threatened. Lima said sales are steady at her store on the University of Rhode Island campus, although increasingly it's local residents, not students, who make up the core of her business.
"People do like to look around and check out listening stations. It's not something they can get online," Lima said. "Some people like personal contact. We're adding another dimension to the personality aspect, away from the Internet."
Personality, and sticking with formulas that have worked in the past, will keep independent music stores open, Moore said. Smaller stores can adapt by narrowing their focus to specific genres, selling their reputation for customer service, and even bringing the long-discarded mail order concept into the 21st century, she said.
Although independent stores can't compete on the Internet with the likes of iTunes or Amazon.com, they can bring their eclectic selection and personal level of service online through Web sites devoted to mail ordering hard-to-find albums, Moore said. By keeping track of the number of pre-orders for new releases, and with creative use of e-mail, small stores can predict what will sell before buying albums that will sit on the shelves, she said.
Slip Disc has stayed in business by diversifying -- mimicking the big stores by luring customers in with music, then selling them everything else.
"I've got clothes, gum, DVDs. That's pretty much where the business is," Wiggins said. "It's going to be interesting to see what the product is in five years. There might be no CDs in five years."
That's particularly bad news for music stores near college campuses, where students are often the first to jump on board a new technology.
"Being in the middle of a student area used to be a tremendous plus, and now that's a negative," said Zingg, who said his Barrington store was faring much better than the In Your Ear Thayer Street location that he ended up closing.
Farnsworth said he's almost certain that he will soon have to close up shop, which could leave Thayer Street -- in the late 1990s home to five independent CD sellers -- music-free.
For Farnsworth, that would bring to an end a 25-year career selling music.
"I bought my first record when I was 5," he said. "I never wanted to do anything other than this."
They don't mention the new record store on the west side.
― Jon Williams!!!!! (ROFFLE!@!@!@) (ex machina), Tuesday, 22 June 2004 11:21 (twenty-two years ago)
― emma cleveland (emma cleveland), Tuesday, 22 June 2004 11:26 (twenty-two years ago)
Bad news travels fast, but obviously faster than it travels round Bristol.
― aldo_cowpat (aldo_cowpat), Tuesday, 22 June 2004 11:27 (twenty-two years ago)
BTW, Jon, what is the new record store on the west side that you are referring to?
― Joe (Joe), Tuesday, 22 June 2004 11:36 (twenty-two years ago)
― Jon Williams!!!!! (ROFFLE!@!@!@) (ex machina), Tuesday, 22 June 2004 11:44 (twenty-two years ago)
― Jazzbo (jmcgaw), Tuesday, 22 June 2004 12:48 (twenty-two years ago)
― Joe (Joe), Tuesday, 22 June 2004 14:24 (twenty-two years ago)
― Jon Williams!!!!! (ROFFLE!@!@!@) (ex machina), Tuesday, 22 June 2004 14:30 (twenty-two years ago)
In positive news, Academy Records just opened in Brooklyn. Still haven't been though.
― hstencil (hstencil), Tuesday, 22 June 2004 14:30 (twenty-two years ago)
― kephm, Tuesday, 22 June 2004 14:33 (twenty-two years ago)
― kephm, Tuesday, 22 June 2004 14:36 (twenty-two years ago)
― hstencil (hstencil), Tuesday, 22 June 2004 14:47 (twenty-two years ago)
― greg, Tuesday, 22 June 2004 15:31 (twenty-two years ago)
― i, Tuesday, 22 June 2004 15:39 (twenty-two years ago)
― greg, Tuesday, 22 June 2004 15:42 (twenty-two years ago)
Heres a link Aldo that explains the whole sorry saga:
http://ttyc.co.uk/viewtopic.php?t=5995&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=imperial&start=60
― Kipple (Kipple), Tuesday, 22 June 2004 15:49 (twenty-two years ago)
― Kipple (Kipple), Tuesday, 22 June 2004 15:51 (twenty-two years ago)
― dan bunnybrain (dan bunnybrain), Wednesday, 23 June 2004 00:37 (twenty-one years ago)
hear now, my fave local dance music store by a mile, is closing. sadtrombone.wav
at least they're going out with a bang - they're selling anything that isn't screwed down and then they're having a rave in the shop when it's all cleared out!
― old chisel (haitch), Monday, 6 July 2009 06:29 (sixteen years ago)
which store?
― c.c. crabcock (electricsound), Monday, 6 July 2009 06:31 (sixteen years ago)
lol, that actually reads like some sort of ye olde announcement but 'hear now' is the name of the shop!
― old chisel (haitch), Monday, 6 July 2009 06:32 (sixteen years ago)
the location is actually the same shop that au go go ended up at, what a graveyard.
― old chisel (haitch), Monday, 6 July 2009 06:34 (sixteen years ago)
things seem sorta steady for record stores in melbourne, otherwise - polyester opening a second store was a bit of a surprise in the current climate, they must be doing something properly.
― old chisel (haitch), Monday, 6 July 2009 06:40 (sixteen years ago)
ahhhh
― c.c. crabcock (electricsound), Monday, 6 July 2009 06:45 (sixteen years ago)
yeah that was a surprise, i didn't think the whiteytown store did that well but it's not like i have any insider knowledge
― c.c. crabcock (electricsound), Monday, 6 July 2009 06:46 (sixteen years ago)
i don't know about YOUR local indie-leaning college record store, but the one in my town was staffed with pretentious assholes who'd glare at you when you walked in the store, pointedly ignore you when you tried to attract their attention to ask a question or order something, and literally snicker under their breath as they rung up your purchases, which you were somehow made to feel inferior for wanting to buy. fuck those guys, i'm glad they're closed now - it's not like the owner didn't know his store was staffed with wall to wall douchebags.
― messiahwannabe, Monday, 6 July 2009 13:20 (sixteen years ago)
where do you live?
― Michael B, Monday, 6 July 2009 13:57 (sixteen years ago)
one thing you could do is be less intimidated by record store clerks
― rip dom passantino 3/5/09 never forget (max), Monday, 6 July 2009 14:05 (sixteen years ago)
yeah i just heard abt "hear now". :( i don't live in melb anymore, but be sure to show some love from me while you're there h.
― Roz, Monday, 6 July 2009 14:07 (sixteen years ago)
You know, I swear to god some people actually *enjoy* that kind of atmosphere in a shop. Like, they feel more in and indie if they shop somewhere the shop assistants sneer at purchases - the same way that some people like to go to clubs with queues and bouncers and stuff.
Because the college town where I grew up, there were two indie record stores. And one was exactly like the above - the people who ran it were dickheads. (One of my friends was harrassed and then sacked for being "too friendly" to the customers.) And they would advertise the place with really exclusionary "you don't buy your CLOTHES at a shopping mall so why buy your records there?" type ads in the local press.
The other was this wonderful, brilliant place where the owner was really friendly and helpful and incredibly knowledgable - the kind of guy where, no matter what you were buying, he would go "oh, you like X - you might like Y - hey, let me get the record out and put it on for you..."
The latter, unfortunately, went out of business - or rather, went mail order only - after a year or two. The former carried on, as rude and awful as ever. I can only hope that the internet boom put them out of business.
― Violent In Design (Masonic Boom), Monday, 6 July 2009 15:36 (sixteen years ago)
i think i've brought this up on other record store threads, but in SOME cases, what can seem like rudeness and snobbery is only a fear on record geek employee's part that he may have to talk to someone. and that he might get stuck in a conversation with an asshole music buyer. this goes for comic book stores and video stores too. in my brief stint in a video store i learned very quickly NEVER to make eye contact or actively engage in conversation with 75% of the customers. because they were some of the most annoying people i've ever come across. but, like i said, this is only in SOME cases. in other cases, the employees are simply better and cooler than you and you DO have shitty taste.
― scott seward, Monday, 6 July 2009 15:46 (sixteen years ago)
And they would advertise the place with really exclusionary "you don't buy your CLOTHES at a shopping mall so why buy your records there?" type ads in the local press.
Have you ever even been to a CD store in a shopping mall? The advertisement has a very valid point. They're overpriced and understocked, mostly existing to sell anime DVDs.
― ian, Monday, 6 July 2009 15:48 (sixteen years ago)
See I'm all for this sort of cheerfulness and desire to share the wealth of knowledge but I also think it's possible for it to come off a bit like 'going so soon huh? Let me try and get you to give me more money' - I mean this is coming from someone who has basically been broke since the year dot and consequently has to exercise harsh self-discipline every time he goes in an above-average record shop. Just means that sometimes you just want to look quietly, pay and get out before you find yourself unable to afford food y'know?
― Real Men Play On Words (DJ Mencap), Monday, 6 July 2009 15:49 (sixteen years ago)
the record store snobbery issue is like ilx's best rorschach test
― Matt P, Monday, 6 July 2009 15:51 (sixteen years ago)
This was back in the late 80s/early 90s mind you. Things were a bit different.
And honestly, this guy didn't come across like he was trying to squeeze money out of you. I mean, he sometimes gave me promos for free if he knew I didn't have any money (this is probably why they went out of business.) He just genuinely wanted to turn people onto good music. He was a gem, and people like that are rare in this world, I know.
― Violent In Design (Masonic Boom), Monday, 6 July 2009 15:53 (sixteen years ago)
The memory of a friendly record store sticks with you though - which i guess means the other is the norm. i was in Shangri-La in Memphis a few years back and had a lovely few hours, talking about music, about Memphis, about where to go next with the owner: and he was equally nice to my non- music nerd GF.......I bought a fair bit, and would have anyway, but the overall pleasantness and non-record storeness of it was a big plus.
― sonofstan, Monday, 6 July 2009 15:54 (sixteen years ago)
i have never encountered it, ever
if i've ever had interactions with record store clerks that were notable at all, it was positive, even overly so. i bought the althea and donna album off this kid who i thought was about to make out with me he was so thrilled.
― goole, Monday, 6 July 2009 15:54 (sixteen years ago)
(And, like I said, one of my friends worked at Snobby Record Shop A. I really do have first hand evidence for their dickishness.)
― Violent In Design (Masonic Boom), Monday, 6 July 2009 15:54 (sixteen years ago)
i still need to go to the hampshire mall near here. they have a platterpus records that is supposed to have a decent record section. dude who used to be in feathers does consignment there.
― scott seward, Monday, 6 July 2009 15:55 (sixteen years ago)
as someone who spent almost 300 dollars in someone's garage this weekend on records, i don't care what the people are like in a record store as long as they have the goods. the snobbier the better. who wants to talk? i want yer stuff!
― scott seward, Monday, 6 July 2009 15:58 (sixteen years ago)
you know who wants to talk? audiophiles, classical record collectors, hell, any old retired men. they want to talk. because they don't want to go home. they just want to be out of the house. and talking. about their stereo.
― ian, Monday, 6 July 2009 16:04 (sixteen years ago)
other guy who wants to talk: bad smelling aspie who's always looking for the ace frehley picture disc and cliff richard import 45s.
― ian, Monday, 6 July 2009 16:05 (sixteen years ago)
oh god i know. i've been talking to them for years. i'm talking about when i go into a record store. i don't feel the need to befriend the person behind the counter. or have them befriend me. it happens anyway, sometimes, but only cuz i'm so cool. especially when i take the rare boogie single out of their dollar bin and tell them to put it on ebay for a hundred bucks.
― scott seward, Monday, 6 July 2009 16:07 (sixteen years ago)
dude who used to be in feathers does consignment there.
sort of thing only a record clerk could expect one to be impressed by
― matinee, Monday, 6 July 2009 16:11 (sixteen years ago)
or a record collector.
― scott seward, Monday, 6 July 2009 16:14 (sixteen years ago)
You know, when I go to *any* kind of shop, I don't expect the shop assistants to befriend me or anything, but I do expect them to be, you know, friendly, helpful, not act as if it's the biggest imposition in the world if I ask them to help me find a piece of stock, give me their full attention when they're serving me, rather than reading a magazine or chatting with their colleagues, etc. etc.
It doesn't matter if it's a record shop or a bookshop or a clothes shop, really.
(That said, someone totally sneered at my records in bloody HMV on Friday! But it was OK - I know him, and I know he was teasing, and he actually wanted to have a chat with someone who knew something about music as I think he was bored as heck by the usual customers.)
― Violent In Design (Masonic Boom), Monday, 6 July 2009 16:16 (sixteen years ago)
I'm just being a blog whore again, but there's this and then there's this and then there's this and also this and going back a little ways there's also this.
― Alex in NYC, Monday, 6 July 2009 16:17 (sixteen years ago)
i agree, kate. i won't go into a store again if the people are rude/indiffent/jerks. but if i'm not asking for service i'd rather be left alone. and most record store people are really good at leaving you alone!
alex in x-post
― scott seward, Monday, 6 July 2009 16:19 (sixteen years ago)
it's just a weird business. there are people who go into record stores and video stores who are very actively looking for some sort of validation. of their tastes. their coolness. their opinions. and this can make clerks very weary and leery of getting someone started. this is what i was talking about before. video stores are much worse though. just so you know.
― scott seward, Monday, 6 July 2009 16:22 (sixteen years ago)
I'm a shy, retiring geek type. (ha!) If I've actually plucked up the courage to approach someone at the counter to ask them a question, I'd really appreciate a proper response.
(yeah, I'm looking at you, person at Phonica that all but accused me of making up a Joakim track I could not remember the name of, and going over the top of my head to answer a question by the man standing behind me.)
The dude from the record shop of my childhood didn't bug you while you were browsing - it was more like, when you went up to pay, he'd kind of turn you on to stuff you might not be aware of - or even be aware was out. It was very much a "I keep seeing you buying Spacemen 3 records - did you know the Telescopes have a new single out? Aaaah, you don't know the Telescopes, oh, man, you gotta hear this..."
― Violent In Design (Masonic Boom), Monday, 6 July 2009 16:25 (sixteen years ago)
i can honestly say i've never encountered this legendary smug sneering record store clerk. and i've been to a fair number all over this fair nation (& Canada, UK, etc). i have encountered stoned/lazy indifference, but that doesn't really bother me.
― ^prizes the praise of the media, and the Europeans (will)
― enbba champions (omar little), Monday, 6 July 2009 18:31 (sixteen years ago)
this shit has happened to me one time, at a punk-centric record shop on melrose ave in l.a. the dude thought he was mike ness or something, i dunno. i think this "asshole record store clerk" shit, as i just saw described in an article on this old thread revived by forks, is amazingly wrong.
― enbba champions (omar little), Monday, 6 July 2009 18:33 (sixteen years ago)
on the other hand, am i the only one that buys 'sympathy' records? you know, you're the only one in the store, you know the dude, there's nothing you REALLY want, but you feel bad just leaving... so you find something to buy. i have so many dub lps purchased out of sympathy, for example!
― nerve_pylon, Monday, 6 July 2009 18:40 (sixteen years ago)
last time i almost bought a record out of sympathy was from this crazy dude who ran a really well stocked, dusty, out of the way shithole in santa barbara. he tried to charge me $40 for a battered copy of 'taking tiger mountain' and i suddenly "remembered" that i'd forgotten my wallet in my car.
― enbba champions (omar little), Monday, 6 July 2009 18:41 (sixteen years ago)
I went to this record store and the clerk was so sweet and puppy dog like, trying to get in the good graces of the manager by talking about music and things. It was cute. The manager made him relabel part of the r&b section because he used the wrong font from the label maker.
I went to a store I'd never been to on Friday and I love it - the mark up on everything is two or three dollars cheaper than other record stores - even Amoeba, which has huge buying power (but maybe everyone already knows this about Amoeba). I asked about some tall gray booklet with "BLANK DOGS" written on it and asked about it, thinking it might be some CDr release I hadn't heard of, and he he said it was something his girlfriend had made, and then corrected himself: "I mean - wife made." It was cute.
Above the records is a sign that says, "Don't be shy! We like everything here and will play whatever you want."
In keeping with the theme of this thread, he recently expanded from a home/mail-order business to one with a store front. A few months or so ago.
Although . . . I've encountered record store clerks that give off this vibe. My friend was telling me about this look she got from a clerk as soon as she saw she had a dollar Rod Stewart record in the middle of her pile. My friend was thinking to herself in her own defense after she got this look, "But it has 'Young Turks' on it!"
― bamcquern, Monday, 6 July 2009 18:46 (sixteen years ago)
Ugh, I buy sympathy records all the time. It's a bad habit.
I forgot that I worked at a place for a year where the employees were all scathing and always accused the mass of their customers of being unwashed, stupid rednecks. So, confirm confirm confirm.
― bamcquern, Monday, 6 July 2009 18:47 (sixteen years ago)
imagine a store whose employees are very frequently folks who highly resent not being able to just survive on playing their music and partying with their super cool friends (some of whom don't have to have day jobs because they are financially successful with their music) and the job of these people is to sell the very items that made them think they could just live off their cache and avoid having a low wage customer service job in the first place. i think the chance of these places having employees who are wholly unpleasant to deal with is about 100%
of course, i've also met lots of totally affable, goodhearted people at record stores
― matinee, Monday, 6 July 2009 18:48 (sixteen years ago)
And I worked at a much smaller store with this really nice guy who also happened to have a really antagonistic attitude about helping customers. His attitude was, "There it is, you can find it yourself." Except the owner was prodigiously disorganized and sloppy, so the attitude wasn't fair.
― bamcquern, Monday, 6 July 2009 18:49 (sixteen years ago)
last time i almost bought a record out of sympathy was from this crazy dude who ran a really well stocked, dusty, out of the way shithole in santa barbara. he tried to charge me $40 for a battered copy of 'taking tiger mountain' and i suddenly "remembered" that i'd forgotten my wallet in my car.― enbba champions (omar little), Monday, July 6, 2009 7:41 PM (9 minutes ago) Bookmark
― enbba champions (omar little), Monday, July 6, 2009 7:41 PM (9 minutes ago) Bookmark
sounds like a bop street (seattle) kinda experience
― matinee, Monday, 6 July 2009 18:53 (sixteen years ago)
haha yeah
― sleeve, Monday, 6 July 2009 19:01 (sixteen years ago)
I daresay, but you had to construct a big galumphing sub-Onion story of a straw man to make that observation, so what are we really learning here? People who are dickheads... are dickheads!
― Real Men Play On Words (DJ Mencap), Monday, 6 July 2009 20:07 (sixteen years ago)
My local, Banquet Records in Kingston is like this, and a great place. Today I walked in just to get a flier and ended up buying the Dirty Projectors record just because the guy who works there knew I'd love it from my occasional trips inside. He was right, it's a great album. Such a shame it won't be my local record store as of next week and I'll be going to a hmv-only town.
― Samuel (a hoy hoy), Monday, 6 July 2009 20:17 (sixteen years ago)
am i the only one that buys 'sympathy' records? you know, you're the only one in the store, you know the dude, there's nothing you REALLY want, but you feel bad just leaving
i used to do this at Mod Lang all the time.
― akm, Monday, 6 July 2009 20:28 (sixteen years ago)
I daresay, but you had to construct a big galumphing sub-Onion story of a straw man to make that observation, so what are we really learning here? People who are dickheads... are dickheads!― Real Men Play On Words (DJ Mencap), Monday, 6 July 2009 20:07 (49 minutes ago)
― Real Men Play On Words (DJ Mencap), Monday, 6 July 2009 20:07 (49 minutes ago)
it's more like a number of people on this thread are suggesting it's a stereotype that's likely unfounded and based more on the customer's insecurity. so i was painting a picture. even if it's not fit to print in the onion, it accurately explains the situation with the terrible ones i've encountered over the years at waterloo records and a handful of others
― matinee, Monday, 6 July 2009 21:02 (sixteen years ago)
at least in Austin there's a bunch of other, smaller places to go spend your money (not that i've run into anyone like you mention at waterloo). end of an ear, friends of sound, sound on sound, break-a-way, backspin...
― city worker, Monday, 6 July 2009 21:19 (sixteen years ago)
Eh, I don't want to get into questioning the veracity of a story by a stranger on the internets which mentions a store I've never heard of... but it seems like a heck of an assumption. You really know that many dudes who are bitter about not making it in the music biz and take it out on the customers they serve in record stores? Enough to confidently say this is a common and widespread thing? Really tho?
― Real Men Play On Words (DJ Mencap), Monday, 6 July 2009 21:19 (sixteen years ago)
I've encountered it often enough to not think of it as a rarity. Thankfully it seems to happen less and less, but I can easily see why someone might get that impression.
― the sideburns are album-specific (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Monday, 6 July 2009 21:20 (sixteen years ago)
"Eh, I don't want to get into questioning the veracity of a story by a stranger on the internets which mentions a store I've never heard of... but it seems like a heck of an assumption."
It seems like total and complete bullshit to me.
― Alex in SF, Monday, 6 July 2009 21:33 (sixteen years ago)
most musicians i know that would work at a indie record store never really would have dreamt that they would make it "big" and therefore aren't really waking up like "bitter" or whatever
― bodyguard/publicist Tank (M@tt He1ges0n), Monday, 6 July 2009 21:35 (sixteen years ago)
most annoying/obnoxious dude i work with in a record store is definitely the most "successful" (as regards his musical career.)
― ian, Monday, 6 July 2009 21:36 (sixteen years ago)
"my insurance agent is an asshole because his co-ed soccer team didn't make the world cup"
― bodyguard/publicist Tank (M@tt He1ges0n), Monday, 6 July 2009 21:37 (sixteen years ago)
"I've encountered it often enough to not think of it as a rarity."
You're sure they weren't just rude to you because of something about you personally? Like that ugly sweater you were wearing?
"most musicians i know that would work at a indie record store never really would have dreamt that they would make it "big" and therefore aren't really waking up like "bitter" or whatever"
Yup this holds true for me as well.
― Alex in SF, Monday, 6 July 2009 21:37 (sixteen years ago)
xp LOL
I work at a store in Austin and I can't imagine being rude to customers. When most people just download stuff why would you go out of your way to antagonize the people that still care about records. Anyone who cares enough to walk through the door is cool in my book.
Then again I have lived in Texas for the last five year and it has made me a nicer person IRL whether I like it or not.
Also, I am married and in my 30's. I like what I like and I know what I know. Music is something that makes my life more enjoyable, it isn't a test to determine the validity of my life. I know more than some and less than others.
― your original display name is still visible (Display Name), Monday, 6 July 2009 22:03 (sixteen years ago)
FWIW the dude who, of people I have known, most fits the stereotype of 'musician who desperately wanted to make it big' did work in an indie record shop, and while he was perfectly OK to customers in my experience he did use his position to run his band's single through the till enough times to get it to a laughably unrealistic no.2 in the indie charts (as was)
― Real Men Play On Words (DJ Mencap), Monday, 6 July 2009 22:06 (sixteen years ago)
weak. but, ya, this happens (though switch "co-ed" to minor league or college and insert the appropriate championship). what's so weird? Heard of normal, grown people going to therapy?
i suppose the people who deny record store employees can be obnoxiously arrogant would also argue that message boards are "scott free" from territorial, ego trippers :)
― matinee, Monday, 6 July 2009 22:52 (sixteen years ago)
well, i had a LOVELY day selling records and now i'm calling it quits to go home and eat some pie. everyone was nice and i had a big smile for everyone! the pioneer valley surely is god's country.
― scott seward, Monday, 6 July 2009 22:56 (sixteen years ago)
No one is denying that record store employees can be jerks. We're just disputing your lame ass reasoning for why they are jerks.
― Alex in SF, Monday, 6 July 2009 23:09 (sixteen years ago)
At the big store I worked at people were jerks just because it was cultural. Certain policies shifted the culture way back and it kept changing and changing until it became a place where you could get in trouble for being too nice to customers. I had an employee evaluation sheet that said I was "too helpful" to them, although I could not be charged with being inefficient or anything.
The aspiring rock stars or whatever worked pricing shit and didn't talk to customers much, though. And they weren't really dicks - not really. OK dudes. Just plain old dudes. A couple really did seem to want to make it big, though.
― bamcquern, Tuesday, 7 July 2009 00:13 (sixteen years ago)
Where I worked the indie rock guys were cool and the DJs were fucking turds
― Julio Afrokeluchie, Tuesday, 7 July 2009 00:52 (sixteen years ago)
the indie rock girls were cool too
― Julio Afrokeluchie, Tuesday, 7 July 2009 00:54 (sixteen years ago)
i think i have only encountered one asshole at a record store ever and that guy was just some old blowhard going on and on about ppl who made like one single in 1961 and how he had met them and some bullshit i didn't care about.
― call all destroyer, Tuesday, 7 July 2009 01:01 (sixteen years ago)
most record store ppl seem pretty nice tbh
― call all destroyer, Monday, July 6, 2009 8:01 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark
Seconded. The four stores in the Ft. Myers/Cape Coral area have nice people working them. They're not always helpful - sometimes unknowledgable and sometimes lazy - but I have no complaints about their attitudes.
I've usually only noticed weirdness at some of the larger stores with high employee turnover. A lot of young people are the ones that come and go, or only last a couple of years, and some small subset of those young people can take their jobs and what they seem to represent too seriously - and many are just embittered about working low-paying customer service jobs. (Personally, I like customer service and kind of thrive on it.)
But some of these busier stores with a larger base of youngish employees have healthy, friendly work cultures, like Harvest in Asheville and some various stores in towns I've lived in.
I worked a Blockbuster for a few years and it was not nearly as bad - maybe not bad at all - in antagonistic, anti-customer attitudes as this one record/music/catchall store I worked at. Weird place to spend most of your waking hours for a year.
― bamcquern, Tuesday, 7 July 2009 01:12 (sixteen years ago)
i can honestly say i've never encountered this legendary smug sneering record store clerk. ...i have encountered stoned/lazy indifference, but that doesn't really bother me.
same here. Though a friend of mine told me about when he used to work at a record store and he and his coworkers embodied this stereotype.
― incomprehensible Kool-Aid swallower (sarahel), Tuesday, 7 July 2009 01:25 (sixteen years ago)
alex for what it's worth i lived in sf for years and tbh i never got much attitude from record clerks there, they were on the whole much much nicer. even at amoeba they're harried and it's hard to get a hold of someone, but if you manage to get anyone's attention they're helpful enough. but that's sf, one of the friendlier cities i've been to. obviously it depends on both the store and the city - seems like a lot of your bigger cities like new york or london where people are supposed to be full of attitude they often aren't, maybe people there have better things to worry about than in some small pond where getting a job in a cool record store actually conveys some sort of indie "status"
― messiahwannabe, Tuesday, 7 July 2009 03:34 (sixteen years ago)
The friend of my anecdote about the Rod Stewart record was talking about an Amoeba employee. Although I don't recall meeting a rude employee in either SF or London. I've been disappointed by selection, though.
Well, I say that, but I take indifference in a slow store to be rudeness, and so I can think of one store in London I didn't like for that reason.
But the "better things to worry about" thing in the big city? Things are SO competitive there, even crumby retail jobs - supermarkets will have interviews all day for a few days just for a position. Roommates put on open houses, basically parties with interviews, just to figure out who to put in a room (although I understand things are slower right now). Small town/big town, a job can mean money and security, but it can also mean . . . I don't know about status, but something. I don't think there are many people so lacking in self-awareness working these jobs that they don't bitch and talk about how it's not as cool as it looks or whatever.
I don't know, not a coherent point. Unresolved.
― bamcquern, Tuesday, 7 July 2009 04:26 (sixteen years ago)
Rod Stewart is some kind of asshole lightning rod. I think I mentioned this elsewhere but when I worked at a store we had a customer flip out and demand that we turn off the Rod Stewart album that was playing because he hated Rod Stewart. We declined. He stormed out and returned about ten minutes later demanding his money back and saying he was going to call the police. His girlfriend seemed kind of embarrassed.
― Chinavision (altair nouveau), Tuesday, 7 July 2009 05:32 (sixteen years ago)
the last time i overheard the clerks say something was as i was leaving: "what did he get?" "some obscure stuff". whatever dude. they play the worst shit @ this cheapo i go to. ive never heard anything, but like modest mouse and modest mouse side projects.
― artdamages, Tuesday, 7 July 2009 05:42 (sixteen years ago)
it's more like a number of people on this thread are suggesting it's a stereotype that's likely unfounded and based more on the customer's insecurity.
and yet no one pointed out the insecurities it takes to point this out to you.
― cr33p in the keller (Whiney G. Weingarten), Tuesday, 7 July 2009 05:51 (sixteen years ago)
waht are the good record stores in Fort Myers/Cape Coral, bamcquern? Esp for used CDs tbh?
― cr33p in the keller (Whiney G. Weingarten), Tuesday, 7 July 2009 05:52 (sixteen years ago)
Yeah, never met a notably rude record store employee in 25 years of record shopping. But I don't talk very much when looking at records, kind of just mind my own biz.
― Mark, Tuesday, 7 July 2009 06:01 (sixteen years ago)
hen I worked at a store we had a customer flip out and demand that we turn off the Rod Stewart album that was playing because he hated Rod Stewart. We declined. He stormed out and returned about ten minutes later demanding his money back and saying he was going to call the police.
^^awesome
― enbba champions (omar little), Tuesday, 7 July 2009 06:04 (sixteen years ago)
Um . . . the area kind of sucks for used CDs. Oh, Rainbow Records on Del Prado in Cape Coral is good. I discovered them right before I left. They win by default, but they're still stocked okay, well-organized, friendly and reasonably priced. Kind of an appealingly generic store.
There's some chain store across from the Edison Mall on Winkler Ave if you're slumming. The store annoys me but I forget why. I think it's not being able to find anything decent, and this one time the manager told me not to lean my bicycle on the outside because he thought I was going to break the glass in.
― bamcquern, Tuesday, 7 July 2009 06:17 (sixteen years ago)
When I worked at stores I hungered for people to bring anything interesting up, even if it wasn't to my taste. I liked talking about whatever they were into.
― bamcquern, Tuesday, 7 July 2009 06:18 (sixteen years ago)
One of the longest running record shops in Vienna has just closed down..
Ton-Um-Ton was pretty expensive for a second hand shop, but the vinyl was always in tip-top condition..
plus they always had a box of free records by the door which they thought beneath them to even price up for sale ... I picked up the first 3 ELO LP's from the freebie box, plus a load of psych bootleg re-issues without covers...
― Jack Battery-Pack, Tuesday, 7 July 2009 19:43 (sixteen years ago)
we had a customer flip out and demand that we turn off the Rod Stewart album that was playing because he hated Rod Stewart. We declined. He stormed out and returned about ten minutes later demanding his money back and saying he was going to call the police.
You got off lightly, he might have given you the hairdryer treatment, summoned the manager and had you summarily fired before his satisfied gaze.
― surm? lol (sic), Wednesday, 8 July 2009 02:24 (sixteen years ago)
this is the thread where you wish your local independent record store chain a swift and painful death:
https://www.pressherald.com/2021/05/22/bull-moose-management-employees-at-odds-over-closure-of-store/
https://luke.substack.com/p/we-finally-started-bringing-our-concerns
On Friday afternoon the entire staff of the Bull Moose store in Salem, New Hampshire received an email that they were being terminated immediately. The surprise firing of the store’s roughly twenty employees came after those working the night before had been sent home early following a series of one on one meetings with management. In those meetings and elsewhere staff had expressed concerns over an abrupt decision by the popular Maine and New Hampshire music chain (whose CFO Chris Brown is one of the creators of Record Store Day) to stop requiring mask usage for customers. They also brought up issues with other working conditions including instances of abuse from customers, understaffing, and more.
“We are sad to announce that we have temporarily closed our Salem store,” Bull Moose CFO Chris Brown said in the statement late Saturday afternoon. “We are not able to share the reasons behind our decisions regarding the Salem store as it is important to us to protect the confidentiality of our former employees. We can, however, say we are confident this decision was in the best interest of our customers, employees and business as a whole. We can also say emphatically this decision had absolutely nothing to do with masks or face coverings for employees or customers.”
― deepfake chopra (unregistered), Sunday, 23 May 2021 20:08 (five years ago)
If I were named Chris Brown, I’d go out of my way to try to be cool.
― like a d4mn sociopath! (morrisp), Sunday, 23 May 2021 20:41 (five years ago)