response 52 of 106:

Oct 28 05:42 UTC 2001

Back in resp:music2,154,217  (music2, item 154, resp 217)  I wrote 
about the Virgin Megastore on Michigan Avenue.  The store was still 
pretty appealing when Leslie and I returned there this spring; but 
we were there again on Friday, and the store has crashed.
 
The biggest disappointment was the dismantling of the classical section.
Classical was forced out of its separate room, the one with classical 
albums playing in the background; it was shoved in a back corner and 
cut by maybe 40%.  The old classical music room is now the DVD room.
 
World music seemed gutted as well; I couldn't find any discs that I wanted.
 
There were a couple of British Isles/Celtic items worth looking at, 
and they were priced at an appealing $14.  I settled for the new Kathryn
Tickell CD and passed on the Bachue.  And there was a Tracey Dares CD
I had not seen before.  But that was it; two CDs bought, and just one 
tempation passed up, from a store where previously I had found 
armloads of stuff.
 
The standard price of $18.99 was really putting me off buying anything
which might have been stocked at any other store.
 
We're unlikely to go out of our way to stop there  on our future
Chicago trips.

response 54 of 106:

Oct 29 18:24 UTC 2001

Second-hand followups to some of my recent reports:
 
resp:52 ::  There is a Usenet report on rec.music.classical.recordings
that the Virgin Megastore in Times Square has drastically pruned 
its CD section to make way for videos, much as Chicago did.  So perhaps 
this was a corporate decision for the whole chain.
 
resp:48 ::  A co-worker told me that the Where House Records shop 
in Frandor Mall in Lansing has closed; this is just five weeks 
after I learned that it existed.  I never got to visit it.

response 56 of 106:

Nov 2 00:39 UTC 2001

The venerable Canadian firm Sam the Record Man has filed for 
bankruptcy.  There are two good stories at http://www.globeandmail.com
but unfortunately Globe and Mail URLs are about three lines long, 
so you'll have to search on "sam's" to find the news story 
from October 31 and a memorial from November 1.
 
Sam's had outlets all across Canada, but the important store 
was the one on Yonge Street in Toronto.
Back when I was a college student, my friends and I experienced
something we called "the East Lansing/Toronto Spacewarp."  
We went to Toronto, lots of times.  And in those days, the 
four-story Sam's, with the landmark animated neon LP 
design on the front, was probably the best 
record store in Canada, and one of the best in the world.  
Long before "world music" became a viable genre, Sam's had a 
killer section of international music; I got some fun Eastern 
European albums from there.  And lots of Canadian and British Isles
folk, and jazz, and classical...  sometimes it seemed like if it 
was released anywhere in the world, then there was a good chance 
that Sam's had it.  I don't think I ever saw a selection of 
imported records that was better than Sam's.

I didn't get to Toronto much in the CD era.  Senna would tell me 
that the store was declining due to commercial pressure from 
the HMV down the street.  When I made my last trip to Sam's
about three or four years ago, it was clear that the store wasn't
what it had been 15 years ago, but I still came away with a good 
armload of Canadian, British and European folk and roots music, 
including one treasure I never expected to find -- a long out-of-print
disc on Billy Bragg's old Utility label by Jungr & Parker.
(And the Sam's clerk marked it down by 40% -- "This has been here 
far too long," she said, when I hesitated at the somewhat high price.)

I hit HMV on that same Toronto trip; the HMV store was newer and shinier,
and it wasn't bad, but it still didn't have the breadth of stock 
that Sam's had, even in Sam's long decline.

Thanks to Sam Sniderman, age 81, who ran such an important store
for its entire 63-year life.   

response 58 of 106:

Nov 28 18:45 UTC 2001

Followup to resp:52 on Chicago stores ::  On Tuesday's trip to Chicago
I visited Tower Records in the Loop, and Crow's Nest Music in the 
Music Mart Mall, about two blocks away, about 200 S. Wabash and 
300 S. State respectively.  I'm pleased to report that the classic 
big city CD store is still clinging to life...
 
Tower on Wabash is the old Rose Records store; Rose was the thriving 
local chain 15 years ago, and I had visited the Rose store back around 
1985.  Tower didn't change much; it's an old-fashioned rabbit warren of a 
store on three floors.  The pop/rock section of the first floor did seem 
a little thin, but the classical section on the second floor was 
dazzling -- in fact it was too overwhelming for the limited shopping time
I had available -- and the world music selection on the third floor
was quite choice.  (I'll mention the purchases in some other item, to 
keep followups about the music itself out of this item.)
Tower Classical had the biggest selection of opera DVDs I'd ever 
seen in one store.

Crow's Nest is a big new spacious store.  They may have even a bigger
pop/rock selection than the Tower, but the classical and world music 
sections are somewhat smaller, though still decent.  The nice thing
about Crow's Nest is the price:  almost all of the discs are $14.99
or $15.99, which is cheap these days.

response 60 of 106:

Feb 2 01:16 UTC 2002

  I've tried several times to enter a longer review of my visit to 
  San Francisco's Amoeba, a huge used record store with an impressive
  selection.  Unfortunately I've been having connection problems and
  have lost two previous drafts, so I'll restrict myself to just the
  basics..

  Visited Amoeba for the first time this past week and found the 
  San Francisco location to be the best used record store I've visited,
  ever, with a broad stock of popular music, decent prices, and a 
  surprising stock of international music (when was the last time you
  visited a used-record store that had a Fado section?)  I'm told that
  the Berkeley location may be even better, I'll check it out on my next
  trip to the Bay Area.

  For the moment, though, I'm just savoring the long-lost feeling of
  walking out of a record store with an armful of interesting discs
  (13 titles, some of them doubles..) for under $100.

  For those who visit San Francisco and want to check out Amoeba, it's
  about a block or so from where Haight Street ends at Golden Gate Park.

response 62 of 106:

Feb 2 04:56 UTC 2002

  I'll be sure to check it out next time I'm down there.  

  I've found Seattle's music retail scene, both new and used, to be quite
  disappointing.  On the other hand, living near a store like Amoeba could
  be quite hazardous to my wallet..

response 64 of 106:

Feb 2 20:26 UTC 2002

  There's still a Cellophane Square in the U District and another in
  Bellevue.  I haven't found them terribly impressive.

response 66 of 106:

Feb 24 03:50 UTC 2002

Jim Leonard writes about his bankruptcy at length in the March issue
of the Ann Arbor Observer.  Leonard was a fixture in the classical
music business in Ann Arbor for almost a quarter century; he managed
SKR Classical since it opened in 1986, then became the owner in 
the late 1990s as Steve Bergman's Schoolkids Records faltered.
All of his stores failed in January 2001; newcomers can find 
our discussion of the collapse in conf:music2 (forgive me for 
not looking up which item number).

He doesn't write much about the music retail business;
"I'd been a fool," he writes, to take over the Schoolkids storefronts
as the Internet was shaking up music sales, both through online retail
and through Napster.

Leonard owed $1.25 million when SKR closed; I can't see from the article 
if that total includes $200,000 in unpaid tax debt which is also mentioned.  
The tax debt is not wiped out by the bankruptcy, and Leonard says 
he could be paying on it for decades.

response 68 of 106:

Mar 12 17:32 UTC 2002

  The San Francisco Amoeba is on Haight near Golden Gate Park.
  I'm not sure where the Berkeley location is located..

response 70 of 106:

Aug 9 20:24 UTC 2002

I'm surprised no one mentioned that Discount Records (part of HH?) closed up
shop.  That was the store that once employed a young James Osterberg I do
believe.

response 72 of 106:

Aug 10 13:37 UTC 2002

        Cirucuit City and Borders at Arborland.
        Both Meijers, Both Targets, Wal-mart and K-mart also sell CDs.

response 74 of 106:

Aug 11 15:47 UTC 2002

This is disturbing. I may have to get Bruce used to trekking to Lansing.
At least Elderly's isn't in trouble, is it?!

response 76 of 106:

Aug 12 14:51 UTC 2002

        I recall being impressed that Elderly has a different 
selection of folk music, as compared to Borders or the old
Schoolkids selection.  Not neccessarily better or worse, just
different enough to make the trip and shopping worthwhile.