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Did Stores Used to Open at Midnight for New Releases?


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5 minutes ago, Derek™ said:

Almost never, unless it was a particularly huge release with tons of pre-orders.  (Think Halo and select video games.)  For music and movies?  Nope.  Not anywhere over here at least.

Think early 90s...

 

11 minutes ago, Tidal Wave said:

Did stores like Best Buy, Sam goodie, tower records, etc. used to open at midnight on Monday night / Tuesday morning? Was this only for highly anticipated releases? 

But yeah... not so much anymore. 

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This was more of an indie store thing, at least around me. When I was in college (1998-2002), the indie stores in Iowa City would open at midnight so you could get the new releases, at least for some things. I remember getting Up by R.E.M. at midnight the night it came out and I’m sure I got others that way too. I don’t think the Best Buys/etc. did that, but I wasn’t frequenting those places anyway, so I could be wrong. 

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Tower Records and Virgin Megastore in Hollywood in the 90s both used to close at midnight regularly. On Monday nights, they would stay open an extra hour to to sell new releases that were set to come out that Tuesday. Those days are obviously long gone now. There aren't even any shops in L.A. that stay open after 8pm.

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57 minutes ago, nothingnatural said:

Used to go to midnight sales at Tower. Last one I remember was when Tool/Lateralus came out. 

Edit- actually Detones s/t I believe was the last midnight sale I remember.

Picked up both of those CDs from midnight release sales at independent shops back in the day.

Got pulled over on my way home from the Lateralus release for 'weaving in my lane'. (Really I was driving a crappy car through an 'uppity' area at 1AM) Those cops did not believe my story about a new TOOL album. Sobriety checked, breathalized then detained in a patrol car while they searched my car for over an hour before finally letting me on my way.

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I never went at midnight to buy anything but I thought I remembered news segments and stuff on TRL and other media about midnight releases with long lines. Just wanted to make sure I was remembering things correctly. Seems like most people have similar thoughts on this. 

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41 minutes ago, Alan P said:

The midnight opening I remember the most was February 28/29, 2000 for Smashing Pumpkins Machina. It was at Magic Platter in Birmingham, AL. 

The Tower Records, in San Diego, definitely had a midnight sale for Mellon Collie. Just remembered that one. That was a big deal.

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