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Grex > Music2 > #154: Schoolkids II, and Music Retailing |  |
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| 25 new of 247 responses total. |
jules
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response 175 of 247:
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Apr 22 20:20 UTC 2000 |
i adore mike perini
i cant believe you know him carla!
i was in the fantastiks witgh him
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gnat
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response 176 of 247:
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Apr 24 01:14 UTC 2000 |
WCBN is like Gormenghast, vast, gloomy, mysterious, full of those
who lust for power, and those who covet what they cannot possess,
which may explain what happened to the Richard Thompson box set.
Mike Perini is a nice guy, yes.
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krj
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response 177 of 247:
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Apr 29 01:59 UTC 2000 |
Time to write another record store obituary. Where House Records
in East Lansing is closing on May 6, as the students depart.
The month-long 30% off sale should have tipped me off. What's left
in the store is 40% off, but the pop/rock stuff has been pretty well
combed over. There's a lot left in the classical bins, though, and
some in the world music bins.
Where House's MSU store opened around 1978 in the University Mall on
MAC Avenue, and it moved twice over the years until
it settled into the Jocundry's Books building about five? years
ago. Where House was originally the cooler record store in town after
the demise of The Disc Shop; one of my memories from the 70s is making
a distinct pest of myself returning about every third LP that I bought
in the oil-shock era of blighted vinyl quality.
In the mid-80s the Discount Records chain pulled out of East Lansing, and
this left Where House with a near-monopoly on the Michigan State campus
CD trade. They didn't do well with this, however, as the selection
got less and less interesting. I lived in East Lansing through
this period, and I would generally resort to mail order, or to shopping
on trips, for anything I wanted which was at all obscure.
A MSU acquaintance who was on the
Bitnet ALLMUSIC mailing list would regularly write entertaining rants
about the cluelessness of the staff and the insufficiency of the stock.
They rallied a little bit in the early 1990s, opening a classical
shop (later folded back into the main store)
and getting a little better about stocking obscure stuff.
But their monopoly ended around 1996 when Tower Records opened a
store three blocks away, the largest music shop which East Lansing
had ever seen. Where House did a valiant job of trying to compete
against Tower: they consistently undercut Tower's price by a buck and
they bulked up the classical and world music sections. And they
stocked & promoted alt.country music in conjunction with the
popular "Progressive Torch & Twang" show on MSU's student radio
station. I made an effort to support them by shopping there first for
popular items which it was likely they would carry; I was fond of
their Tuesday $2 discount sale.
Now it will be Tower which has the monopoly on new CD sales in
East Lansing.
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carla
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response 178 of 247:
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Apr 29 05:29 UTC 2000 |
I loved progressive torch and twang so much that a friend of mine used to
record it for me on a regular basis.
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mcnally
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response 179 of 247:
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Apr 29 17:35 UTC 2000 |
I quite liked the Michigan Wherehouse Records in Ann Arbor, though that
may have been largely because they had at least one buyer whose tastes
overlapped significantly with mine.
Tower's post-Wherehouse behavior in Ann Arbor was not encouraging.
Record buyers in East Lansing should prepare themselves for sticker shock.
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brighn
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response 180 of 247:
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Apr 29 17:42 UTC 2000 |
I could tell when Tower moved in to East Lansing, in its strategy, that it
was trying to run all the other companies out of business by undercutting
them, and then was planning to up the prices once it had a monopoly.
I was also of the impression that we had laws in this country about that sort
of thing, but Reno's busy with M$ and Elian.
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krj
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response 181 of 247:
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Apr 29 19:23 UTC 2000 |
When did Tower undercut anyone on price in East Lansing? (Or Ann Arbor.)
I never saw it. Tower is at $17.99 for most discs, maybe $16.99 in
more obscure titles. Where House was almost always a dollar
cheaper.
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mcnally
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response 182 of 247:
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Apr 29 21:13 UTC 2000 |
Tower was never a good place to shop for discs unless they were on sale
or you had one of their $3.00 coupons, but it seemed to me that the Ann
Arbor Tower's prices got even worse and the frequency of their "good"
sales decreased once their competition fell apart. I could easily be
wrong, or the timing could be completely coincidental..
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brighn
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response 183 of 247:
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Apr 29 21:37 UTC 2000 |
Tower undercut in East Lansing for a good year or so after it opened in E
Lansing. Price differences between the Tower in E Lansing and the Tower in
A2 for the same disc were around $2-3.
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mcnally
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response 184 of 247:
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May 11 21:43 UTC 2000 |
In the latest high-profile headline in the music industry, the FTC has
apparently reached a settlement with the Big 5 record conglomerates
regarding allegedly anti-competitive advertising practices.
The settlement forbids the now common practice of subsidizing retailers'
advertising costs in exchange for an agreement that retailers will not
advertise reduced prices on most discs. According to reports, the
expected result of the settlement is increased competition among music
retailers and reduced music costs, by as much as $1/disc or more.
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krj
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response 185 of 247:
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May 13 19:11 UTC 2000 |
What few reports have covered is that the resulting reductions in price
are expected to put further downward pressure on the profitability
of small independent CD shops. But most of them are probably doomed
anyway.
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krj
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response 186 of 247:
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May 18 04:16 UTC 2000 |
A two-page letter from owner Jim Leonard announces cutbacks and
reorganization in the SKR empire; this is described as a
"partial liquidation." This letter is posted in the
Liberty Street storefronts. The former SKR Classical storefront
will become "Uptown Music," and will incorporate jazz and world music
as well as classical. Half of today's SKR store, the side which had
the jazz cds, will become "Downtown Music" with the rock, pop, blues,
and everything else. My reading of the message is that the "SKR"
name is going to be discarded, but I'm not sure about that.
The original Schoolkids storefront is going to be let go; right now
it is a clearance outlet for unwanted stock marked down 45%.
The letter also names the five (of eleven) staffers who are going to be
laid off. It mentions that the owners of the "Dubplate Pressure"
store are going to revive that operation in Ypsilanti.
Jim Leonard seems to be complaining that (1) his stores should be seen
as the true heir to Schoolkids, since they kept almost all of the
old wonderful Schoolkids staff;
(2) if customers don't shop at his locally owned store,
it will go away and everyone will have to shop at Borders.
My rude comments later...
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katie
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response 187 of 247:
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May 18 05:20 UTC 2000 |
I always get creeped out when I go in there...it has looked "under
construction" since it changed from Schoolkids to SKR, and they keep
moving the genres around so I can't find anything the next time I go in.
Not a welcoming environment at all.
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carla
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response 188 of 247:
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May 18 06:17 UTC 2000 |
Katie I agree. But even when it *was* under construction, it was still more
inviting than it is now.
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otaking
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response 189 of 247:
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May 18 13:15 UTC 2000 |
Yeah, I used to spend hours in Schoolkids. Now, I cant stay in that place for
5 minutes.
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carla
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response 190 of 247:
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May 18 17:22 UTC 2000 |
Hey Ken, was Mike Perrini on that list of people getting laid off?
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krj
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response 191 of 247:
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May 18 19:43 UTC 2000 |
Carla: I don't know, I did not note down all the staff names.
Katie in resp:187 :: Jim Leonard had some rather exotic plans for
store decor which were never brought to fulfillment. One side of the
store was supposed to be done up in "Neuromancer"-style high-tech
garishness, and the other side was supposed to be done up as a tropical
jungle. I do not know how far along they may have gotten before realizing
the money wasn't there to support these dreams; I was under the vague
impression that they had gotten the construction work underway.
I went to check the SKR stores out this morning. I fished 8 discs
out of the clearance center, mostly pretty good stuff: Den Fule,
John Renbourn & Doris Hederson, Dave Schramm, Original Harmony Creek
Dippers, Planxty, Mary McCaslin, Sonya Hunter, and Odetta. It's
sad if this is the stuff they can't sell.
I ran out of time and brainpower to make sense of the piles of classical
discs which were 45% off. It did seem like the classical bins were
dominated by lesser known performers and composers. Besides the cds
at the "Clearance Outlet," there are more closeouts at SKR Classical.
In the SKR Pop-Rock/Downtown Music store, there was a big 99 cent bin
with some promising items in it. There were also a lot of used discs.
I think the store may be going for a close to 50% new/used mix.
Over at SKR Classical/Uptown Music, I found that well over 1/2 of the
opera stock has been removed. Maybe they're in a box just being moved
from one spot to another. There are more discs marked down 45%
at SKR Classical.
It looks to me like the folk and classical genres are
making up the bulk of the stock being liquidated -- possibly 1/3 to
1/2 of SKR's stock in those fields is being swept out. The rock CD stock
is being given a haircut, and very little jazz is being liquidated.
It does have the feel of a going out of business sale.
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katie
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response 192 of 247:
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May 19 06:12 UTC 2000 |
(Which Mary McCaslin album?) Mary is playing at Green Wood in Oct.
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krj
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response 193 of 247:
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May 19 17:20 UTC 2000 |
I got Mary McCaslin's "Old Friends" out of the bargain bin. I think
there were other McCaslin CDs in there, but I can't be sure.
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krj
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response 194 of 247:
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May 19 20:57 UTC 2000 |
Back to the Minimum Advertised Price policy, resp:184, resp:185 ::
this is from http://www.billboard.com/daily/2000/0518_08.asp,
from a tail end of the story:
"Merchants privately say that the elimination of MAP
rekindles fears that price wars will break out and return
music retail to the unprofitability it suffered from 1994-1996,
before strong MAP policies were adopted and enforced.
"During those price wars, electronics retailers like Best Buy
and Circuit City were selling music at a loss, in an effort
to increase customer traffic for higher-priced electronics
goods. The labels argued that MAP policies would make it
easier for small retailers to compete with the giants, thus
increasing consumer choices."
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krj
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response 195 of 247:
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May 21 04:46 UTC 2000 |
Leslie and I took another trip to the SKR Clearance Outlet today,
since we were going downtown for dinner anyway. There's a new, more
alarming note from Jim Leonard in the window. The discount has been
ratcheted up from 45% to 50%. "The situation is critical," says the
note, and if they don't sell enough clearance CDs the stores could
close in a couple of weeks.
So we did our part. :) I got three CDs which I'd passed over on
the Thursday trip, and it amazed me that they were all still there,
after being on sale at half price for three days; especially
the import reissue of the Kinks' LOLA VS.POWERMAN album. And with
Leslie there to answer questions I pillaged the classical section
and Leslie picked up a bunch of classical vocal discs.
It was 8 pm Saturday night, and there was only one other customer in our
side of the store. It wasn't that no one was downtown: Borders was
pretty crowded.
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void
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response 196 of 247:
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May 22 04:48 UTC 2000 |
htat's skr classical across from borders downtown, right? i may
go check it out tomorrow, if i can convince myself to drive downtown.
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mcnally
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response 197 of 247:
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May 22 18:38 UTC 2000 |
Like most Kinks albums, "Lola Vs. Powerman and the Money-go-round" is
fantastically uneven, but it's well worth having if solely for my favorite
Kinks song, "Apeman"..
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anderyn
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response 198 of 247:
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May 26 13:54 UTC 2000 |
It is quite a bummer to go in there. (We went on Monday night, and I picked
up a Silly Wizard Greatest Hits CD, Tannas, an Irish sea shanty record, and
an old Connie Dover -- all ones that I had been mildly interested in
obtaining, but nothing I would have bought normally.)
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krj
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response 199 of 247:
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Jun 18 04:53 UTC 2000 |
I did not know until tonight that the "SKR Downtown" store was in
the former Annex storefront. The two westernmost SKR storefronts,
the original Schoolkids space and the early '90s expansion,
have been vacated.
I have said for a long time that Ann Arbor has been overbuilt for
CD retailing. But I was not expecting the jolt I got tonight
from the "bummed" item in the Agora conference:
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#977 of 984: by Yay the Happy Whale (otaking) on Sat, Jun 17, 2000 (20:12):
IBB Tower Records is closing at 4PM on Sunday, June 25.
#978 of 984: by Bruin the Bare Bear (bruin) on Sat, Jun 17, 2000 (20:52):
You don't mean the Tower Records on South University in Ann Arbor, do
you?
#979 of 984: by Yay the Happy Whale (otaking) on Sat, Jun 17, 2000 (21:35):
Yes, unfortunately I do.
They claim to be closing temporarily, to make way for UM offices, but one of
the staff members said that was a false hope.
They're having a clearance sale. Anywhere from $2-4 off all CDs. 30% off all
books. 20-30% all DVDs and videos. All sale prives are off the regular prices,
not, the existing sale prices. Guess it's another victim of online sales.
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