response 190 of 194:

Nov 29 07:56 UTC 2002

Excuse me, but I am feeling slightly dazed at the moment.  I have seen 
the past of classical music retailing.  It still exists somewhere, and 
the where is Portland, Oregon.  On East Burnside Street is a store 
called Classical Millennium.

Those of you with long memories, which I'd guess is everyone here, will 
remember the great specialty classical stores of the later LP era, with 
hundreds or thousands of selections, separated by white plastic cards 
into tiny distinct categories, one for each minor composer (no "L 
miscellaneous"), a dozen or more for major composers, divided by genre 
and even individual work.

I hadn't seen a store with that kind of selection, and that kind of 
care in laying it out, since before the end of the LP era.  I have 
now.  Wow.  And several customers around on a quiet Sunday afternoon 
last week.  I left with 6 items, several of which I'd never actually 
seen before, and did I ever have to prune to get down that low.

response 192 of 194:

Oct 29 21:24 UTC 2003

(classical conference only)
 
Harmony House had a rally, but it looks like it's over.  I have a hot
rumor that what's left of Harmony House has been sold to Trans World, 
whoever they are.  Harmony House's web page is gone, and the Google 
cache version says that the Classical store on Woodward is to close.
That google cache page has a Sept. 27 date on it.

response 194 of 194:

Oct 30 17:22 UTC 2003

"what's left ... has been sold to Trans World, whoever they are."

Didn't they use to be an airline? <g>

I wish someone would invent a way to browse online stores' inventory 
that was as easy as flicking through the CDs in a rack - or, better 
yet, the LPs, because those you could turn over and read the liner 
notes.  If that could be done, I wouldn't miss the death of retail 
stores so much.  But every system I've seen online is hideously clumsy 
and awkward.