It's been a tough year for a lot of people, and while some record shops appear to flourish (Reckless Records OPENED new locations), others have gone on to the great big record shop in the sky. I'd like to take a moment to remember some great record shops which I had the pleasure of doing business with, as they have now quietly exited our lives.Miles of Music: This was a wonderful shop (based out of Texas I believe) which consistently carried autographed albums for the collection-obsessed (such as myself). A few signed albums off the top of my head were the latest from the Weakerthans, the last Porter Wagoner, Richmond Fontaine, Joe Henry and many others. They were also the one place where you could find Ryan Adams vinyl when there was no Ryan Adams vinyl to be had - you could have paid $80 on eBay for Cold Roses when they still had copies in stock. Their customer service was wonderful, their selection top notch and their passion for music (It's a Cracker!) was without doubt. They will be missed. EDIT: Apparently Miles of Music was not the shining light I had thought it was...
PopPolar: One of my go-to shops for all things Swedish & indie-pop, this was the ONLY place I could find the gray vinyl, bonus tracked-German pressing of The Legends' first record, Up Against the Legends. I think they might have even had t-shirts! Small-run CD-Rs, homemade sleeves and hard-to-find debuts, PopPolar was chock-full of rarities. Based out of Canada, it was a pleasure to not have to pay overseas shipping or awful dollar-conversion rates to get these gems. Érico ran a great shop, one that pains me is no longer with us.
There is a lot to be said for these specialty shops - and if they all leave us, we're going to all have to work a LOT harder to find interesting music and rare releases.
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The Shit List: Some shops closed that people really hated.
Awarestore.com: I didn't realize how much people hated this shop. I don't think I ordered from them more than once, but while some customers got SCREWED from their closing, it really appears that it's the artists who got FUCKED.
If you know of any other record shops that you'd like to add to either of these lists, or would like to post your thoughts on these shops - feel free to comment.
2 comments:
Well it's a shame that record stores are closing, packaging is being forsaken for digital delivery and quality is being judged and sacrificed to accommodate the lowest common denominator. It will be interesting to see where the music business is headed - meanwhile I'll keep stocking up...
Our local record shop in Milwaukee, WI on the east side is closing. Atomic Records has been open for like 24 years I believe and they are closing in February. I was heartbroken when I heard the news.
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