Record Store and Dealer Roll Call
DJ_NevilleC
1,922 Posts
Name of shop/store/web site:Location:Web site:Years in business:Partners or solo:Other sources of income?: Job(s) before opening store:Store specialties:Sell on-line? (never, some pieces, whole inventory on-line):E-bay (never, raers on occassion, weekly, daily):Number of records you take home from the shop weekly:Highest price for a sold record:Worst thing about having your own store:Best thing about havinng your own store:Three other stores you like:
Comments
1843 14th Street NW
Washington, DC 20009
202-328-3345
http://somrecordsdc.com/
Six months at current location. Two years at Crooked Beat Records before that.
No partners.
Only other sources of income are DJ gigs and my wife.
Was a journalist before selling records full time.
Store specializes in world music, hip-hop, jazz, soul, funk, rock, strange and spoken word records. Pretty much anything but show tunes although we do have a strong soundtack section.
Sell on-line? Not yet.
E-bay?: occassional raers. few times a year.
Number of records you take home from the shop weekly: 5-10.
Highest price for a sold record: $990.
Worst thing about having your own store: dealing with the city.
Best thing about havinng your own store: free records. get to hang out in a record store all day.
Three other stores I like:
1) Disco 7 - Sao Paulo
2) Good Records - NYC
3) Plan 9 - Richmond
Location: 179 East 3rd Street, Downtown Manhattan[/b]
Web site: www.goodrecordsnyc.com[/b]
Years in business: 1.5[/b]
Partners or solo: solo[/b]
Other sources of income?: no[/b]
Job(s) before opening store: commercial insurance & risk management[/b]
Store specialties: top quality, rare & obscure, all genres[/b]
Sell on-line? (never, some pieces, whole inventory on-line): somewhere between pieces and inventory[/b]
E-bay (never, raers on occassion, weekly, daily): biweekly or so[/b]
Number of records you take home from the shop weekly: 0-10[/b]
Highest price for a sold record: $1500[/b]
Worst thing about having your own store: overhead[/b]
Best thing about having your own store: branding[/b]
Three other stores you like: Groove Merchant, Gimme Gimme, Beautiful World Syndicate[/b]
you got more than that before. remember that 45? that was quite a bit more than $1500.
You're right - it was more like $2000.
Location: 2207 Cabrillo St, SF CA 94121
Web site: none
Years in business: PT- '98-'03, FT- '03-current
Partners or solo: solo (though ive worked with josh b and matt w before)
Other sources of income?: new job at Kaiser
Job(s) before opening store/selling records: rap editor at Gavin, music guy at MTV.com, sales assistant at KGO-AM, etc..
Store specialties: Pi-R Square 45s, Clarence Mann 45s, etc
Sell on-line? (never, some pieces, whole inventory on-line): some pieces
E-bay (never, raers on occassion, weekly, daily): maybe once a month
Number of records you take home from the shop weekly: i keep maybe 3-5 records a month
Highest price for a sold record: $3500
Worst thing about having your own store: i rent a garage for cheap and sell out of my own garage at home. worst thing about NOT having a store is no off the street customers, no walk-ins with records.
Best thing about having your own store: i dont have a shop but i have very very little overhead working out of the house.
Three other stores you like: groove merchant (sf), good (ny), crossroads
(portland)
Location: Helsinki Finland
Web site: lifesaver.net (all in Finnish, for the time being)
Years in business: Since 1999
Partners or solo: Partners
Other sources of income?: Deejaying, radio.
Job(s) before opening store/selling records: Deejaying
Sell on-line? New releases mostly, second hand occasionally.
E-bay (never, raers on occassion, weekly, daily): Hardly ever.
Number of records you take home from the shop weekly: One to five.
Highest price for a sold record: $2200
Worst thing about having your own store: Occasional long hours.
Best thing about having your own store: I get to travel a lot. That and introducing people to stuff they didn't even knew existed.
Three other stores you like: Snickars (Stockholm), Hiyuku (Tokyo), Demon Fuzz (Rotterdam), Street Corner (Detroit), Armand's (Philly).
Name of shop/store/web site: BackSpin Records
Location: Austin
Web site: backspinrecords.net
Years in business: .75
Partners or solo: partner (1)
Other sources of income?: my wife, selling random household items on ebay or craigslist, occasional dj gigs.
Job(s) before opening store: software company
Store specialties: old school hip-hop / classic dance joints
Sell on-line? (never, some pieces, whole inventory on-line): toyed with it, kinda a lot of work to put it all online.
E-bay (never, raers on occassion, weekly, daily): we put random records that won't sell in the store in the ebay store and do larger lots once or twice a month.
Number of records you take home from the shop weekly: 2 or 3
Highest price for a sold record: ask me this tommorow..
Worst thing about having your own store: Records start to become 'product' and I am so busy I often can't always enjoy nor keep up with music, movies, friends, or or anything like I used to.
Best thing about having your own store: No boss, no rules, no strict hours. When people who are cool come in and you get caught up talking with them about music you love. OR when people are looking through the racks and they hit a record and they make an involuntary exclamatory remark like "OH SHIT!" and grab it up and hold it tight to their chest.. that's what it's all about.. knowing there are others like you out there.
Three other stores you like: Friends of Sound, Goodwill, Amoeba
This spot used to be my favorite in the 90's, tons of great stuff cheap!
Granted I don't live in PDX anymore, but every time I do make it through
it gets worse and worse.
Less vinyl of suspect quality and more and more CD's...
I'm actually surprised they have made it as long as they have.
I wish there were more spots like this, collective ventures with various dealers sections.
Tacoma had one for a little while but it went tits up.
Location: Omaha
Web site: None for the shop
Years in business: 1 yr so far in Omaha (I had a shop in Lincoln for five yrs)
Partners or solo: Solo
Other sources of income?: None
Job(s) before opening store: Student/graphic design
Store specialties: Used vinyl priced to sell
Sell on-line? (never, some pieces, whole inventory on-line): See below
E-bay (never, raers on occassion, weekly, daily): A little bit but mainly oop rap cds
Number of records you take home from the shop weekly: Depends on what comes in but probably 5-10 from the shop
Highest price for a sold record: $950 (Tapeworm "Break My Face")
Worst thing about having your own store: Only minor things like dead days and the occasional annoying person...but for the most part I really enjoy it.
Best thing about havinng your own store: Self reliance and being a part of my community...days when I go home hoarse from talking with people all day
Three other stores you like: Kanesville (Council Bluffs), Antiquarium (Omaha), Love Garden (Lawrence, KS)...I probably spelled a couple wrong
Web site: www.djsheep.com
Years in business: hustlin for a good 4 or 5 years now...
Partners or solo: solo
Other sources of income?: dj @ ministry of sound taipei, taiwan
Job(s) before opening store: 75ark records in SF
Store specialties: australian records, japanese records, asian records in general and anything else really...
Sell on-line? (never, some pieces, whole inventory on-line): mostly online, but if you're in australia, HOLLA.
E-bay (never, raers on occassion, weekly, daily): used to sell a lot in japan under my ID on eBay - tasmanconnection
Number of records you take home from the shop weekly: all the records are mine!!
Highest price for a sold record: $511 for the osozeran record to marcofunk... at least a dozen other japanese records for $300-ish... sold a quasar for $250.
Worst thing about having your own store: deciding what to keep and sell
Best thing about havinng your own store: getting to keep the shit i like
Three other stores you like: groove merchant (sf), good records (nyc), licorice pie (melbourne, australia)
peace.
I am still talking with my people about your offer.
B>Name of shop/store/web site:/B> Gee's Records
B>Location:/B> Stratford, CT (outside of Bridgeport)
B>Web site:/B> http://www.myspace.com/geesrecords
B>Years in business:/B> 8 months on the DL
B>Partners or solo:/B> Associate, it's Gee's (Lalo's) shop.
B>Other sources of income:/B> Freelance graphic designer (but who isn't?)
B>Job(s) before opening store:/B> Land surveyor, various construction, Ames toy dept head.
B>Store specialties:/B> Across the board.
B>Sell on-line? (never, some pieces, whole inventory on-line):/B> Starting in January, weekly.
B>E-bay (never, raers on occassion, weekly, daily):/B> A HREF=http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQfgtpZ1QQfrppZ200QQfsooZ2QQfsopZ3QQsassZgoodfootwax>Hell yes!/A>
B>Number of records you take home from the shop weekly:/B> 10
B>Highest price for a sold record:/B> Dunno for sure, at least a G.
B>Worst thing about having your own store:/B> Too many to mention.
B>Best thing about having your own store:/B> Too many to mention.
B>Three other stores you like:/B> Good Records, Groove Merchant, (the old) Mystery Train Gloucester.
Yo Jonny,
I'll have to check you out in May 2007 while I'm up in NYC for a conference. The pictures of the store look
Peace,
Big Stacks from Kakalak
We should start one here! Kind of a soulstrut-friendly retail establishment reference guide. Raj could charge us a wee bit to be listed.
In the 90s Rev Shines, Dr Wu and I were the only people in Portland interested in soul, jazz and breaks. Today everyone is. Thus you gotta dig deeper and expand your horizons and be willing to open your wallet to get the good records now.
So you are right, there is no longer tons of great stuff cheap.
Crossroads is pretty solid financially. They own the building. They are trying to reduce the # of cds. The basic idea works as long as vendors continue to find good records. Sales are slightly better than flat, which is pretty good.
Disclaimer, I have a table there and have a 1% stake.
I know I've been looking at Jump Jump's scraps there for years......
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Name of shop/store/web site: On The Corner Music
Location: 530 E. Campbell Ave. Campbell (San Jose!), CA.
Web site: http://www.myspace.com/onthecornermusic
Years in business: 3 weeks!
Partners or solo: 1 partner (money wise), pretty musch solo
Other sources of income?: DJing, mainly at this place: www.metroparkusa.com
Job(s) before opening store: coffee shops, web-sites, html coding for big-ass corporations...
Store specialties: 75% used vinyl - classic rock to old-school 12's, plus new indie/electronic/classic reissue CDs for the neighborhood and non-vinyl types
Sell on-line? (never, some pieces, whole inventory on-line): ebaying the special stuff
E-bay (never, raers on occasion, weekly, daily): going to attempt weekly. we'll see.
Number of records you take home from the shop weekly: eh, a couple - i need to make money first.
Highest price for a sold record: nothing big for one (yet!), but did sell a $700 lot to someone on here - perfect timing, thank you again...
Worst thing about having your own store: having to sweat ALL the little stuff, not to mention the big ones (starting costs, store bills, personnal bills, etc...)
Best thing about having your own store: doing my own thing i love
Three other stores you like: Open Mind Records (SF), Groove Merchant (SF), that little joint that used to be in Reseda (not Record Trader, but the hippie owned one...) - i bought Coltrane, Sabbath, Mandrill, Velvet Underground, AND Del's No Need for Alarm there - talk about complete...
Location: 1704 s. congress... austin, texas
Web site: www.friendsofsound.com
Years in business: still in the first year
Partners or solo: solo, with one employee
Other sources of income?: none
Job(s) before opening store: video editor, radio producer, label owner, web designer, and other things i can't remember anymore
Store specialties: rare jazz, soul, psych, rap, rock, latin, etc.
Sell on-line? (never, some pieces, whole inventory on-line): ebay and set sales, though i'm the process of building a site for my $30 and up inventory
E-bay (never, raers on occassion, weekly, daily): weekly
Number of records you take home from the shop weekly: zero
Highest price for a sold record: $1500 or so
Worst thing about having your own store: pressure to sell
Best thing about havinng your own store: i'm surrounded by records, music, and good dudes all day
Three other stores you like: to buy in for myself... groove merchant, good records(though i've only sold to them), i'm sure there are more but i don't travel as much any more
hi eric or zach, good to see you on here... don't let ari weasel any last minute starcrost moves....
Location: Beverly Hills, MI (Detroit area)[/b]
Web site:
http://www.streetcornermusic.com
http://stores.ebay.com/streetcorner2
Years in business: 15, been there over 8 years[/b]
Partners or solo: Two owners, I'm Head Manager[/b]
Other sources of income?: No[/b]
Job(s) before opening store: owned a cofffee shop (Zoot's), bicycle delivery, dog walker, nanny, and a thousand more[/b]
Store specialties: Jazz and Soul[/b]
Sell on-line? (never, some pieces, whole inventory on-line): Some pieces, try to keep good stuff in store though[/b]
E-bay (never, raers on occassion, weekly, daily): weekly[/b]
Number of records you take home from the shop weekly: 20[/b]
Highest price for a sold record: $2000[/b]
Worst thing about having your own store: open to the public[/b]
Best thing about havinng your own store: walk-in raers[/b]
Three other stores you like: Peoples Records, ummmmm, Sam's Jams, ummmmmm, [/b]
private dealers too!
stop snitchin'
Location: Closet In My Own Special Mind Garden
Web site: Rockadelic.com
Years in business:20+
Partners or solo: Solo as of mid-90's
Other sources of income?: Corporate 9-5 Gig
Job(s) before opening store: Radio Show/ARC & Other Local Record Shows
Always had the Corporate paycheck coming in too.
Store specialties: Weird Records That Suck & Some That Don't
Sell on-line? (never, some pieces, whole inventory on-line):Label Titles Only
E-bay (never, raers on occassion, weekly, daily): daily junk/weekly raers
Sell about 1,200-1,500 LP's a year on "the bay"
Number of records you take home from the shop weekly: 10-20 a year
Highest price for a sold record: $3,000
Worst thing about having your own store: Can't bitch about the boss
Best thing about havinng your own store: No one can bitch about the boss
Three other stores you like: Friends Of Sound/Austin Record Exchange/St. Louis
Half Price Books & Records/D/FW
Location:berkeley cali.
Web site:bsiderecordshop.com
Years in business:ending our 3rd.
Partners or solo: i dont own it. i helped open it.... it's a sole proprietership with my friend mike marvel being that dude
Other sources of income?: djing, light weight graphic design, donating blood and adrenaline, herding sheep.
Job(s) before opening store: recruiter for a marketing research company, carpenter, painter, plumber, property management, footlocker. yay.
Store specialties: all things hip hop. rnb, oldschool, compilations...bay area 12's all the hiffy (hyphy) stuff and sherpa acetates.
Sell on-line? (never, some pieces, whole inventory on-line): 90 percent of our inventory is online
E-bay (never, raers on occassion, weekly, daily): only my virginity
Number of records you take home from the shop weekly: 4-10 depending on how generous to our customers im feeling.
Highest price for a sold record: 19.99
Worst thing about having your own store: high school coming in and asking why our "cds" are so big. and there is a halfway house for women with drug dependancies two doors down.... i mean big ups for turning your life around... but i'd appreciate it if you didnt shuffle outside of our window like the undead.
Best thing about having your own store: seeing king moist... he reminds me of the monchichi i had as a child.
Three other stores you like: compound when they were open. daddy's when they were open. and your moms street corner when she was open. no really i never get a chance to go record shopping... stupid voices in my head make me run errands all the time. but amobea LA. amobea berk and amobea sf and sometimes rasputins keeps me up on used isht. mod lang for all my postal service vinyl needs. have you ever watched the movie Wicker Park synced with the Postal Service album? neither have i. but thinking about doing so makes my bangs grow and sweep to the side. ok enough rambling and more henn.