Depressing Message From Founder Of Newbury Comics

They're my favourite e-tailer

 

They were very much a music store in the 80s, despite the comics always being there. Always the place to go to pick up the latest imports or indie singles...of course those were different times.

 

whoa, is there still a top 40?

 

Works for me...

 

It all goes back to margins, the margins on CDs and DVDs are 20+ years old. Can't make $2-$3 on a disc at the same time paying employees $9-10 hour in addition to the rest of the overhead which has increased dramatically.

When I bought my first store in 1999, the aggregate costs for utilities, trash removal, phones, heat, power was approximately $180/month (averaged over the course of the year)...when I closed that location in 2009 it was pretty close to $600 and in cold months much more...

 

I'm impressed by the message. This is a fellow who knows his brand has a loyal following of customers who trust and like NC....and he knows that he can tap into that customer base for some quality feedback that will help inform him about how to re-position his business more effectively for the future.

At the same time, in addition to his tough competition at Amazon, he also has to be worried about long-time customers like me. I'm going to be 58 years old this month. I've spent thousands of dollars at NC over the years.

I'm lucky enough to have a really good job that pays me well, I'm a lifelong music buff with thousands of CDs, box sets, albums, etc......and I'm starting to ask myself this hard question: do I really need (vs. "want") any more music? I'm asking myself, if I buy this Rolling Stones Some Girls Deluxe or Beach Boys Smile Deluxe, will I actually play it enough to justify shelling out those dollars? And what the heck am I going to do with this stuff if my retirement years are shorter than I hope they'll be? The fact that I'm even asking myself these questions is a little sobering to me, in the past I always justified it with the thought that I've got a lifetime to enjoy it....but that justification isn't ringing quite as true as it used to.

 

Yikes, I hadn't seen this when I put my other post up in the Smile thread. Love Newbury, especially the Norwood store with the used vinyl. The manager up there is a great guy, too. He used to work down at the Warwick store.

 

Good post and some sobering yet true thoughts, I can relate.

Not to threadcrap, but this news about Newbury is indeed a shame, but I've never even seen one although I once ordered a signed cd from them online.
Also, NOTHING was as brutal to myself as a music lover/buyer than when Tower Records closed their doors. I still miss browsing that place with all the new releases, imports, huge selection of back catalog, magazine and dvd sections...I gotta stop I think I'm gonna cry here...

 

Bull Moose Music, in Maine, is in the same boat. They now sell brand new(and used)books as a large part of their store.

Evan

 

I'm in Brisbane Australia and have not had a decent local record store near by for many years. The last one, Rockaway Records moved away years ago to a mall 40kms away so what with fuel costs it is cheaper to buy online.
However I did get nostalgic last weekend and took the drive down there and it was great to relive the feel of browsing in a real store.

I've mainly relied on online CD purchase mostly via Amazon and Amazon Marketplace sellers.
Newbury Comics is one of my preferred marketplace sellers, the service is very reliable and friendly.
Hope they can remain in the business of selling CDs.

 

I hate to see that Newbury is having a tough time (although who isn't these days). I have spent a lot of money at Newbury Comics over the past few years, it is a great store with a terrific jazz selection. The problem is that physical media is dying. I still buy cds and vinyl, but most people I know don't (they just download). I used to buy a lot of dvds there as well, but now it is too convenient to use on-demand which has dramatically cut down my dvd purchases. I will continue to go to Newbury until high resolution downloads become widely available and then I will go there only occasionally.

 

Never heard of them. Are they strictly East Coast??

 

They are medium sized chain (around 30 shops) in New England. Mostly in MA, with a more limited presence in RI, CT, NH and ME. In this region they are kind of a big deal. They were very closely tied to the punk and new wave movement in the area. One of the founders also published Boston Rock, an important punk/new wave fanzine. Aimee Mann worked at the original shop on Newbury St. once upon a time. A lot of Boston area band members have done time at Newbury Comics. They are definitely an important New England cultural institution.

They started off as a comics shop, but their focus has long been primarily on music. They are known for having great prices on new releases and a good selection of new and used CDs. They've never been a super deep catalog store like Tower was, but have always been much deeper than the average store. Lately I've noticed more floor space given over to other things--toys, fashion, etc.--but the music selection has remained quite good.

 

That was sad to read this afternoon. I've been buying CDs/DVDs from Newbury for well over 20 years and certainly spend more than $1000/year. I've always enjoyed their knowledgeable staff and it's always been a pleasure to talk music with the folks in our Nashua, NH store. They've turned me onto so many new artists I wasn't aware of and vice versa over the years. I'd really hate losing this chain as it's the only brick-and-mortar store that I truly enjoy going into. Other than food, music, and books we buy everything online these days. If they have to sell a few more posters/T-shirts/games/fashion accessories to survive or need to consolidate stores I can certainly understand the need to do so. If they fold, and I certainly hope they don't, they had a great, almost unbelievable, run in very turbulent economic and technological times.

 

Newbury Comics is a treasure. I don't live in New England/Boston area, but try to go there when I can and have ordered from them online.

 

I used to live in Boston and Newbury Comics in Back Bay was a 2-3x a week visit. Good people and very often good prices and always an excellent selection.

You have to admire Mike's asking his customers what they want. That is really an indication of a good retailer.

 

I think Mr. Dreese is right: the industry is going through a very difficult transitional stage, and he's gotta scramble to try to figure out a way to stay in business. I wish them much luck -- I've bought all kinds of stuff from Newbury's over the years, and always thought they did a decent job.

I've seen so many book stores, music stores, and video stores crumble over the last ten years... it's really a changing world. If they could just fix the economy, 50% of these problems would go away.

 

Yes they were, but the 80's is a long time ago. This latest salvo just confirms what's been happening in their stores over the last 5-10 years. They have a better selection of merchandise as alternative sellers on Amazon than they do in any of their stores.

 

Very depressing. I go to the Norwood store at least once a week, and usually walk out with something.
I bring my little girl and she plays in an area close to the vinyl (while I browse 200+ records), with leggos and toys provided, and everyone is happy. Its a fantastic store, well run, and very, very friendly.
Im totally screwed for vinyl if it goes away, or discontinues offering new and used records.
Things ARE changing. But not for the better.

 

The idea of a mall store doesn't thrill me, but if that's what it takes to stay in business...

Knowing the space they're going into, too bad it isn't located near the Apple Store, not so much for the CD vs. iPod irony as the fact that both stores will draw the same younger crowd.

 

At least Newbury is smart enough to realize that they can't remain as they are if they are to stay in business. I applaud them and hope they are successful. So many businesses fail because they lack any sort of foresight. The only constant is change.

 

Hopefully they run their real stores better than their Ebay store...

 

I liked Newbury Comics in the 90's and would always visit if up there for The Game. But, Cutler's in New Haven was a better store in those days. The just-lost Ear-X-Tacy in Louisville was better than them both: they had huge selections in bluegrass and alt/noise/hardcore rock and also carried large numbers of European and Japanese imports. They were stocking No-Man and Porcupine Tree (Steven Wilson) as far back as 1993!

I'd agree that physical sales are still big enough to justify CD's and records being printed. I don't think that downloads and burning are the only source of lost sales at B&M's. It's Amazon and to a lesser extent eBay that is also hurting them.

 

Hell, we're not going away yet! But some of the folks above have some pretty good insights into what i'm thinking. This has been my life. Got a ton of (200+) personal replies to the letter, and many hundreds of survey responses. It's so good to get such a broad set of views from hundreds of customers. I'll publish selected comments in a week or so. Some common views and a lot of diverse comments as well. Keep in mind our Newbury Street rent is in excess of $40,000 per MONTH, so that somewhat limits our options. Other stores are between $3,500-25,000. The one mall hybrid we opened actually had INCREASED music and dvd sales, so who knows? Anyhow its been a long time since i've seen this forum. A good read on many topics. Thanks to all involved. cheers - mike dreese co-founder newbury comics