From: "Historische Aufnahmen" <[log in to unmask]>
> All these horror stories of record shop owners reminds of those shops 
> where
> folks were outstandlingy king and generou.  Gryphon Records and its 
> stellar
> manger, Raymond Donnell, was everything a insecure, unknowledgeale and 
> poor
> record enthusiast could have asked for.  We met by telephone back in the
> mid-80's when I was starting my serious record collecting (and music 
> study)
> and Raymond became a very great friend and mentor.  Long before the
> internet, I would get a phone calll or a post card saying "This just in 
> and
> I thought you might like it" and I usually did. When I moved rather
> precariously to  NYC in the late 80's and had to sell of half of my
> Furtwangler collection Raymond was there to help.  Unfortunatey he passed
> away a couple of years ago (I have since moved from NYC and had only been
> spottily in touch).  Also helpful and memorable was Albert ten Brook (I
> think) who was once at Academy and then later had his own business called 
> A
> Classical Record.  He too now is dead.  The folks at the long-gone Rose's
> Records in Chicago were always kind and helpful as were, and still are, 
> the
> folks at Princeton Record Exchange.
> So some nice memories amid the shoulder-crunching ouches I recall.
>
I had (and still have AFAIK) this same relationship with Don Keele 
(Toronto).
He ran (in the early 70's) a store called "Don's Discs," where he sold LP's,
45's and a LOT of 78's! He knew among his regular customers exactly WHO
collected WHAT...and when something came into his hands, he immediately
contacted the "interested customer!" The nice thing was (and still is 
AFAIK?!)
when he acquired large lots of 78's, the prices per each quickly dropped in
ensuing weeks (until I could finally afford them?!)

Steven C. Barr