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Record Shops RIP ...................................

daytona600 said:
support your local record shop YOU will miss us once we are all gone
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I do miss you. Round here we have an "entertainment" shop which mainly relies on traded in cds. So for example the Joy Division section will only have one used copy of Permanent. If you go to the Talk Talk section one compilation of early hits will be available. Its not worth going in there. Most of the shop stock is new dvds of trash films.

Its a waste of time for a serious music lover. Its clear that nobody round here has supported a good record shop.

The nearest good shops are in Manchester which is a long round trip. Record shops seem to need a city catchment area to survive now.
 
support your local record shop YOU will miss us once we are all gone
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Pity they don't support me - I hope you survive OK on your once-a-year Record Store Day punters. They are the customers that really count, after all.

Bye.

Thank f*** for Amazon.
 
I've always found my local record shops fairly supportive (I think).

What have they done to not support you?

Not taking the piss - I'm genuinely curious.
 
I just don't get why they seem to think they deserve support that other business and retail sectors don't get. Most of them don't even bother to reply to my emails about stocking my releases or ring me back. So for me, the majority can fvck off.

But those that stock my stuff, I would like them to stay. And I find them very pleasant to deal with.
 
Father's Day this weekend. That means vinyl. Tomorrow as my daughter has finished her GCSE exams today she & I are going out in the MX5 along the coast to my favourite record shop in Bexhill. We will have breakfast on the way and I will browse the vinyl for a present for me.
In the evening we are taking her out to a top restaurant to celebrate her exams being over, and we will come home by taxi nicely mellow, I'll grab a whisky, and by midnight I'll be listening to my new record, whatever it is.
Who said record shops are dead? No way.
And at 16, she knows what vinyl is about, as do her friends. I have a feeling that vinyl will live on.
 
richgilb said:
I just don't get why they seem to think they deserve support that other business and retail sectors don't get. Most of them don't even bother to reply to my emails about stocking my releases or ring me back. So for me, the majority can fvck off.

But those that stock my stuff, I would like them to stay. And I find them very pleasant to deal with.
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So I imagine Amazon got straight back to you and said yes we'll stock this and you can sell to us at 45% of sale price? Doubt it. Indie shops really do try to stock what they think they can sell but even if you are S.O.R. typically there will be a percentage of stock they want sell and the returns will bite in to their profits. Thats why they use distributors. I'd recommend you try to get onboard with one of them.
I'd be very sorry to see record shops disappear.
 
Yesterday I was wandering along Leith Walk in Edinburgh and spotted a brand new Harry Partch LP in a shop window. Eh? Vinyl Villains was packed with old and new LPs and CDs. He had shelves full of brand new LPs including very familiar Coltrane, Monk, Mingus, Miles and Sun Ra albums.

It was interesting to see the price of old LPs, I have a few hundred lying about here, they would have fitted into his used stock well - though he had little or no classical stuff.

I bought a new Django Reinhardt CD and a second hand Memphis Slim CD, must visit again. There were 3 or 4 of us in the shop and he seemed to be doing good business.
 
andrew d said:
So I imagine Amazon got straight back to you and said yes we'll stock this and you can sell to us at 45% of sale price? Doubt it. Indie shops really do try to stock what they think they can sell but even if you are S.O.R. typically there will be a percentage of stock they want sell and the returns will bite in to their profits. Thats why they use distributors. I'd recommend you try to get onboard with one of them.
I'd be very sorry to see record shops disappear.
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I loathe amazon. What makes you think I prefer this route to market.

I use a distributor for the releases where I feel the sales will do OK.

Got any more valuable insight for me?
 
My daughter on the subject of us destroying the planet commented on the lines of: "we've had our turn its no problem" Same with it all I think- all things must pass.
 
Visited Falmouth recently and found an absolute gem of a record shop, not just for the new independent labels and music but the absolute retro 60's/70's style and decor of the place. They serve excellent coffee, so if you find yourself in Cornwall, run don't walk and enjoy what it has to offer.

For purposes of transparency, I am in no way affiliated with Jam Records, I was, and am blown away by the feel of the place. Great vibe.
 
Graham Jones' Last Record Shop Standing made for a great read, chronicling the Rise, Fall and optimistic Rise of the independent record shop. It also includes a decent list of shops across an around the country. Well worth having on your shelf long after having read as a reference guide.

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Just happened to be in Muswell Hill for a comedy evening at a pub and had to pop out for cash, and came up on Audio Gold. http://audiogold.co.uk/ a combination independent 2nd hand record and audio shop.

Even better to find a shop when you least expect it. Check them out.
 
Another vote for Alan's in East Finchley, but if your at Audio Gold Flashback in Crouch End is very close and worth a visit.
 
Tony L said:
Sadly it ends with people like me. I know a good few second hand record dealers and we are all working on line now.

The only reason a physical shop is of any use is that occasionally punters bring records in to sell. A shop is of comparatively limited use as a selling tool now; (a) rent is really expensive, (b) you need lots and lots of stock to fill it up, (c) old stock decays and devalues as punters inevitably bend / damage the sleeves, and (d) inevitably it only works in a comparatively small geographical area. The big city shops like MVE in London and Vinyl Exchange in Manchester will survive the longest along with large independents like Sister Ray and Piccadilly, both of whom almost certainly make most of their sales online.

It is a real shame that the small local record shops can no longer survive, it isn’t that the market is diminishing, just that it is changing. The good dealers are still out there but are now sitting behind their computer screen.

Tony.
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This.
Especially the 'really expensive rents' (and unrealistic rates from desperate councils who are both inefficient and also underfunded by central government that does not / dare not collect sufficient tax from the patently successfully very wealthy organisations such as Gogle because we don't yet have a global tax regime based on equality & justice).

That said, a new record shop has opened nearby.

Q: does vinyl equate to some sort of cultural 'litmus test' for many rather than being a genuinely valued resource?
 
In Spitalfields market they have Record Fridays every second Friday, happened to chance one when I visited London on my UK holiday in April.
Picked up "The third face of Georgie Fame" Janos Starker "Bach Cello Suites" 1&4 amongst others, very good prices for the new stuff compared to NZ, $20-40 $60-80 here, (freight is the killer)
Found Herb's Vinyl Villains in Edinburgh, was delighted to find a copy of Billie Holiday's "Songs for Distingue lovers" in Greenwich and on "Record day" bought Marianne Thorsen "Mozart" from Heffers in Cambridge.
At the Linn evening in Glasgow Stephen Hume generously gifted me a copy of Emily Barker's "Dear River" most kind of him, my traveling companions and I had a very enjoyable evening listening to the history of the"Eagles":)
Bought that much Vinyl and books that I had to throw away most of my clothes etc to get the bag weight down before flying home!

Errol.
 
MVV said:
My daughter on the subject of us destroying the planet commented on the lines of: "we've had our turn its no problem" Same with it all I think- all things must pass.
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By this; did your daughter mean the human race in its entirety as in we should pass and make way for a new species?
If so then take a look at how long it takes for intelligence to develop and regard the passing of the human race as a terrible waste of knowledge and intellectual development.
To start again from scratch? Why not refine what we have and do the things we need to do to:
• stabilise the planet
• set the human race on a long cultural and developmental trajectory into the future?

Would not the individual be somewhat happier and more at peace (as opposed to the seemingly common angst we have today) to know they were part of a more decent and noble existence that had slewed off the backward thinking of past cultures and who's society cared for all it's members, not just the rich and the powerful?
Just a thought for your daughter to consider...
 
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