response 71 of 106:

Aug 9 23:37 UTC 2002

No, Discount Records was part of the Sam Goody/Musicland operations --
I forget which name was at the top of the corporate hierarchy, we had
a big argument about this with Ashke a year or so ago.   Anyway, 
Discount Records was certainly not a part of Harmony House, since the 
short-lived Ann Arbor Harmony House outlet was just a few storefronts
away on State Street.
 
I dimly recall an earlier published rumor that Discount would close
this summer when their lease was up.  The store had been sinking for 
years; my sister-in-law tended to get me Sam Goody gift certificates
which I could spend there, and it usually took some effort to find
anything I wanted to buy.
 
I think this means that Borders and Schoolkids-in-the-basement
are the last sources of new CDs downtown, with Best Buy and 
Media Play out on the periphery of town.

response 73 of 106:

Aug 11 03:31 UTC 2002

I think this may mean that Schoolkids-in-the-basement is the only
"pure" new CD store left in town, the only one selling (almost 
exclusively) new music recordings.   Every other retailer listed 
above relies on books, electronics, or general merchandise.

response 75 of 106:

Aug 12 00:16 UTC 2002

Elderly Instruments is showing no signs of distress.  However, 
at Elderly, the CD department is just a small-to-medium sized part
of the business; instrument sales remain their core, as far as I 
can tell from their new general catalog.

Elderly is also a large-scale mail order operation, and they seem
to have adapted well to the Internet.

response 77 of 106:

Aug 23 03:43 UTC 2002

Today's Free Press web site reports that surviving Harmony House stores
have increased the discount to 40% in an attempt to get rid of everything
by the end of September.  The Royal Oak classical store is still reported
open.

response 79 of 106:

Aug 26 01:25 UTC 2002

I went to the Harmony House on Woodward and the new Tower Records in
Birmingham thsi weekend.

Harmony House: There was a mob of people at the store. When I went Saturday
afternoon, there was still plenty left, with a lot of unsorted boxes on the
floor. I left with 12 CDs for around $80.

Tower Records: I can't say I'm overly impressed with the store. It had some
obscure stuff and decent prices on CD singles, but charged more than Borders.

response 81 of 106:

Aug 28 23:10 UTC 2002

        I was at the Canton Harmony House yesterday.  Ford Road at 
Seldon Ave., Canton.  They are still open.  They said they got 2
other closed stores worth of stock.  It did look like they where 
not selling much, so I had to ask.  Not filled with customers,
either.  They said the Royal Oak store reported 150 customers the
first night of the 40% off.
        Anyway, If you are looking for "The Remains of Tom Lehrer"
the box set that came out a couple of years ago, they still had 2.
40% discount on $48 is not bad.  I would say a rather good stock
still there, including other box sets.

response 83 of 106:

Oct 2 22:54 UTC 2002

STeve and I stopped in at the Schuler's Books & Music in Meridian Mall,
which is in Okemos.   From the price stickers and the store fixtures, it
looks to me like Schuler's has become a rebranded Borders store.
CD selection is roughly equivalent to that at the Arborland Borders.

(This probably explains why I heard that a Borders store was going
into the new mall north of East Lansing on US 127, but the store 
directory for that mall only shows Schuler's Books.)

The Schuler's stores are likely to be a better selection for my CD tastes
than the Barnes & Noble in downtown East Lansing; but, I can walk to B&N
from the office while Schuler's requires a car trip.

response 85 of 106:

Jan 26 23:02 UTC 2003

The Sacramento Bee reports that Tower Records is winding up their UK 
operations; within four months their signature store at Picadilly Circus
will be turned over to the Virgin chain.
 
Another store of great memories gone.  When I first read a Usenet 
suggestion that one could import CDs directly from the UK in the 
late 1980s, it was Tower Records at Picadilly Circus that was 
the recommended store.   Now this seems like the most obvious thing
in the world, but around 1988 it was a new and exciting way to buy
hard-to-get CDs.  I would call Tower early in the morning and place my 
order with a young American emigre' woman who worked in their mail order
department, and I got imports from Tower until I found the UK folk music 
specialists around 1990, when coincidentally Tower's shipping charges 
got outrageous.
 
We made a pilgrimage to the Picadilly Circus store on our UK trip in 
1995, and got armloads of European folk stuff and a few nice rock 
items too.  I remember the store stereo playing The Charlatans, and 
I remember finding the now-scarce CD of Michelle Shocked's 
"Texas Campfire Tapes."

response 87 of 106:

Feb 2 21:22 UTC 2003

Ken: The Charlatans?  You're thinking of the early San Francisco sound 
band whose gimmick was Edwardian costumes?  I don't think I've ever 
heard them, though I've certainly seen enough photographs of them.

I never got the Texas Campfire Tapes, and now perhaps it's too late.  I 
bought Short Sharp Shocked when everyone in Alps was talking about her, 
but never felt grabbed enough by it to want to explore any further.

response 89 of 106:

Feb 2 22:18 UTC 2003

  Seems like I saw an album from them a couple of years ago but I'm not
  sure the Charlatans UK are still together.  I think one of their members
  died in a car crash after getting out of prison or something like that.

  Loved the organ intro at the start of "Weirdo", though..

response 91 of 106:

Feb 24 07:58 UTC 2003

resp:85 ::  UK paper The Guardian ran an obit of sort for the 
Picadilly Circus outlet of Tower Records, joined with an obit for 
the founder of classical label Hyperion Records.
 
http://www.guardian.co.uk/arts/features/story/0,11710,899071,00.html

response 93 of 106:

Feb 25 07:08 UTC 2003

The description of the Piccadilly Tower outlet's emptying shelves is 
sad; but remembering my own visits to the place, plus the large number 
of other record stores whose closing sales I've attended, generates 
mostly the wish that I'd been there to pick up some bargains.

During the late 80s, when record stores were closing out their regular 
vinyl stock, I picked up an enormous number of bargains from various 
shops, but I never was able to confirm my prediction that, when the 
last LP was left in the last classical record bin, it would be of works 
by Max Reger.

A link at the bottom of the Times article leads to another article 
complaining about the dearth of new music by British composers being 
played by British orchestras.  Welcome to the club.  But seeing the 
names of composers offered, can it be any wonder?  David Sawer is all 
right, but I sure won't be running to hear any George Benjamin.

response 95 of 106:

Jul 18 05:21 UTC 2003

One more Ann Arbor CD store has folded.
While down on South University for Art Fair today, I saw an empty 
storefront where The Record Exchange used to be.  Staff at Ulrich's 
said the music store had closed within the last few days.
 
I was only at this shoppe two or three times; it sold a mix of new
and used discs, had no detectable folk section, and in general was aimed
at a younger audience than me.  

This was the last CD shop in the student-oriented South University
area, which previously hosted Tower and Michigan Where House Records.

I've been mourning the loss of the wonderful CD clearance tables 
which used to dominate my Art Fair spending.  Schoolkids, Where House, 
and Tower would put hundreds of slow-selling CDs out on sidewalk tables
during art fair, with prices between ten dollars all the way down to maybe
two dollars.  You could be rewarded for your digging by real gems.
Even the sad-sack Discount Records might have something worthwhile -- 
their street tables were dominated by rubbish like no-name, unknown-label
classical compilations.   In today's trip to the art fair I saw no CD
clearance tables anywhere.