Serious Questions

[downisthenewup87]

This thread is for serious questions that you can't ask any other forum and don't deserve their own thread...but require an answer.

 

There's a tiny used record shop just outside of downtown LA that sells mostly used, some new LPs and music equipment.  The owner seems nice.  It feels grimy and small and like a place that would be "all about the music, man".

 

But the prices on some records are insane.  Any classic rock band or popular band's album is at least $28-30.  I'm talking a repress of the Velvet Underground's self-titled for $30.  The same release/pressing that I've had in my Discogs store for $14 for months and which sells for even less a majority of the time.

 

Do some owners just not give a shit?  They are cool selling to tourists and 13 year olds who are excited to be in a record shop and don't want to walk out empty handed?  I can see this stuff from Newbury or UO or Guitar Center or the terrible shop I visited in Santa Barbara on the tourist strip.  But a small shop tucked away in downtown's butt owned by one dude?  Is this common place in every state?  Do you know anyone who runs their shop like this and can face their customers when ringing up their $30 classic rock record?

 

Questions.

 

 

 

You wouldn't happen to be talking about Lolipop Records would you?   Place is such a scam.  Every record there is massively overpriced.  I've become convinced they are laundering money out of the place (not to toss around real accusations).  

 

Best place in that part of Downtown for USED records is most definitely Mono records (its off Glendale where it dead-ends into the 2).   Everything is fairly priced, and while its fairly small and classic rock/jazz centric, they have a constantly rotating collection.

[just a normal guy kevin]

Hmmm. Never been to Lollipop. Wasn't referring to them. Been to Mono. Guy is nice and prices were good for records I recognized.

[allenh]

This is a great question!

 

I love record stores! As a kid I got so many great recommendations from visiting the cool record stores and talking to the people working behind the counter. Whenever I'm visiting a different town/city/country the first thing I often do is check out the local record store(s). A lot of record stores are really great places that make the world a better/more interesting place.

 

Whenever we are in a town, city or country we don't know and the wife loses me she can almost guarantee I will be in the nearest record shop with a big grin on my face, the panic only sets in when she's told there are no record shops because then she knows I'm having a quiet pint in the pub and she's driving home.

 

But yes good question and yes I do have a sharp intake of breath at some of the prices a bit too often now.

 

For new normal release stuff I've been using my local shop enough over the years that anything I order in I always get at or even slightly lower than internet prices.

 

There is also a 2nd hand shop in town that I will go in but can't remember the last time I bought a record in because I don't like the prices and I have a 2nd hand shop in the next city over where I've known and dealt with the owners for years so get stuff kept for me and sensible prices.

 

I suppose the moral here is I know the owners of both the shops I use a lot very well and the relationship works both ways for different reasons in both shops, I suppose if I took the time to form a relationship with the owner of the 2nd hand shop in my town then it might be a different story.

[allenh]

Play it. I don't have any records that are stored away untouched. I don't have many things signed, but for me to go and have them signed by the artist/s in the first place, it probably means it's one of my favourite albums.

 

This

 

I bought a record at a show last Sunday night and got the band to sign it, first thing I did with it when I got home was play it.

 

They were the support band and it was the first time I'd heard anything more than a single from them and didn't think I knew the band at all until I heard them play the single that night, and yes it's had a few plays since.

[caninesapien]

Whenever we are in a town, city or country we don't know and the wife loses me she can almost guarantee I will be in the nearest record shop with a big grin on my face, the panic only sets in when she's told there are no record shops because then she knows I'm having a quiet pint in the pub and she's driving home.

 

you just described every holiday I've ever had with my girlfriend. these days trips are more or less planned around the record shops available

 

This

 

I bought a record at a show last Sunday night and got the band to sign it, first thing I did with it when I got home was play it.

 

They were the support band and it was the first time I'd heard anything more than a single from them and didn't think I knew the band at all until I heard them play the single that night, and yes it's had a few plays since.

 

which band?

[allenh]

you just described every holiday I've ever had with my girlfriend. these days trips are more or less planned around the record shops available

 

 

which band?

 

One day she's either going to leave me in a pub or a record shop and say make your own way back home/to the hotel, I'm not sure if the seeing how far I can push it is the fun bit.

 

The band was All We Are and the headliners were the Vaccines.

[vinyl addict]

Guys, thats just the way it is. Brick and mortar stores need to charge a little mire to pay for their rent/lease. Online stores dont need to cover the same bills every month.

Support your local shops...before they are gone.

[kurtz]

I plan to give my collection to my son when it's necessary, so all of my signed records are even more important to me. I also have a box of signed CD booklets, stickers, tickets, and all that jazz that I think would be awesome to pass down.

 

I'm sure your son will appreciate the task of ebaying/selling all those records, cds, stickers, etc...

[Plarocks]

overhead and food on the table.

if little shop in butt fuck nowhere sells a record or two a day he needs to mark em up hefty to pay the bills and buy >>>some cat food<<<.

THIS!

[sinatra.45]

Guys, thats just the way it is. Brick and mortar stores need to charge a little mire to pay for their rent/lease. Online stores dont need to cover the same bills every month.

Support your local shops...before they are gone.

 

I agree with supporting local but there has to be a disclaimer in there that states that it has to be at a reasonable mark up.  I'm totally on board for a couple bucks above what I could get online elsewhere.  There are a lot of good record stores that get this part right.

 

But Bake's example sounds like a store that is a little bit more than unreasonable, where the pricing is pretty much ignorant to the market.  Businesses fail all the time because they can't get their pricing right.  Sorry, but I try to avoid supporting stupid because nobody wins in that scenario.  Whether they've never seen a computer, are trying to ride whatever new vinyl demand there is, or are a money laundering front for the mob, it's not a model for long term survival. Well, maybe the mob example is.  

 

Someone earlier mentioned Dischord prices in records stores.  Back in the day, Fugazi had always been my bellwether for pricing in a music store.  If 7 Songs or In On The Kill Taker was priced the same as everything else, then proceed with caution.