Difficult used record/CD store owners

all of these posts remind me of probably the strangest record store that i've been in.
it was in springfiel, il. and it was 1/2 record store 1/2 furniture store.
i got there right around 5 pm, and the furnitur store must've closed at 5 because shortly after i arrived an old woman who looked like she must've been in her 80's put on her rain coat and hat and shuffeled to the door.
everyone in the place wished her a good night.
in the record store there was one guy behind the counter who did not get out of his chair.
all of the cd's were in glass cases (glass on top).
you had to call someone over to get any cd for you, and there were filled ashtrays on every single counter.
i don't smoke, but after i finished shopping, i smelled like i had smoked a pack myself.
i did find some good stuff though.

 

Yahoo auctions Japan is also not bad if you live in Japan.

Even places like Recofan and Disk Union are dwindling? In 2004 I was there and loved 'em.

 

Let me take this opportunity to mention a used store that does the customer well: Flipside II, in Pompton Lakes, NJ. The owner doesn't overprice, and the couple of times when I found something without a listed value, he took no longer than one minute to look something up in a book, and then quoted me a very fair price. Currently, his CD stock isn't all that great, but he does have a lot of cool vinyl.

As for the other used shops in my neck of the NJ woods...

 

I'm almost positive the story I'm about to tell was from Bill's in Dallas.

I was there in 1988 or so, hitting a bunch of used record shops. I'd gone down to see BeatleCity which was housed at the West End while its home in England was being refurbished or something. I'd just started getting into bootlegs, and went in to a record shop. I browsed around a bit, and finally asked the guy behind the counter if there were any "Rare European imports" (I knew the catch-phrase) of the Beatles.

His answer: "I don't have any of those if I don't know you. I don't know you, so I don't have any."

I shrugged, said "fair enough," and left, never to return.

It was a pretty dry run that time--I think I got one EP, the FROM US TO YOU one with horrid sound.

JcS

 

I once drove from Sacramento to Redwood City to shop at the Record Man. That's almost a 3 hour drive on a Saturday afternoon. I asked the kid at the counter if I can go into the Country room (which you have to go outside & up some stairs to get to). He said that the Record Man was out & he didn't know when he'd be back. I said "I've just driven over from Sacramento, don't you have a key to the upper floor?". He said it wouldn't matter since he's not allowed to sell anything unless the Record Man is there to price it.

 

Had this happen once. Went to an old haunt that had been inherited by the owner's son. Amazing 45 back stock after so many decades, hadn't been there in many years and was quite surprised it was still well stocked.

Picked out a few things and had the teenage clerk check me out at the posted $2 a record rate. Got my change and proceeded to head to the door. Young owner comes running in....

"wait, you can't buy those, they're not priced"

I explained the purchase was consumated under the store's clearly stated terms and that was that. The employee was following the marked price policy and if there was a problem then either the employee should be properly trained from this point forward or the owner shouldn't leave the store attended by anyone less than himself.

A few under the breath utterances from the owner and I was on my way. A short time later the back stock was sold for pennies on the dollar to another store as nobody would shop there since "he bought the guide". He then got the bright idea to go all video rentals which held him together for a few years until the town around him absolutely died. Then the major rental chains came to the new development across town and he was toast.

The sad thing is the father was a true gentleman start to finish. Had been in the record business since the days Glenn Miller came to town. How the son ended up being such a dud is beyond me.

 

Just curious, but has anyone ever bought anything from this character? The only time I went I left right after I saw them bust out the price guide to price a customer's stack of vinyl. I literally couldn't believe my eyes.

On a related note, do any of you Bay Area folks ever shop at Big Al's Record Barn? They have an ongoing "sale" - everything in the store is 50% off the marked price. Of course the marked price is so blatantly inflated that it doesn't really matter. Their prices don't seem tied to either condition or rarity and it doesn't look like they've added a single LP to their inventory since 1981. Strange place.

 

I actually did, that one time I was there that I earlier posted on. It took ten minutes of hemming and hawing for the clerk to finally give me a price and sell me a UK Stateside copy of The Beach Boys Surf's Up. It ended up like something around $18 or so, which I thought was pretty high, but went with it anyway. That was in 1998 or so. It was in really nice shape, so I'm not so down on the price I got it for now, but I had a whole bunch of other things I wanted prices on and that one album took the guy so long to come up with a price for I decided the whole exercise wasn't worth it. I doubt I'd ever go back, unless they were having a huge going out of business sale.

Never been there, but looked through a lot of their eBay auctions. Everything seemed way overpriced and thrashed.

Dale

 

True. The store I go to has turntables (thankfully) that anyone can use to sample records. One day I saw a guy holding an LP as if it were a sandwich, thumb planted firmly on one side and fingers all over the other side. I think I winced. Oddly (to me) the store doesn't have any Discwasher pads for use at its turntables.

 

I think I've been to that store -- on El Camino, right? Small storefront, but with all the vinyl inventory sorted and filed in countless shelves in the back? If that's it, I went there once, and found a pristine mint copy of Lionel Hampton's Travelin Band on Verve that I had been searching for. I am sure I was probably a bit overcharged ($50?) but I was happy to find it.

In Southern CA, there is Record Surplus on Pico. They throw stuff out as soon as they get it in, and even collectibles are (were?) reasonably priced. Owner and staff have years of experience, and are very helpful. But, it's hit and miss, so you needed to go often, but they move a lot of inventory, and it seemed to come in daily.

 

The supply is definitely dwindling, but I have seen some good signs. For one, a lot of the new collectors are completely (and obsessively) focused on these mini-LP sleeves, which keeps them away from the older CD isses that I am interested in. Of course, you need to open up each CD at the counter to check the pressing, but they are very patient.

 

Yes, it's called Salty's Record Attic, on 9th street between M and N streets in Modesto. Right next to Dan's Automotive. (Not the best area of town.) It's a real weird store; all fish aquarium equipment in the front, and records in the back. Her prices are pretty high. I used to think the owner was insane; she'd charge more than retail for stuff that was currently available; like $10 for the same pressing of AC/DC's "High Voltage" that you could get for $7.99 at the Wherehouse.

But I have bought some pretty good stuff there; a NM Abbey Road for $15, George Harrison's Electronic Sound for I think $15 (yeah pretty high, but I didn't care), and some other stuff. She's also got posters; there was a huge original Pink Floyd Live At Pompeii movie poster that I'm still kicking myself for not buying.

Everything is priced in there, and she doesn't haggle much. She marks the price with grease pencil on the inner wax of the record.

It's still there, a pretty interesting place.

 

Wow!! Sounds like a lot of folks here have been done wrong by TRM!

 

Yep that's the place. Ever since I stopped shopping there, the only used record store on the peninsula I ever set foot in is Vinyl Solution in San Mateo. I've known the owner there for several years. For the most part records are priced to sell. The only things that are priced on the high side are the handful of out of print MFSL 200g Anadisq LP's he has. One time I saw that he had a copy of Nirvana's "Nevermind" and it was $99!! This was five years ago. But someone came along and bought it.

 

That sounds like Bill's.

 

I won't name the store or it's owner, but, when that David Gilmour "Island" CD was released, he got a copy the Friday before it's release. I had ALL intentions of buying it when it came out on the following Tuesday and at HIS store, so I asked him if he would burn me a copy, to hold me over the weekend and he said, "That's not legal and I'd never do anything like that".

60% of this guys store inventory are bootlegs!

Not legal, huh? WHATEVER....

Chris C

 

He probably figured that if you heard it and didn't like it, you wouldn't end up buying it.

 

I lived in the Bay Area in the early 90's. I was in record Man once and was not impressed. Actually I was impressed with the huge collection when I first entered the door but the unfriendly/snobbish staff and way overpriced LPs did not impress. I think I walked out of there with a ridiculously priced Chuck Mangione record which at the time I had to have for some reason. I'm still scratching my head.

 

Man, I think I've been there too. Is that the one that is a few blocks from Streetlight Records in San Jose? I went in there once, and the only thing he had that I wanted (a VG+ stereo Philles Ronettes) had writing on the label so I passed. It is a strange place. The guy was nice enough, but I don't think he was big enough to be a Big Al.

The weirdest place I have been in by far in the Bay Area was a Beatles specialty store (I'm thinking it was on Judah Street?) called Let It Be Records. The owner was a Japanese-American named Cliff, and he had some AMAZING stuff, but he was a fan/collector, so he wouldn't sell a lot of it. The place was an absolute mess, and it was NEVER open. As I recall, their hours were something like Sunday, Tuesday-Thursday 1:00 - 4:00 p.m., or something ridiculous like that. I am sure it is long gone.

 

I hope it wasn't "Feels So Good" (where he is hugging his fluglehorn). That one is right up there with the "Sgt Pepper Soundtrack" and the Bee Gees "Spirits Having Flown" for the "70's record most likely to be found in a used record store" award.

 

There's a shop in New York City ( I won't say which), that I watch regularly now.

About 2 years ago I went in and saw that they must have just purchased a bunch of MFSL CDs from an estate sale or personal collection. There were about 35 or so. They were also behind glass , so I had to get the owner and ask him to open the door. He does, and I pick up 5 of them or so to look at the prices... This was me....

All of them were priced over $70, and this is for common run-of-the-mill UDII discs. I looked them over, put them back into the case, turned to him dead serious and said, "you'll never sell these at those prices." He looks at me with a disgusted face and says, "what are you? some kind of expert?" To which I responded, "Yes, in fact I am" and gave him a big smile. So then he goes, "Those are the prices, you don't like it? Don't buy it." So, I walked out the door and just as I left, I said, "Mark my words, you'll never move them at those prices."

I go back once a month solely to check on those MFSL discs. As of a week ago, they are still there...still sitting in exactly the same spot... for over 2 years. That's good business!

 

You should go back in and say "I told you so!".

 

I'm waiting for three years to do that.

I can't even imagine the number of people that saw them, looked at the price and then put them back. And this guy is an infamous "non-negotiator." If you attempt to haggle with him, he'll shut you out and refuse to talk to you for the remainder of the time you're there.

He also keeps about 1-200 CDs behind the counter to "make copies" with. If someone asks for a disc he doesn't have to sell, but has back there, he'll offer to make you a "copy" of it for $10! This guy is notorious for things like this, yet somehow the little hovel of a store keeps hanging on.