[ARSCLIST] Fwd: Footlilght closing

[Thomas Stern <sternth@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

"music biz" in freefall??
now even the web based stores are impacted!
this extracted from e-mail from FOOTLIGHT.
For those not familiar with them, they currently are a web based store
selling theatrical recordings (shows, cabaret, film sound tracks, etc.).
They had a store in the east village (NYC) which closed a while ago.
Best wishes, Tom.

To one and all:

It is with deep regret that I must inform you that we will be closing on July 4th.  It has been a difficult decision,
but there seems to be no choice.  The company was going into debt by keeping the store open. Our rent went from $2500.00
to $5000.00 then to $7000.00 and the landlord wanted to raise it again the following year.  This was a dream I had since
I was a kid, to own a record store. If I had closed the store sooner and not incurred such a debt than maybe we could have
continued as a web-based company. . . 

Even that is doubtful in today's market. Downloading is a affecting us more and more plus you have the fact that many smaller
companies that produce Cast Recordings pre-sell their recordings  at a discount price. This has probably cut into about 40%
of our sales in cast CDs. 

I find it interesting that neither one of the internet based soundtrack companies that produce CDs
(Intrada and Screen Archives)  find the need to undercut the people they distribute their CDs to. They pre-sell their CDs
on their site, but at the retail cost.

Last of all many of you may not realize that even though I have a direct account with companies  like Sony Music
I do not pay the same price as Amazon. Amazon's cost is much less than I have to pay, so how can I compete with this
unfair practice.  For instance the new Lucille Ball DVD Box Set cost me more than Amazon is selling it on sale for.

All of this being said all of here Ron, David, Arnold, Will, Richard, and Steve have worked very hard the past couple of years.
We love the music and really care about Footlight. Most of us have been with the company almost 20 years. It is a sad day
for all of us.

Most of all I would like to thank all of you that have been our regular customers and stuck by us even when you could
have saved a dollar going some where else.  We will miss the communications that we have had with our customers,
many of you for dozens of years. 

After the site is closed on the 4th you will still be able to reach us at 718 963 0750 or through our old e-mail address:
footlight1@xxxxxxxx We will still be here working for weeks after the site is closed. You will be able to find the balance
of our stock on Amazon under the name  Footlight-com.



All the best to each and every one of you now and in the future,

Ron, Arnold, Dave, Richard, Steve, & Will