response 139 of 194:

Feb 9 03:29 UTC 2001

Find, lead to drift. Why can't you ever stay on topic, like me?

response 141 of 194:

Feb 9 15:17 UTC 2001

Yes, there is a reason why a mall store would have a bigger and better 
selection than the flagship store. Obviously they have found that Celtic 
/British music sells better at Arborland. 

response 143 of 194:

Feb 9 18:13 UTC 2001

Also, regardless of why it happens, it's nice to have different locations with
different emphases.  One of the Standard Complaints against corporate
bookshops is that you see the exact same selection everywhere.

response 145 of 194:

Feb 9 19:07 UTC 2001

Actually parking isnt so bad at the downtown store because one can park 
in the garage on Maynard and have the parking validated. I usually end 
up going to the Arborland store or Waldenbooks in Briarwood although for 
different reasons. I like Arborland because it is closer to Ypsi. 
Briarwood is close to work and I can have them special order a book for 
me if I dont need it right away and because I have access to the 
Waldenbooks SPO system at work, I can track it too. I suppose I could 
even just order the book myself but I dont want to mess up whatever 
system they have. heh. 

response 147 of 194:

Feb 9 20:58 UTC 2001

I like them because they are open after the public library closes.

response 149 of 194:

Feb 9 23:44 UTC 2001

re 145: You SPOoged a book?

response 151 of 194:

Feb 10 02:44 UTC 2001

  That's what I thought..

response 153 of 194:

Mar 22 23:52 UTC 2001

If i'm looking for a nice non-big-chain really-know-their-stuff music
store to buy occasional classical, jazz, etc. CD's in within half an
hour of Ann Arbor, then i'm out of luck, right?

response 155 of 194:

Mar 23 04:20 UTC 2001

What do you expect of a town where the nearest classical radio station is 60
miles away?

response 157 of 194:

Mar 23 17:21 UTC 2001

resp:153 :: for occasional jazz purchases from an independent store, 
there is still Schoolkids-in-Exile, in the basement under Bivouac on 
State Street.
 
For an independent store with a decent selection of classical music?
It's not just that I can't think of one close to Ann Arbor:  I can't 
think of one period.  There must be a couple left in North America
somewhere.   It's not just in Ann Arbor where the independent CD
sellers are being crushed.

Somewhat outside your 30-minute radius is the Harmony House Classical
store in Royal Oak.  Harmony House is a local chain, and that's the 
best I can suggest.   Your only other choices: buy used classical 
discs at Encore Music, or else make your peace with the Borders chain or 
one of the online retailers.

I don't have the article immediately available to me, but there was a 
statistic (I think I quoted it in earlier responses) that classical 
and jazz sales make up about a third of online CD sales, as against
perhaps 5-7% of instore sales.

response 159 of 194:

Mar 23 17:31 UTC 2001

        While at Borders Downtown, I overheard a customer say to one
of our employees he was pleased to see the employee got work after
SKR classical.  Some of the knowledge base may have gone across the
street.

        Of course, it is so easy to buy Britney Spears at K-Mart or
Wall Mart, and very difficult to get classical or jazz at those 2.

response 161 of 194:

Mar 23 23:29 UTC 2001

md in resp:156 :: being the only classical music store within 60 miles
doesn't work any more.  In the Observer, Jim Leonard said that he used 
to have a large base of distant customers who made approximately monthly 
pilgrimages to SKR Classical, and weekends were the store's busiest 
times.  But in the last couple of years, most of those far-away 
customers switched over to the online retailers so they could avoid
the drive, and weekends became SKR Classical's quietest times.
 
sindi in resp:158 :: I believe that what's left of the classical and 
jazz business is moving to the online stores because of inventory issues.
Unlike pop music which is mostly economically driven by large quantities
of a small number of discs, a good classical or jazz store has to 
stock small quantities of large numbers of discs.  This sort of an 
inventory problem is best handled by a large national online store
because the online store has many more customers and thus has less
of a problem trying match obscure discs with buyers.  (I'm not explaining
this well, oh well.)
 
There was a recent online essay somewhere discussing how amazon.com 
had a minor hit with the Ken Burns Jazz series, and how everyone had 
been forgetting that Internet e-commerce was supposed to be all about
niche marketing, and not selling more N*Sync discs.

response 163 of 194:

Mar 24 14:46 UTC 2001

make pilgrimage to elderly music, k?