Rex Fenestrarum

Eh. I grew up in Atlanta, so it was Turtles for me. As soon as I got a car, I started going to indie shops like Wax N' Facts, Wuxtry and Eat More Records, with the occasional late-night stop at Tower Records. I remember Camelot, Record Bar, and the one Sam Goody in Atlanta (at Underground, for some reason), but I never shopped there.

I'm not proud of this, but it was kind of impressive how much my best friend and I kept tabs on prices at the mall stores. Camelot would have that big bin of discount $3.99-$5.99 tapes, and my friend and I knew which ones were still being sold at full price at other stores. So we'd swipe the $3.99 tapes from Camelot and return them to Record Bar for $7.99 credit. How we never got caught will remain a mystery. I mean, whose "grandmother" would buy them Black Oak Arkansas and Mickey Basil tapes "for their birthday" (and why did I have a "birthday" every two weeks?)???

Scorpio

Never spent any money in that overpriced pit, but we had them along with Cocoanuts, Camelot, Sound Warehouse, Crow's Nest, Peaches, and later Tower and Virgin.

My favorites were locally based chains: Karnes and Rose Records. Rose's selection was incredible and their whole third floor was devoted to jazz, blues, and classical. We still have Rolling Stones which is an independent I've been going to for 23 years. They had a sister store in downtown (Chicago) called Rock Records through the late 90's.

bunkaroo

I grew up on the south side and started making regular trips all the way up Harlem to go to Rolling Stones in the early 90's. The selection was excellent. It's not nearly as good as it once was but at least it's still there. Rock Records was great too.

The Crow's Nest in Crest Hill was still open long after the others closed I believe - another great selection especially for rock and metal. Damn I miss going to good record stores.

wishbone

I remember people raving about Hegewisch Records in college but I never got a chance to go.

rider555

I have had a recurring dream for the last few years that I am at the Blue Ridge Mall.In this dream,I seem to always go to Music Land.No CDs at all.They only sell 8 tracks,vinyl and tee shirts.I usually find some Queen,Gary Numan or Pet Shop Boys album that I never knew existed.

UAIOE

I was really late to the game with Musicland. I don't think I really wandered into one until '96 or '97. It gave me someplace to hang around in when I was at the mall.

I had far more memories of when it changed over to "Sam Goody", and they moved into an a giant space that once was a buffet restaurant. I don't know how they footed the rent, but that place was like 5 or 6 times bigger than the old location.

Josh-da-man

I had a dream the other night where I went to Barnes & Noble to buy a couple of books, and all they had were tote bags, puzzles, toys, reading lamps, greeting cards, and a huge Nook section in the middle of the store. No books at all.

Wait... it wasn't a dream; it really happened.

misterchimpy

I can top all of you, I remember my older brother buying his records in the early 70s at Korvette's.

Now get off my lawn!!!

http://mallsofamerica.blogspot.com/2...ommercial.html

mostaccioli

but napster came and more than helped get our money back.

mostaccioli

is that store owned by the band?

GuessWho

No, no relation to the band. I've been going to Rolling Stones since 8th grade... 24 years ago... and have gone to many autograph signings there.

mostaccioli

they still make money? how?

Lastdaysofrain

Pretty much the only chain we have that is still doing well in New England is Newbury Comics, they've become more and more of a Hot Topic/Spencer Gifts type store over the years and I think that's what's made them able to survive.

Rocketdog2000

Yeah, but even that's not saving them these days. They've actually started moving their stores into Malls, and are now starting to carry almost 50% high end fashion (expensive clothing, shoes and the like). According to someone I know who works at one, they're hoping this is what will save them going forward.

Lastdaysofrain

Moving into Malls wouldn't be an indication of doing badly, the Mall rents are probably a LOT higher than the stand alone store rents they were paying and are a higher risk with the leases involved.

They've had some of the most profitable years they've ever had in the last few years. Nearly 50% of their business is online sales or "sourcing" from Ebay/Amazing, and they employ 20 full time people just doing that. Out of the rest of the business music is only about 10% of their sales, but over the last three years they've consistently increased sales, so I think the move makes sense.

I think the move into malls is a good strategy for the, and also a good move towards moving out of New England.

EdTheRipper

I love Newbury Comics, but am a bit nervous about the impending move into the malls. Their music selection has already started to go downhill over the past year or so. Going into malls and losing space is probably only going to compact the cd section more and make the selection not all that different from the overpriced, shitty FYE two floors down.

Obi-Wanma

Moving out of New England would confuse people. People outside of New England would expect a store called Newbury Comics to actually sell comics.

EdTheRipper

They do sell comics. Not a huge selection, but they seem to carry most of the new stuff, along with a decent selection of trade paperbacks and the like.

Rocketdog2000

Yes, but it's also a strategy they need in order to go in the direction they appear to be moving in. In other words, that high end fashion isn't (and from what I was told, wasn't) really going to move in free-standing locations. They need the kind of heavy foot traffic, and under one roof convenience of shopping that brings in people with more money to spend. Because let's face it, those folks aren't likely going to go to a strip mall looking for that type of merchandise. Not nearly enough of them, either.

The downside is that eventually, they are going to have to raise their pricing to help pay the rent. (Why do you think most Mall music/movie chains are higher priced?) The clothing/fashion stuff may offset it, but will it be enough to still make a profit? Or at least, the kind they are hoping for. Also, the move into malls is going to pretty much blow their "Indie" cred out of the water. Once you become a "Mall" store, you become a "Mall" store - and that changes the perception if not the actual truth. How that will affect them also remains to be seen, but, they could end up just a more glorified, up-scale Hot Topic, that sells more music (and comics).

Don't get me wrong. I'm not trying to knock them. I like their stores just fine and shop at them often. (But I will say their Blu Ray pricing is some of the most expensive out of anybody.) I can't really fault them for trying a different tack, but I am, however, very curious to see how this will all turn out. If it helps them expand, and outside of New England, good on them. I don't want to see any more music stores/chains go under, no matter who they are. That's just bad for everybody.

Rocketdog2000

Well, the good new on that front is that they are at least expanding the stores that are going into malls to bigger locations than they were. Granted, that's also to fit in more of the fashion/clothing, but from what I've heard, it is also supposed to be for the music, too. Yet, I do agree that their selection, has gone downhill over the last couple of years. Maybe this will change it.

brayzie

In our mall there was a Musicland in the middle of the mall and a Sam Goody at the end of it.

I remember going to Musicland in the mid 90s and buying gangsta rap tapes and cds. Eazy-E, NWA, South Central Cartel, among others. There selection was pretty good for rap cds.

My favorite music store chain was Tower Records. They had a huge selection of every genre of music and had a good amount of boxed sets and special edition cds.

EdTheRipper

The storefront they've taken over at the Emerald Square Mall in North Attleboro is definitely smaller than their current location. It's a good location for them, as it's right across from the food court. But they're definitely losing some footage. And they're going to totally kill off the Spencer's Gifts that is pretty much right next door to them.

Rocketdog2000

You might think so, but actually, being so close together can tend to help them out. I know in my local Mall, we have Spencer's, Hot Topic and an FYE (who carry a lot of that same trendy boutique stuff now) all within two or three stores of each other, and it hasn't hurt any of them. The Spencer's used to be in the other end of the Mall, but moved in between the two about 5 years ago. At the time, I asked the manager of Spencer's if they were worried about moving so close to Hot Topic, but he told me that their company had found stores who were closer to their competition did better than those who weren't, and hence the reason for the move.

What will be interesting, is to see how Newbury Comics move into the Mall will affect them. Granted, it's not like they are a brand new store that people weren't aware of - as their old location was in a strip mall across the street from the main Mall for 16 years now. Also, their new location in the Mall will be on the farthest end of the Mall from these other stores, and they'll be closer to our Best Buy for direct competition. They were supposed to open either yesterday, or today, but I haven't had a chance to check yet. I do know that they were at least doubling in size from the old store, though.