Depressing Message From Founder Of Newbury Comics

Newbury Comics is a great store...I'm in Boston 2-3 times per year, and spend WAY more than I should at NC each time...I usually alternate between the Norwood and Newbury stores - the Newbury street store has that great feeling of being the "original", and has a bit better selection of new vinyl, but the Norwood has just a GREAT selection of used vinyl, new vinyl, and used CD's...with the used CD's being really cheap. Also...free parking.

The one thing that makes life tough for a chain like NC, is that in addition to these awesome stores are a bunch of boring suburban mall stores, akin to the HMV mall stores in Canada. These stores don't bring much value to the consumer IMHO - the prices are high and the selection is low (both realities due, in part, to high rent). The problem with NC is the corporate "company growth" aspect of it - the main stores are great stores with plenty of foot traffic. I just hope that the great stores don't become casualties of the not-so-great stores.

In Montreal, there's a great store called Aux 33 Tours, with loads of selection and tons of traffic, that opened about 3 years ago. Its success is proof that you can make a go of it in this industry, if you use your financing to support a store with great selection rather than a bunch of stores with limited selection (I've picked up Japanese imports, original UK Beatles pressings, new MoFi pressings, new indie rock releases and cheap run-of-the-mill $1 records alike there). I just hope that they don't see fit to expand to 3 dozen stores like NC did...there's no market for 30 awesome record stores, but there's definitely room for a few of them in any big city!

 

I just bought a bunch of used cd's from them last week when they had one of their amazing "flash sales". It was buy one used cd, get one of equal or lesser value for $1.....and it wasn't just single cd's, it was multiple-cd sets and box sets....I'd never seen anything like it.

Anyway, when I left there, I had spent $48, and came away with:

Jimi Hendrix Experience purple box set (brand new but sold as used)
Pink Floyd "Is there anybody out there" box set
Herman's Hermits Retrospective sacd
Beach Boys Greatest Hits Vol. 2
Paul Simon Hearts & Bones Target
Steve Winwood Nine Lives still sealed but sold as used

I always have a fear in the back of my head that not only N.C., but also the awesome Bull Moose Music will go under, leaving us all with nothing but Walmart, Target and Worst Buy. That day will suck big time.

 

They are the best of New England, but I am surprised that the original owners did not get out yet. I seem to recall they made their chain available a few years ago -- but I guess no takers, which makes sense. They've navigated some fierce waters for longer than most would dare, and if they have to come ashore, they have to come ashore.

As much as I will miss them, they have no choice -- I don't wish them to have their years of success followed by personal bankruptcies.

A clothing store makes sense. Sounds like more expensive clothing than what their music stores have. Their music stores have a lot of impulse buy things, but a lot of the fun stuff is no longer selling. Action figures for example. Newbury Comics always had a wall of action figures - but there are not many action figures being produced anymore, let alone are there people who can afford to buy them. (A few shows like Doctor Who have action figures, but the past 3 or 4 years has seen most action figure companies hibernating for better days. The days when a big film = a series of action figures has been over for a long time now).

So, a clothing store makes sense.

Their logo is famous for being dashed off in 5 minutes, rather than being a focus-group determined logo.

 

Really sad to come across this thread tonight, just after seeing that Ear X-Tacy in Louisville closed. I've been hearing some disturbing things about the working conditions at the Amazon fulfillment centers, and with Borders just closed and the recent developments with EMI, well...I need to walk away from the computer screen and put something on the stereo...




Now playing on Ariel Stream: Everything But The Girl - Walking Wounded

 

I tried to buy The Killers Christmas CD Singles but they refused to sell/send them to the UK.

 

When I left Cambridge in '99 there was a Strawberries, HMV, Tower, and Newbury Comics all right in Harvard Square, all with a good selection of new CDs (and some with used sections as well). The good old days! I moved back to the area a year and a half ago and NC is the only one left, and it's teetering. I wish them well--and do what I can to patronize their business--but it's hard to be optimistic, given the trends.

 

They had a store in the Providence Place Mall for a few years, but it closed. It was kind of treat to be able to walk into a mall and walk out with an honest-to-goodness vinyl LP.

 

NC has been my primary source for music, video and bizarre t-shirts since 1980. It was a destination store, a place I always planned my trips into Cambridge/Boston around. They had all the rare stuff you couldn't find in the burbclaves. It was one-stop shopping for any rocker. I still rely on them for my DVD and CD purchases, both new and used. Their Norwood location actually has a great vinyl selection, and if you shop wisely, you can get some really good deals in there. The staff at most locations are some of the coolest retail folks you'll ever meet, knowledgeable about many different genres and always willing to talk music. I've bought music in their stores based solely on the fact that the staff were playing it over the sound system while I was shopping. Losing this chain would be a serious blow to the area.

Mike can talk about the crappy market for CDs, but I think he and his partner just expanded too much. They opened too many locations. In my opinion, the chain needs to scale back and keep its Norwood, Newbury St, Harvard and Fanuel Hall locations. They may even have to pick one of those stores to close, but it would be a shame, because these are the ones that are still worthy of making a destination out of, especially the Norwood store.

They need to get back to being the place where you can get the rare stuff in everything they sell--music, video, clothing. They'd get a lot more of my money if I could buy the new MOFIs and AFs when they came out. Heck, sometimes I can't even find an old title I'm looking for. The only reason I resort to online buying is because Newbury Comics doesn't have it and won't order it for me. I know we're a small part of the market, but if they started making it easier for audio/video geeks to get what they're looking for without resorting to Amazon and their bad HR practices, I think they'd do better than they are.

 

Norwood is OK. Newbury Street is OK. Harvard is good. Fanuel Hall? Come on. That's a stupid location and if you start to prune back the chain, that one goes. No parking, and catering to tourists isn't how a record store makes money.

Newton is a lot better location than Fanuel Hall.

And forget about rare stuff. The big margins are in all the non music stuff. You can't download it and the kids still want it. You make more on a $4 button than on a $15 CD, your inventory costs are very low, and you sell a bunch of them. That's just how it is.

 

Agreed 100%. It seems like they're trying to be a big chain, in a time where big chains just don't work. If they get away from the "corporate" side of being Newbury Comics, and just focus on having 5 great stores...I suspect they'll be around forever, basically.

I don't like it when a business guy blames "the market" (meaning, his customers) for his misfortune. His own decision to expand as he did is the problem. An expansion decision driven likely by dreams of selling for mega $$$ and sailing off in the sunset.

 

I don't recall an era of merger/acquisition in the record store business.

 

I have spent a lot of money at Newbury Comics... until Bull Moose Music moved into town. Bull Moose typically beats NCs' prices by a large margin, especially for used stuff.

If they do close, I will miss them, but not as much as I would if it were Bull Moose.

 

We need stores like these in NYC.

 

I disagree with the idea they opened too many stores. They went for low-rent locations, in communities with plenty of teenagers and no competition. That those teens have grown up and left, and there's no teens buying CDs to replace them, isn't a typical case of over-expansion causing problems.

And besides, I'd speculate that they needed more stores in order to be able to place large orders and be given deals.

 

Maybe they need to borrow a page from Hot Topic. Except make it more for adults

 

Trans World (predecessor/current owner of FYE) did a bunch of roll ups in the 80's I believe.

Among the Boston area chains, they swallowed up Good Vibrations and Popcorn, to name two. Readers in other parts of the country can add to this list, which deserves its own thread (if one doesn't already exist...too tired to search myself )

 

That probably is the reason for the expansion, though the availability of cheap credit during the boom years would be another factor.

 

That's a shame. I've been to Richmond on business a few times over the years and always stopped in Plan 9. Big store with many bargains.

 

To be honest, I wouldn't be surprised if Amoeba eventually succumbs. They seem busy, but not quite the shoulder to shoulder busy that I'd expect their business plan (at least in LA) expects.

 

Boy, I hope you're wrong.

 

I don't discern any self-pity or blame in Dreese's comments. He's really just saying to his loyal (music-based) customers, "we have to change with the market, please bear with us, and by the way, do you have any suggestions?"

He's also not saying (at least publicly) that the chain is about to go under. He's only making it clear that, after decades of success, music can no longer be the primary driver of the business.

 

Then you don't remeber Record Bar becoming Tracks being gobbled up by Blockbuster Music, and going bust.

(Not that I agree with that other poster's premise, I've seen many longstanding stores, both indies and chains go under, and it is because their customers abandoned them in favor of, at first pirating and later downloads)

 

I was in the Leominster store today and casually asked the manager about Black Friday - whether they would be open earlier and about new releases for that day. HE HAD NO CLUE! Didn't know about opening earlier and had NO IDEA about any special record releases on that day. Jeeesh.

 

Why would the manager of the Leominster store know what the chain is planning for two weeks from now? Generally, corporate offices work on a week by week basis. If something big's being planned for Black Friday, a few buyers in the central office might be aware of it but until it's firmed up, leaking a potential deal could ruffle some feathers if that deal doesn't pan out.

Also, I can't remember there ever being a record release on Black Friday. Doorbusters, sure, but never a new release. Releases are always on Tuesday.