Roger, you still haven't fixed your e-mail client so the reply-to goes to ARSC List instead of you.
Goren Finberg was kind enough to lay out exactly how to fix this problem about a month ago, refer to
the ARSC List archives for specifics. That said ...
Your blanket statement is somewhat true but definitely not my experience in my favorite record
stores. In fact, I buy almost all my used LPs and new LPs in actual stores because I find it so
helpful to browse physical items, inspect the item myself and speak with helpful staff.
As for in-store music, I have been led to music purchases by what was playing in the background on
three separate occasions, once each in the Rochester stores Record Archive and Bop Shop and a third
time at Bleeker Street Records (not to be confused with vastly over-rated Bleeker Bob's) in the
Village. The other record store I like very much is Gerosa's in CT, but I'd agree with anyone who
says their prices are on the high side.
There's a total hellhole record store in NJ, forgot exactly where but I think it's near Pompton
Lakes. The place is disgusting, like needing a shower ASAP if you get near the floor or the backroom
area (and beware of cat urine on anything you may wish to buy). However, the one time I was in there
I had one of my best days ever in a record store, excellent value on everything I bought and
shockingly good condition given the general filth of the place. In that store, the help was
sub-friendly and sub-helpful (more interested in smelly lunches and chain-smoking and watching TV),
but like I said the stacks were magical.
-- Tom Fine
----- Original Message -----
From: "Roger Kulp" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Tuesday, September 18, 2012 9:47 AM
Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] Photos of The Colony NYC
Rude staff? Poor selection? Prices way above eBay? Sounds like every record store I've been in in
the last ten to twelve years or so.I would also add,playing the local classic rock station,rather
than introducing customers to new,or different music.
It's one thing to sit and wax nostalgic about what record stores used to be like in 19xx,talk about
what a great thing they are,and how they should be saved.But it's quite another,when every store in
your town is like this.People in their teens and twenties must wonder why us old farts think they
were so great..I have spent a lot of time at various audio,and record collecting discussion groups
in recent years,and this seems to be a common problem all over the US and Canada.So much so,that
people in other parts of the world,especially South America,and the Pacific Rim,are shocked at how
bad it's gotten.Yes there are a few exceptions.I've heard the list before.
Record stores are responsible for their own decline and demise.
Roger
________________________________
From: Michael Biel <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: Monday, September 17, 2012 6:53 PM
Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] Photos of The Colony NYC
From: Tom Fine <[log in to unmask]>
> Yes, one can see how they go out of business. Now that
> I see the photos, I was there once and walked out
> laughing at the ridicu-prices.
LAUGHING!! Yes, that has always been our reaction. The first time we
took Leah to NYC in her junior year in high school, I took here there
and we laughed and laughed and laughed. They still had some of the LPs
upstairs, and even then she knew prices and recognized things in my
collection. And now that she lives there she went in every once in a
while when she needed a good pick-me-up and a giggle. Looking at all of
the fading memorabilia was sad that they were destroying it in their
ignorance, but listening to the abusive staff made it all worthwhile --
they DESERVED it!
She'll go back in a day or two to photograph closed signs and laugh over
the carcass. When Footlights closed a few years ago we all mourned them
-- as well as getting GREAT bargains. They went on-line. I wonder what
the Colony will do with its stock.
From: "Jim Sam" <[log in to unmask]>
>> The reviews are interesting.
>> http://www.yelp.com/biz/colony-records-new-york
That they are!!! Such as: "The thing I HATE WITH ALL OF MY SOUL about
this store is that the guys who are hired to help you find music
obviously sign agreements in blood stating that they will be as
unhelpful, rude, and curt to you as possible." When Leah wanted a
price on Saturday, she waited to find the friendliest looking guy but he
sent her to another guy who when asking a third guy she overheard "Who
is asking?" You NEVER are supposed to be so BLATANT that you are basing
your prices on who the customer is.
I also love the long one with the dialog between the customer in the
basement and the weirdo -- which turned out to be the owner. These
comments fit this place to a T.
Mike Biel [log in to unmask]
> They didn't even have any must-have-at-any-price items, at least
not for me. There are still several excellent used vinyl stores in the
Village, and why would anyone
buy a new (or used) CD at any retail outlet when there is Amazon "new
and used" and almost anything
can be had for $5 or less, usually shrink-wrapped? As for used vinyl, I
usually look but don't buy
in Manhattan. In its favor, culturally, NYC is a place where people tend
to love their music. So
what ends up in these stores is mostly too-well-loved for me to crack
open the wallet. That said,
what I have found in superb condition in NYC are more-obscure
spoken-word records, and "status"
stuff like the Reader's Digest/RCA/Decca sets and the Time-Life jazz
sets. What also pops up from
time to time are still-wrapped records from the 70's and early 80's that
have tricked down from the
bankruptcies of larger stores and chains. Usually these records are
stamped with dollar price tags
(which is NOT the current price) and have a hole punched or a corner cut
off, literally cut-outs.
The best score I ever had in that regard was a bunch of still-wrapped
Mercury Golden Imports and
Decca Jubilees for $1 each. The guy said he had them for several years,
got them as part of a larger
buy of bankruptcy detritis, and was happy to see the floor space cleared
up. For a buck a sealed
record, I'll buy anything that's within my taste parameters, that's as
cheap as a single song
download.
-- Tom Fine
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