hiding records at record stores so you can come back for them later

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I did this a few days ago whilst shopping because I'd forgotten my wallet. I hid an LP in with some shit '80s bands stuff and lo and behold it was there yesterday when I went back.

I did this once before, a year ago, and went back the next day but couldn't remember where I'd put it...

― gear (gear), Monday, 17 October 2005 18:28 (twenty years ago)

I've done this.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Monday, 17 October 2005 18:30 (twenty years ago)

a bunch of stores near me have signs saying that youll be banned for doing that.

― petesmith (plsmith), Monday, 17 October 2005 18:40 (twenty years ago)

think theyd ACTUALLY ban you? i dont.

― petesmith (plsmith), Monday, 17 October 2005 18:40 (twenty years ago)

haha i've done this too!

― astor riviera (Jody Beth Rosen), Monday, 17 October 2005 18:41 (twenty years ago)

Well, they have to catch you doing it, which seems highly unlikely.

x-post

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Monday, 17 October 2005 18:41 (twenty years ago)

I've totally done this. Hehe. Not for a while, though. Mostly in high school/college.

― jaymc (jaymc), Monday, 17 October 2005 18:42 (twenty years ago)

yeah and you could always claim, "oh shit, brain fart, dude. i wasn't thinking when i put this rare Undertones LP in with the Tiffany LPs".

― gear (gear), Monday, 17 October 2005 18:42 (twenty years ago)

Guilty as charged.

― John Hunter, Monday, 17 October 2005 18:44 (twenty years ago)

Hahahaa

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Monday, 17 October 2005 18:44 (twenty years ago)

working at a record store, i always grin, sometimes fondly and sometimes with annoyance, when i find that someone has clearly done this, especially in the used section. it's a nice glimpse into the psyche of a stranger. i put the records back where they are supposed to be.

― carly (carly), Monday, 17 October 2005 18:52 (twenty years ago)

I've done this a lot

― Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Monday, 17 October 2005 18:53 (twenty years ago)

Carly you dream-smashing interloper.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Monday, 17 October 2005 18:53 (twenty years ago)

I do it all the time but it's usually in the huge secondhand record section at the biggest store I go to, so it'd be hard for them to detect. They've always been there when I went back too.. Clearly I don't go to your record store carly..

― Bn1 (Bn1), Monday, 17 October 2005 18:55 (twenty years ago)

about me: dream-smashing interloper

― carly (carly), Monday, 17 October 2005 18:58 (twenty years ago)

I'm the motherfucker who FINDS these records and buys them just out of spite, by the way.

HO HO HO HO!

― donut hallivallerieburtonelli omg lol (donut), Monday, 17 October 2005 18:59 (twenty years ago)

but i am creating a positive atmosphere for the potential dreams of others who also hope to find great records! my only allegiance is to order.

― carly (carly), Monday, 17 October 2005 19:00 (twenty years ago)

I do this and then forget where I hid them. If I had just left the goddamn thing were it's supposed to go, there would be no problem. Who else wants to by a Gurf Morlix record anyway???

― Billy Pilgrim (Billy Pilgrim), Monday, 17 October 2005 19:08 (twenty years ago)

1. *buy*
2. now that i've read opening post, i know that i'm not the only one to do this.
3. gurf morlix is used as a funny-named example ONLY.

― Billy Pilgrim (Billy Pilgrim), Monday, 17 October 2005 19:11 (twenty years ago)

I'm the motherfucker who FINDS these records and buys them just out of spite, by the way.

Noy mine, bitch, cause I'm not beneath taking them out of the racks altogether and hiding them behind the racks if necessary.

― John Hunter, Monday, 17 October 2005 19:17 (twenty years ago)

why don't you just ask them to keep it for you?

― Ronan (Ronan), Monday, 17 October 2005 19:20 (twenty years ago)

hid "black star" under "beethoven"

― katie, a princess (katie, a princess), Monday, 17 October 2005 19:33 (twenty years ago)

If you're a record shopper and you find something that's obviously been stashed away for such a reason, is the honorable thing to leave it where it is, even if you are interested in buying it? Honor among geeks, or something like that?

― Joseph McCombs (Joseph McCombs), Monday, 17 October 2005 19:33 (twenty years ago)

I don't think so because you don't know who did it and whether or not they'll ever come back for it.

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Monday, 17 October 2005 19:37 (twenty years ago)

Any disc that is misfiled in the section of a band I care about threatens to soil the discs that have earned the right to their own damn section. Not only should those foreign discs be removed, but they should be fucking snapped in two (unless, of course, they're decent discs by decent bands).

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Monday, 17 October 2005 19:41 (twenty years ago)

In my experience, it's more likely to be a bad record. Then, you don't move it because why go to the trouble, not because of respect for bad-taste geek.

― Billy Pilgrim (Billy Pilgrim), Monday, 17 October 2005 19:42 (twenty years ago)

sometimes i wonder about seeing misfiled records. however i was most amused once shortly after Boston's playoff victory over the yankees last year to see that some joker had tossed a few Damn Yankee's LPs in with Boston's LPs at Amoeba.

― gear (gear), Monday, 17 October 2005 19:51 (twenty years ago)

Heh. I feel like this is a support group. I've definitely done this (and at my local record shop, I can see and reach on top of the top shelves, and most people can't. That's where I put 'em... Though I try to come back the next day...)

― js (honestengine), Monday, 17 October 2005 19:53 (twenty years ago)

how many people have switched records when one is for ten and in good shape and the other is 6 and in not so good shape? i believe this is called "stealing" but i did it once or twice in my day.

― scott seward (scott seward), Monday, 17 October 2005 19:56 (twenty years ago)

and, you know, i also used to "steal" stuff when i was younger, but that's another thread.

― scott seward (scott seward), Monday, 17 October 2005 19:57 (twenty years ago)

One time I was at Myopic, a used bookstore in Chicago, and found a fiction author filed in a nonfiction section. I wish I could remember what it was, but I took it up to the checkout and said, excuse me, I think this is misfiled. They said, "Oh no, we did that intentionally: it's more likely to sell if it's in that section."

― jaymc (jaymc), Monday, 17 October 2005 19:57 (twenty years ago)

Was it the Bible?

― Joseph McCombs (Joseph McCombs), Monday, 17 October 2005 20:02 (twenty years ago)

i used to take the james purdy and edmund white books out of the gay section in barnes & noble and borders and put them in the literature section.

― scott seward (scott seward), Monday, 17 October 2005 20:03 (twenty years ago)

i really enjoyed fucking with people re. this

― strng hlkngtn: what does it mean? (dubplatestyle), Monday, 17 October 2005 20:04 (twenty years ago)

I used to "steal" stuff. Now I download it.

― js (honestengine), Monday, 17 October 2005 20:06 (twenty years ago)

Was it the Bible?

Haha no, it could've been like DeLillo in the Sociology section, though!

― jaymc (jaymc), Monday, 17 October 2005 20:07 (twenty years ago)

I've done this.

― Last Of The Famous International Pfunkboys (Kerr), Monday, 17 October 2005 20:13 (twenty years ago)

I fucking hate when people swap 12s in sleeves, people who do that are scum and I can't stand that petty stealing for the sake of 3 or 4 euro thing, it's against the spirit of the independent record store, it really pisses me off massively, if I see the last fucker who did this in our shop again I will freak out.

― Ronan (Ronan), Monday, 17 October 2005 20:15 (twenty years ago)

I inevitably end up stashing used dance 12"'s in the soundtrack vinyl when I pop into RG during my lunchbreak.

(haha jaymc, I work in a 2ndhndbkstr & do that too! & scott oh snap re: migrating edmund white at borders (& I then moved all the henry james into the gay section. & the handmaid's tale into science fiction.)

― etc, Monday, 17 October 2005 20:16 (twenty years ago)

Usually--and this obviously only happens at virgin, not rocksinyourhead--I'll pick up a CD in the, say, reggae section, think about it, wander around for awhile, then finally decide I don't need it now, or don't need it at all, but then I'm off in the country section or something, and why are we paying virgin prices if not for teenagers to refile everything, so I'll just leave it there. (then of course a week later i decide i really do need that cd after all, then can't find it, etc.)

So it's less about stealth and more about indecisiveness

― Billy Pilgrim (Billy Pilgrim), Monday, 17 October 2005 20:19 (twenty years ago)

(haha jaymc, I work in a 2ndhndbkstr & do that too!

What's the rationale for this, though? There are presumably plenty of people looking for the book in Fiction and can't find it.

― jaymc (jaymc), Monday, 17 October 2005 20:27 (twenty years ago)

well, I usually only do it when we've multiple copies; but after a while, you see people making the same fvcking purchases & you figure you might as well staple, say, the alchemist & the celestine prophecy together.

― etc, Monday, 17 October 2005 20:48 (twenty years ago)

I inevitably end up stashing used dance 12"'s in the soundtrack vinyl when I pop into RG during my lunchbreak.
-- etc

Hah! Now I know where to look..

― Bn1 (Bn1), Monday, 17 October 2005 20:50 (twenty years ago)

good hiding places at Amoeba:

- miscellaneous soundtracks
- discounted/$1 vinyl
- used freestyle dance
- bands that are not heavily picked over, i.e. Giant Sand

― gear (gear), Monday, 17 October 2005 21:19 (twenty years ago)

To everyone who does this: you have bad taste in music. I've never come across a "hidden" record that was worth buying. Hide some better stuff please.

― walter kranz (walterkranz), Monday, 17 October 2005 21:29 (twenty years ago)

I've done this, but mostly at places like Circuit City or FYE - never in an actual record store.

― billstevejim (billstevejim), Tuesday, 18 October 2005 01:30 (twenty years ago)

doing this past the age of 20 = you are pathetic

(sorry, gear!)

― hstencil (hstencil), Tuesday, 18 October 2005 01:40 (twenty years ago)

I'll only go so far as moving it to a less prominent place in the "USED - H" rack, or whatever. But I almost never come back for it, so...

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 18 October 2005 14:46 (twenty years ago)

I've done this many times. I even have a default hiding place -- the Dion section.

― MindInRewind (Barry Bruner), Tuesday, 18 October 2005 14:49 (twenty years ago)

GO TO RECORD STORES THAT WILL LET YOU HOLD STUFF OVERNIGHT.

― Special Agent Dale Koopa (orion), Tuesday, 18 October 2005 14:59 (twenty years ago)

Take money with you when you go shopping.

― walter kranz (walterkranz), Tuesday, 18 October 2005 15:11 (twenty years ago)

or run around the corner to an ATM. jesus.

― Special Agent Dale Koopa (orion), Tuesday, 18 October 2005 15:11 (twenty years ago)

a guy broke a record at the store i work at yesterday. it was some reggae 45. he put it back in the sleeve and hid it in the box. DOUCHES.

― Special Agent Dale Koopa (orion), Tuesday, 18 October 2005 15:12 (twenty years ago)

Interestingly, one of my local indie shops has an unofficial policy of doing this ON PURPOSE (see: filing the fiction book in nonfiction). One of the operators explained it to me as a "sociological experiment" - something current and hip, filed in their regular stock at $9, sits there forever. Filed down in their other space with all the "80s/90s/alternative" at $10, it sells in a week because someone stumbles upon it and has a "OMG TREASURE FOUND" orgasm.

Personally, I'm with carly, having worked for years in a bookstore where customer refiling was the bane of our existence. Incompetent employee filing, of course, was half the problem - "Where's No Logo?" "Uh...the one with the baby on the cover? I put that in Parenting, why?"

― Doctor Casino, Tuesday, 18 October 2005 15:23 (twenty years ago)

good hiding places at Amoeba:

I like the overstock bins underneath the "Unusually Experimental" section.

― Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Tuesday, 18 October 2005 15:33 (twenty years ago)

I was in Manhattan in 1984 for one of those college radio seminars. I went with Corey Rusk (Touch&Go) and his wife and another friend (who is now my wife). It was great because it was my first time to NYC, and I was able to go all the coolest records stores with Corey, who was meeting with the store managers/owners and bringing them product. I found so many great records in these stores (Venus and 99 were only a few that I remember), but my funds were very limited, so I hid records in almost all of the stores.

I don’t know what I was thinking, especially since I haven’t been back to NYC as of yet!

(within every two months or so, I actually have a reoccurring dream about doing this)

― peepee (peepee), Tuesday, 18 October 2005 15:39 (twenty years ago)

You have to do this at Record and Tape Exchange or walk around with a huge wad of those stupid cards. Sometimes I like to nip between say the main shop and the soul/dance shop before I make my final choices of what to buy. But...I can never remember where I've hidden them. So I usually stuff them in my pocket before I walk out the shop - probably not allowed, but they've had plenty of my money over the years.

― Dr. C (Dr. C), Tuesday, 18 October 2005 15:42 (twenty years ago)

GO TO RECORD STORES THAT WILL LET YOU HOLD STUFF OVERNIGHT.
-- Special Agent Dale Koopa (dr.carl.saga...), October 18th, 2005. (later)

this is what I said, I don't get this thread at all.

― Ronan (Ronan), Tuesday, 18 October 2005 15:48 (twenty years ago)

was in Manhattan in 1984 for one of those college radio seminars. I went with Corey Rusk (Touch&Go) and his wife and another friend (who is now my wife). It was great because it was my first time to NYC, and I was able to go all the coolest records stores with Corey, who was meeting with the store managers/owners and bringing them product. I found so many great records in these stores (Venus and 99 were only a few that I remember), but my funds were very limited, so I hid records in almost all of the stores.

I don’t know what I was thinking, especially since I haven’t been back to NYC as of yet!

Ah, so YOU'RE the guy, eh?

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Tuesday, 18 October 2005 15:50 (twenty years ago)

Actually, I lied...It was Corey!

― peepee (peepee), Tuesday, 18 October 2005 16:16 (twenty years ago)

Strangely, I've never done this; altho on occasion I've hidden shelved used books by reversing the spines. Only until I can get to a cash machine, understand.

― Myonga Von Bontee (Myonga Von Bontee), Tuesday, 18 October 2005 17:54 (twenty years ago)

I am doing this RIGHT NOW at a store near me. I get paid on Thursday, the same day a big sale kicks in. Oh yes.

― The Obligatory Sourpuss (Begs2Differ), Tuesday, 18 October 2005 18:14 (twenty years ago)

When I discover the spine-reversed book or misplaced CD, I put them right to piss off the people that do this because, frankly, it's rude. With the spine-reversed books, I like to lay them flat on a shelf if at all possible so that they are even more visible. With CD's, I put them right at front of the band's section, which is hopefully in plain sight.

― ruiner of your plans, Tuesday, 18 October 2005 18:32 (twenty years ago)

Obligatory Sourpuss, what did you hide?

― walter kranz (walterkranz), Tuesday, 18 October 2005 18:37 (twenty years ago)

A Bill Withers Live at Carnegie Hall disc. Shh don't tell.

― The Obligatory Sourpuss (Begs2Differ), Tuesday, 18 October 2005 18:38 (twenty years ago)

Strangely, I've never done this; altho on occasion I've hidden shelved used books by reversing the spines.

I work at a used bookstore. You SUCK. You also suck if you bring something that was misshelved (usually by a customer) up to the front with a smug look and say "This should really go in Politics/Literature/Obcure Civil War Battles WHATEVER I HATE YOU (deep breath)

― Morley Timmons (Donna Brown), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 00:36 (twenty years ago)

Sorry, that wasn't about records

― Morley Timmons (Donna Brown), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 00:37 (twenty years ago)

Has anyone ever taken their favorite records and put them in the store's weekly Top Ten? I used to do this a lot as a teenager. I don't think I ever got past the Top Five, though, cause everything had to be punk at the time and there wasn't much of a punk selection in the department stores of Southeastern Connecticut in the late '70s. I got caught once at Two Guys in New London. Security called my parents and threw me out. I couldn't believe they made such a big deal out of it.

― Gogi Ormsby-Gore (Arthur), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 04:18 (twenty years ago)

I'll usually have my wallet with me so I could pay by card, but I prefer cash for some unknown reason, so I might need to run to the hole-in-the-wall if I'd found something I wanted. However I reckon I'd probably hand the record/CD to the cashier and ask them to keep hold of it while I go get some cash. Should work OK in most of the places I know, although some store folk seem a little up themselves.

― Nick H (Nick H), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 09:06 (twenty years ago)

when i see this i hide the disc somewhere else so that neither the first hider nor the innocent normal customer can find it. just joking.

― alex in mainhattan (alex63), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 17:01 (twenty years ago)

Gogi: When my girlfriend worked at HMV, I'd do that regularly, especially replacing the staff picks (and to one guy in particular). So long, Barenaked Ladies, hello Au Pairs! I can only hope that the general customers wrongly thought that he was a total indie snob.

― js (honestengine), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 17:32 (twenty years ago)

this seems like good clean fun to me. at a former place of employ, a manager insisted on selecting staff picks from a print out of best sellers, which made my head explode. trying to explain to him why this was idiotic made the exploded bits explode more.

― carly (carly), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 17:36 (twenty years ago)

I think I found a new game to play.

― Paranoid Spice (ex machina), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 17:41 (twenty years ago)

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