Martin Bandyke column: Nothing beats brick-and-mortar record stores
Now, I am not a completely out-of-date Luddite; I freely download from iTunes and buy CDs from Amazon. But there is certainly something to be said for the special atmosphere provided by physical record stores — a critically endangered species — where customers can interact with the staff, exchange ideas, listen to music and discuss/argue the merits of everything from Benjamin Britten to Britney Spears.
Steve Bergman, owner of Schoolkids’ Records, closed down operations in January of 2008 after a truly impressive run of over 30 years. These days he reads electric meters in Livingston County and has no regrets. “I have to say the transition was really easy,” says Bergman. “I did it on my terms and loved what I was doing, but it was clear it wasn’t going to work out.”The 56-year old Bronx native opened his store at 523 E. Liberty in May of 1976, and his timing was perfect. “We embraced punk, which was coming into style; we had a great jazz section when that genre had a resurgence; we did in-store meet-and-greets with Iggy Pop, Dexter Gordon, Stevie Ray Vaughan, The Ramones, Indigo Girls and k.d. lang. The Violent Femmes performed three times at the store. I was a brick-and-mortar guy interacting with customers.”To a music junkie like myself, Schoolkids’ Records was a revelation, with deep inventories of every conceivable type of music and a super-knowledgeable staff. Rare punk and new-wave imports on their shelves were guaranteed to make me ooh and ahh — and drain my wallet.
During its heyday the store expanded both east and west, occupying some 7,000 square feet of space, with business peaking in the 1980s. Then came competition. “We had the influx of Borders and Tower Records in the late '90s,” says Bergman. “In a small town like Ann Arbor, we suddenly had 30,000 extra square feet of music retailers within a five-minute walk of our store. Actually, after Tower opened we still did great, but when Borders came in across the street it created problems.” Music downloads were the beginning of the end for Schoolkids’ Records, which transitioned from its sprawling Liberty location to much smaller digs in the basement of Bivouac on State Street, the second floor of Shaman Drum Bookshop, and finally to a Nickels Arcade storefront.
Bergman’s career change from music retailer to meter reader has not only been enviably smooth, but has had a positive impact on his health. “I have type 2 diabetes, so this is saving my life,” he says. “After music, my next biggest love is to hike and backpack, so this job is right up my alley. Livingston County has gorgeous terrain, there’s lots of wildlife and I’m out working in it every day. I’m my own boss and I’m having a blast doing it. Things can work out well when you’re open to it.”
Open for business and defying the odds is Encore Recordings at 417 E. Liberty St., a store specializing in used vinyl and CDs and owned for 15 years by Ann Arbor native Peter Dale.One would think that his customers would mostly be University of Michigan students, but that’s not the case. “Most of my customers are from out of town,” says the 60-year-old Dale. “I don’t advertise on campus, and the student base is not where I primarily draw my customers or inventory. I get people who work at the university in the store, but students generally don’t have a lot of money and most foreign students don’t have any discretionary money.”
Dale’s description of his clientele rang all sorts of bells in my head, taking me back to my time spent working for him some two decades ago when he owned Car City Classics.
“Most women stop buying music when they become adults,” says Dale. “Most of my customers are male, and a huge portion of the student body doesn’t buy music, period. I do just as well in August as I do in September (when the students are back). On the other hand, the classical music section does well because of the university, with U of M’s School of Music a function of that.”
Dale admits that the recession has hurt the store a little bit, but business overall continues to be good. So how has he managed to survive while places like Schoolkids’ Records and the once-dominant Harmony House chain haven’t? “The key to survival is diversity,” says Dale.
“It’s the stuff you can offer that no one else has. Plus we have a good staff and we all complement each other's interests. If you want to shop in a record store with a broad selection, where else are you going to go?”
Has he seen a renewed interest in vinyl, something that’s been much talked about lately? “Yes, but it’s a niche market and it always will be,” Dale says. “The cost of vinyl records is high and not competitive with digital downloads, so it’s not going to be a mass-market thing. There’s a lot of CDs being sold but the value of them is falling, where the value of vinyl is rising.”
Speaking of vinyl, I still vividly remember the first album I bought (Jefferson Airplane’s “Surrealistic Pillow”) and the special day in late 1967 when I purchased The Beatles’ “Magical Mystery Tour” at Dearborn Music. I was so excited about buying that lavishly packaged album that I spilled my money over the counter, then marveled over the artwork on the bus ride home.
And I still chuckle at the lamest question ever asked of me when I worked in retail: “What speed do you play a 45 at?”
Martin Bandyke is the 6-10am morning drive host on Ann Arbor’s 107one. Follow him on Twitter @martinbandyke and at his web site.
Editor's note: We would be remiss if we did not mention other independently-owned record stores in Ann Arbor, including PJ's Records & Used CDs (617 Packard St #B), Underground Sounds (225 E. Liberty) and Wazoo Records (336 1/2 S. State St.).
Top photo: Encore Recordings storefront photo by Flickr user Jbcurio. Second photo: Fall 1976 Schoolkids' photo courtesy Steve Bergman. From Left to right: Steve Bergman, Dexter Gordon, Michael Lang, unidentified employee, assistant manager Al Bray. Third photo: Encore Recordings owner Peter Dale stands in his store in Ann Arbor, Mich. on Aug. 24, 2009. Angela Cesere | AnnArbor.com
Comments
R.Dewar
Thu, Dec 15, 2011 : 1:29 a.m.
Hmmm..I'm a little late to this party but here goes. My friends and I from Ottawa, Canada have made Encore records a "must stop" destination on our way to the Chicago Blues Festival most years. It's a great store with staff who seem to know when to let you browse and when to ask if they can help. And they are usually very knowledgable , even when one of us bluesniks go off on a tangent about jump blues from the 40's etc. I recently got back into vinyl after many years of CD buying and it pains me to think of all the vinyl waiting for me right now at that store! I was surprised that the owner, Mr. Dale, said that the local presence of a university doesn't really contribute greatly to his business. It makes sense when you get down to it. So perhaps us vagabonds who visit in the summer have helped keep this business alive. I'm happy for it.
Rudy
Wed, Nov 10, 2010 : 3:27 p.m.
Over the past 25-30 years, I've seen many brick and mortar stores come and go. I shopped at Car City Classics back when Peter Dale owned it, and given how Encore has flourished over the years, it's evident that he knows the business side of selling records, and will continue to endure changes in the economy and the retail industry due to his experience. In contrast, Car City is now a shadow of its former self--the merchandise is sometimes dicey, the store is filthy, and the staffer had a "don't care" attitude that turned me off on a return visit. (And this was a store I visited at least once a week!) It's a shame Schoolkids Records couldn't continue, as I found quite a few gems there that their newer competition (Tower and Border's) never would have sold. I even bought a few releases on their short-lived record label. It was one thing to shop at the chain record stores, but to say you'd been to Schoolkids had a certain hipness or "in the know" quality to it. It was a destination, not a side trip! As for a comprehensive history of Ann Arbor record stores, I don't have much to offer other than experiences as a fellow record buyer, but would be happy to help compile and edit it. We're actually launching a site within a week or so that is tied into record stores and record collecting, and I'm going to be handling the coverage of the southeast Michigan area. A compendium of A2 record stores over the years would dovetail nicely with what we're doing. Regarding the coverage of this article: no issues with it here. Today's readers like things in smaller doses, and it leaves the door open for Martin to cover the other Ann Arbor establishments in a future article.
record mogul
Thu, Sep 3, 2009 : 10:08 a.m.
A glaring and surprising omission from this nostalgic account is the fact that most surviving "brick and mortar" record stores must have some sort of online presence to make a go of it. Sadly enough the reality is that though the growth of the internet has mostly hurt sales for such stores, those with something unique or unusual to offer can do very well and get top dollar for rarities on the world market that the internet has made easily available. Prized merchandise is likely to be offered up to the highest online bidder and walk-in customers are left to sift through the remainders. Both stores mentioned in this article have, or have had thousands of their more desirable items for sale on Amazon and other web outlets. I hope it wasn't deliberate that this failed to be mentioned in order to maintain the the rosy, nostalgic bent of the article. Also, surprising to hear that adult women do not purchase music. This has not been my experience and it's certainly true that younger women at least, have gotten infected by the resurgent vinyl bug.
DennisP
Mon, Aug 31, 2009 : 4:08 p.m.
Times certainly change and we can't be adverse to it. However, there was definitely something to visiting a record store that cannot be met with the "online" experience. It's like wandering about the aisles in a library versus using Google. You could wander about without "keywords" or "artists' names" but just looking until something caught your eye and spirit. An interesting album cover, a display, a new name and the promise of a new sound. You could experiment. Of course, nothing was quite as disappointing as that new record with a skip or scratch and all the hassle of a return, but the rewards were often too cool. I got a lot of stuff from Schoolkids, Discount, Dearborn Records, etc. Still have most of it.
Alan Goldsmith
Mon, Aug 31, 2009 : 1:32 p.m.
Point taken but Mr. B needs to get out and explore more things local and not rely on what Ann Arbor was ten years ago. Thanks.
Alan Goldsmith
Mon, Aug 31, 2009 : 12:21 p.m.
"I agree with you that it's important that people are aware of PJ's, Underground Sounds and Wazoo, which is why I added their contact info to this story when I was editing it." I loved Schoolkids Records and I'm glad Mr. Bandyke worked at Dearborn Music. I bought music at both back in the day. But PLEASE in the future, don't think tagging the article(s) with a brief mention of three other vital, hip and cool other local record spots somehow make up for your lack of good reporting. PJ's and Wazoo have been around for decades. To leave them out was just lazy and showed a clear lack of understanding of LOCAL. Less 'personal connections' and more reporting please. Thanks.
Chrysta Cherrie
Sun, Aug 30, 2009 : 2:58 p.m.
Hey Forest, I can't speak to why Martin chose to speak to who he did. I assume that he has personal connections to the proprietors of Schoolkids and Encore. I agree with you that it's important that people are aware of PJ's, Underground Sounds and Wazoo, which is why I added their contact info to this story when I was editing it. Also, thanks, I updated the Wazoo URL mentions in the entry. FYI, the reason I used that other URL is because that was the most relevant one I saw in Google search results. At the time I was editing, I didn't have time to check the Wazoo FB et al to see if there was a better option for the store web site.
Forest
Sun, Aug 30, 2009 : 1:56 p.m.
For a store that has been permanently closed for a couple years now, it's baffling how much press Schoolkids continues to receive. What better way to celebrate those "unbeatable brick-and-mortar stores" than bring attention to those that actually exist? Do Underground Sounds, PJ's, and Wazoo have to cease operation before that article can be written? Like Jim Leonard in his short-sighted Observer article a few years ago, Mr. Bandyke couldn't take the time to make the less-than-six-block trek to other stores in the area. Speaking of laziness, undoubtedly every single article about record stores has to mention iTunes and Amazon. Did you have to mention them to qualify your hip, up-to-dateness too, Martin? Michigan's economy isn't great to say the least, especially for "endangered species" such as record stores, so let's dump the nostalgia trip and start writing in the now. Also, the correct address of the Wazoo Records website is www.wazoorecs.com.
Jessica
Sun, Aug 30, 2009 : 12:45 p.m.
Like Martin, I got my start in the bricks & mortar record store world. I worked for both Steve Bergman and Peter Dale, and am still overwhelming grateful for the time I got to spend sharing my passion for music with both my fellow employees and our customers.
Wystan
Sun, Aug 30, 2009 : 8:57 a.m.
I remember when a big out-of-town outfit with the pretentious name "Aura Sounde Entertainmente Company" opened right across from Schoolkids, a half-level up from the street in a new (late 1970s) building on the corner of Maynard and Liberty (not the Borders corner, which was then Jacobson's department store). It looked like Aura spelled doom for Schoolkids, but the "Kids" outlasted them. Harmony House opened a branch store on State Street, which came and went quickly. It was close to Discount Records, which lasted on the corner of State and Liberty from 1960 until a few years ago, when Potbelly sandwich shop took over that space. (At its high point in the 1960s, Discount Records had shops on Main Street and South University, as well.) Somebody should compile a comprehensive history of record stores in Ann Arbor, as bookseller Gene Alloway of Motte and Bailey intends to do for bookstores. Ann Arbor's romance with disc music must stretch all the way back to the wax cylinder recordings of Thomas Edison -- and to the thick Brunswick platters that followed those first fragile novelties, the easy accesibility of which helped drive the Ann Arbor Piano Company out of business.