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Re: [ARSCLIST] Is The Record Shop Dead?
Since discounting was allowed in the late 1940s in the U.S., new records
were always sold on a short mark-up. The bucks used to be there for those
who could buy trainloads, run sales on items bought well below wholesale,
buy fresh stock, and sell it cheaply with enough left over to pay for the
carload when that was due.
Dealers used to make more on cut-outs than new stuff.
I've been on all sides of this counter and concluded long ago that, with
small capital, the only way to make money in the retail end of the business
was to buy and sell used records. The antique mall model with unattended
booths worked well for a while but you needed more than one location.
Driving time was lost time. As gas went up and the CD cycled in, that too
became unprofitable. The CD was also a lot more theft-prone.
With eBay, it is no longer necessary to carry bricks an mortar overhead- no
emplyee, no need to be there all day, etc. There's world-wide distribution,
not just the ten local collectors who already had what they collected from
your stock.
Things don't get better or worse, they evolve. So must we all.
Steve Smolian
----- Original Message -----
From: "phillip holmes" <insuranceman@xxxxxxxxxx>
To: <ARSCLIST@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Friday, June 29, 2007 1:57 AM
Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] Is The Record Shop Dead?
The real record shop died a slow death in the '90s. What I mean by real
is: 33, 45, and 78 rpm; all genres; record care supplies; ephemera; the
selection of replacement styli; the stylus magnifier; the audition
turntable and headphones; tobacco smoke _OR_ an old man chewing a cigar
_OR_ the hourly help dealing pot out the back (but preferably all three);
two pair of JBL L100 on the walls; cardboard stand-up Beatles; a ceramic
nipper somewhere in the store; at least one crotchety old worker and one
bipolar young worker; a jaded owner that USED to be in "the business"; the
smell of paper aging (the not acid-free kind); and let's not forget the
most important part of a real record shop--delusional and weird record
collectors. Yes, it's dead.
Phillip
Roger and Allison Kulp wrote:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/6music/shows/music_week/agenda_recordshops.shtml
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