What'll we do when all the record shops are closed?

[Ray Montee (RIP)]

Just read another of Bobbe Seymour's exciting and informational Newletters.......

Therein he touched upon, among other things, the Ernest Tubb Record Shop there in Nashville.

How many of you can attest to the fact that many of your golden oldies are on your shelf today because of the top-flight service by the staff at Ernest Tubb's Record Shoppe?

I'd have to say that at least 1/3 of my somewhat large collection, is the result of ET's mail order
service. I'd routinely send them my IMPOSSIBLE TO FIND records list and in the majority of instances, they'd ship almost by return mail. Don't find service like that at a majority of today's local mall record shops.

HOW MANY OF YOU........shop there today or have in the past? Where have you found the best service this day and age for acquiring records/cd's.........

[Stuart Legg]

Close the Store.
Ernest Tub Record Shop online. What could be better than that?

[Roger Rettig]

I always scoffed at internet shopping, declaring that I'd always get my recordings (and lots of other stuff) at a 'proper' store.

Now I almost exclusively shop on-line - Amazon gives me access to an incredible inventory, especially as they act as agents for small dealers, and Ebay can be relied upon to find anything else. If a recording isn't available at either of these resources, then it's probably unavailable anywhere.

And it's all there at the click of a mouse - and usually far cheaper than I can get it at a store. These days, I only browse at the mall stores - then I see what I can get it for on-line.

Is it a good thing or a bad thing? I don't know, but it's the way it is now.

By the way - I've also declared that I'll 'never just by a download of music - that I have to have a physical product'. I wonder how long I'll stay with that resolution....

[P Gleespen]

I've done a bit of business with ET Recordshop. They've got a great selection.

I agree with Roger about Amazon. You really can get just about anything you want, and often for WAY less than anywhere else.

On the other hand, I do think it's important to support the local economy too. If I can find what I'm looking for in a "mom and pop" store I'll usually buy it from them, even if it's a little more money. Local shops will usually bend over backwards to special order anything you want.

I almost never shop for music at the "big stores" (Borders, BestBuy etc...), and the few times I have done, I feel like I'm putting my neighbors out of business.

[Sonny Priddy]

You Can find About Any Country Record At Lawrence Record Shop On Lower Broadway In Nashville Also. SONNY.

[Roger Rettig]

Please don't think me heartless in this matter - I'm probably more sentimental that the next guy - but change happens all the time, and those that evolve will find a way to stay in business.

Unfortunately, as the collapse of even the huge CD chain stores (Tower, etc) proves, there's no way for a retail shop to keep it all in stock.

Somethings will remain immune (for me, anyway) - I won't buy a guitar without having it in my hands first.

It is sad to think about someone earning their living for a lifetime only to have it erode before his very eyes - once upon a time, we would all have known a lamplighter who would roam the streets at dusk plying his trade. Thomas Edison put paid to his job...

(edited to spell 'Thomas' correctly )

[Roger Rettig]

[David Mason]

I know a few musicians who sell their CD's through CDBaby and CDUniverse, and they couldn't be happier - they're keeping 3 to 5 times the amount of money that they'd be getting if they were selling it through, and supporting, the Hollywood music business infrastructure. Irving Azoff & Tommy Mottola lose, and the guys writing & playing the music win. Hmmm.

[HowardR]

There are many busineses that are going the way of......the buggy whip manufacturers.......and I'm one of them........sad, yes.......harp on it?.....no.....I'll move forward.......

film
poloroid film
pay phones
movie rental stores
newspapers
coin operated machines
game arcades


the times they are a changin'........actually.....changed......

[Richard Sevigny]

What'll we do when all the record shops are closed?

I'd like to think we'll spend more time listening to LIVE music

[Mark Edwards]

I have never been to the Nashville ET Record Shop, but have almost moved into the one in the Fort Worth, Texas Stockyards. Where else am I going to find all the Johnny's such as Bush, Rodriguez, Cash or Horton, Ray Price, Charley Pride and very knowledgeable folks that have forgotten more about country music than I'll ever know. A.J. who is the manager of the Stockyards ET Record shop is one of the nicest, sweetest most knowledgeable people I've ever known.

A.J. has helped me put together a record/CD collection that would be envied by most and she is honestly involved in the country music scene. See her at Pearls whenever there is a name coming in with their band to play. Any of the two E.T. record shops closing would be a travesty it's not just the convenience of being a mouse click away it's the fact that most of us on this forum or those that love music have spent many hours flipping through record bins full of hard to find recordings.

On top of that I have used E.T. Record shop as a place to take out-of-towner's to go listen to Jimmy Eaves do his Hank Williams Sr. thing and sing some of the old standards on many occasions. E.T.s is an icon and hopefully will withstand the Microsoft, Apple, HP craze. I'm all for progress but some things just can't be replaced.

[Tay Joslin]

I came across these folks from E-Bay:
www.thegreatescapeonline.com

I purchased a very rare album,
Freddie Hart Presents The Heartbeats
from 1975. Great condition, and
the total with shipping was only
$9.00 and some change.

ET's store is great, too!

[Janice Brooks]

You don't want to know what I've spent at ET's on my visits the past 2 years. Nobody beats them for deep catalog country and bluegrass

I also give a major donation to Waterloo when I'm in Austin.

However I have broken down and bought some albums as downloads when I was anxus for something for the station

[chris ivey]

what's a 'record'?

[Alan Brookes]

Technology changes fast. I saw a guy at Goodwill bringing back a Super-8 Movie Camera because it didn't work. He'd been trying to shove an 8mm video tape into it.
They had a professional-level reel-to-reel tape deck which they were selling fo $10 because they said it wouldn't record. They'd looped the tape such that it didn't pass over the heads.
They had a videodisk player which they were trying to play LPs on.

Musicians will always have to find an outlet for their music, or no-one will ever become known to the public. What with piracy gone rampant and every kid sitting there with a hard disk recorder and music-making software there's a lot more competition out there than there ever was.

On the other hand, with the internet there's more of an audience. Take your own hobby, Hawaiian music. Before the internet you would have to look round used record stores, or advertise, in order to find the music you wanted. Nowadays you can search the internet and come across someone thousands of miles away who you would never otherwise have heard about, but who has the record you're looking for.

There was a book store just down the road here, run by an old Persian fellow, who had many rare books that had been on his shelves for decades. He decided to post them on the internet, and sold them at premium prices in a couple of weeks. Now he's closed the store and buys and sells books from his home without having to rent a shop, and his takings have quadrupled.

Another guy I knew had a band shop and sold instruments. He had had some obscure instruments in for decades and couldn't sell them. He advertised them on the internet and sold them in weeks.

The internet is actually saving items which would otherwise have ended up in the trash. Knowing that someone out there wants what you have and that someone out there has what you want has saved so much. About a year ago I bought a flood-damaged Fender D10 PSG from someone the other side of the country who was thinking of trashing it. Now that guitar will end up being used again.

It's a long post, but the point I'm getting at is that record stores may mostly disappear, but the market, and human demand, will always find another way.

[Larry Bressington]

Close the retail front and go mail sales, saves a lot of rent!

[Karen Lee Steenwijk]

Its amazing how many records you can find at "Flea markets" and "old pawn shops" or stores like that. I have found many records at "yard sales" that are classics.Even the old eight tracks.
Antique stores you can find box sets of of some really old classics.
I found the complete "Tex Ritter" box set for two dollars. A lot of "Bucks" albums also.

Karen

[b0b]

I shop at my friend Doug Jayne's place in Santa Rosa called The Last Record Store. Doug is a real vinyl maniac.