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Franz & Josef Records, Berlin

MR_ZIMMSMR_ZIMMS 210 Posts
edited June 2013 in Strut Central
While touring with the lovely Caro Emerald I visited a few recordshops in Berlin yesterday and this is what happened :

Him (the seller in the shop): "What are you looking for?" me : "Everything" him : "I don't believe you, you won't find what you're looking for in here" me : "how do you know that? I'm just in the store for 2 minutes & you don't even know me" he : "I know guys like you, you're a collector & I don't like collectors" me : "So you don't like me to spend my money here?" him : "I repeat because you don't understand, I hate collectors so you better leave and never get back. Guys like you are timewasters" me "I'm amazed, Huh? What?" him "Yes Timewasters, that's what guys like you are" me : "Sorry, So sorry to have spoiled your precious time" him "You don't have to sorry" me : "yes, please, soooo sorry, bye bye"

  Comments

  • YemskyYemsky 708 Posts
    Der geh??rt echt in die Klapse.

    http://i.qype.co.uk/place/529569-Schallplatten-Franz-u-Josef-Berlin

    Quote:
    "5 reviews of Schallplatten Franz u. Josef in English
    frauke-anke (13-10-2012)

    Der Besitzer dieses Ladens sollte sich ernsthaft in Therapie begeben. Der hat nicht mehr alle Tassen im Schrank. Neurotisches, misanthropisches Arschloch.
    Die Sammlung ist ok. Teilweise arg ??berteuert. Bei den 5??? Scheiben, die drau??en stehen, lassen sich teilweise gute Sachen finden.
    Aber generell denke ich, dass man diesen Shop meiden sollte. Diese arge Unfreundlichkeit ist kein sch??nes Erlebnis.
    Zudem kann man die Platte selbst nicht anh??ren. Absolutes Controlfreak-Gehabe. Furchtbar.

    Ausweichen kann man zum Shop Richtung Eberswalder auf der anderen Stra??enseite. Netter kleine Laden. Ist zwar teilweise auch etwas ??berteuert, aber absolut im Rahmen (Wir sprechen hier von 3 bis 7 ??? ??ber discogs-Preise).

    L1N (05-06-2012)

    Incredibly rude and arrogant, the worst kind of record shop snobbery. He has a sign saying "When the last club/bar/record shop in Prenzlauer Berg has closed down, it will be the kind of provincial backwater you moved to Berlin to escape", but as far as I'm concerned, this place should be the first to go. Avoid.

    louisscully (28-06-2011)

    Owner is a psycho. I (carefully) took two 12"s out of their sleeves to check the condition of each before (carefully) putting them back. I then found him in my face screaming "STOP IT STOP IT", having run outside to where I was, fuming with me. I was a little shocked & said nothing for about a a minute, then I went in to see what his problem was, asking calmly could I not check the condition of records before buying them. He just kept screaming "STOP IT STOP IT STOP IT".

    Avoid!

    Absolute weirdo!

    friendlyandfair (05-02-2011)

    I was at the shop today. Saw two records that I wanted to buy. Put one back because I needed to get more cash out from machine. BUT wanted to first buy one of the two. The owner said my girlfriend and I were only wasting his time and could not understand why we came to shop without more money. So we could not buy the record we wanted and we were thrown out! Best example of the worst type of record shop snobbery!! Avoid at all costs!

    Jareth (15-01-2011)

    By far and away the worst record store in Berlin. The vinyl in 99% rubbish, wildly overpriced and the owner is so obnoxious that he personally insults customers in the shop. He was called an asshole to his face by two different people in both English and German in the space of five minutes! It's a wonder he survives, let alone the shop. Avoid like syphilis."
  • FrankFrank 2,370 Posts
    Someone (I'm looking at you, M***e or J***y) should open a second hand record store in Berlin. Berlin stands out amongst all cosmopolitan first world cities as the single one with the by far worst, most useless 2nd hand record stores. There's only one that halfway resembles a real store that usually has at least some halfway interesting items although at about 50%-100% above what you'd pay in a NYC store. Not that the stores that just have crap wouldn't be overpriced as well, they have 10,- and 5,- Euro bins instead of $1 bins. And they all stay in business for many, many years.

    Of course because they're all idiots, you can also get steals when they get in new stock that has not already been cherrypicked by ebay sellers. I once bought an EX copy of the Mathar 45 for 7 Euro which had been priced by the owner of the largest and least terrible store in the city which should illustrate just how clueless these people are. You run a 2nd hand record shop in Berlin and don't even know about Dave Pike?

    Get citizenship or a bogus studying deal, marry a Kraut or somehow else get to move your stock into the country as part of a private move so you can declare it your private collection and avoid all duties. Then proceed to make a killing in one of the most fun (and low rent) cities around.
  • skelskel You can't cheat karma 5,033 Posts
    THIS JUST IN: RECORD STORE OWNER IS A FRUITCAKE

    More at 11...
  • Jonny_PaycheckJonny_Paycheck 17,825 Posts
    Frank, didn't we talk about this once? Not so far out of the realm of possibility considering that my father lives in Berlin and he's not getting any less senile (may need care-related)

    I've been to this shop and found some ok stuff. VG Neu records for 75eu I will pass though.

    That was generally my record shopping experience in berlin - one or two halfway decent shops but many, many either crammed to the gills with reissues, or prices that even if they were in dollars would be way more than my shop or any other in the states. Let alone the exchange rate.

    Anyhow, I will be back in August and look forward to visiting that amazing Italian joint you sent me to...
  • piedpiperpiedpiper 1,279 Posts
    This one is already covered in the cityguide as well: http://www.soulstrut.com/index.php/city_guide/indepth/franz_josef/ Well known for being crazy.

    The concept of selling records at higher prices in other parts of the world is not totally new even to Berlin. I haven??t been for a while, but i.e. this ???Record store" (http://www.soulstrut.com/index.php/city_guide/indepth/the_record_store1/) used to regularly receive more or less common records from the US and sold them to happy customers.
  • CosmophonicCosmophonic 1,172 Posts
    Cross-post from waxi-thread about things you hear in record-stores:


    Went into a certain notorious record store here in Berlin two days ago. It has a bad rep for having a psychopathic owner, but I'd been a couple of times before with no problems and nice LPs brought home, I was in the area waiting for friends, so I figured I'd go in and have a browse. After about ten minutes of checking out a couple of boxes on the floor the owner approaches me, gets in my face and we have the following conversation:

    Owner (in English): What are you looking for?
    Me: Huh?
    O (we switch to German): What are you doing?
    M: I'm looking for records?
    O: No you are not.
    M: ?
    O: You are doing nothing but looking and looking. There is nothing in here for you, everything is shit and too expensive.

    He then takes the couple of LPs I've taken out of the bin and shoves them back. Then he asks me to leave.


    The problem with this store is that there can be some really good stuff in the bins, and priced ok for Berlin standards. But, really, you just don't want to deal with this guys menstrual cycle!
  • YemskyYemsky 708 Posts
    He must be related to the guy who runs the Record Collector on Melrose Avenue in LA. which was my worst "never gonna come back here again" record shopping experience so far.
  • GropeGrope 2,970 Posts
    i avoided to go there. a friend of mine got kicked out though.

    i'm down with opening a store in berlin. looking for new job opportunities

    it would be great to get a proper store together. berlin doesn't really have any good stores.
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