The Avalanche falls: How Record Store Day closed a shop

Edinburgh record store Avalanche is closing up - and, ironically, it's partly the success of Record Store Day that is to blame.

In a blog on the shop's site, the grim story of how the revival of vinyl sales has turned out to bite the ass of the very stores which kept going through the lean times:

Then there is another dilemma. We go on social media and say this will without doubt be one of our albums of the year and many of our followers will simply go to FOPP or HMV and buy it because they are nearer. But there is more.

When the Frightened Rabbit album was announced I immediately received enquiries as to whether there would be an Avalanche or indies special. We had sold 110 out of 500 of the last limited vinyl. At the time HMV/FOPP were in administration and only stocking important titles on CD. Vinyl was not considered an important enough format for any artist even when they were playing an in-store as Frightened Rabbit were. I was fairly sure but not certain that this time there was no special format something that was recently confirmed. Meanwhile fans were encouraged to buy from the band’s Warners website with the vinyl a bargain £12.99 for a signed copy. Again as I suspected this is actually less than the cost to a shop who would expect to sell it for £16.99. Want a signed CD ? That will be Amazon or the band website at a price this time just above cost.

And where vinyl was once an audiophile treat, it has become so commonplace again that the sense of special event doesn't make sense; nor is vinyl any more bringing footfall:

Never mind the week before has some great releases. Explosions In The Sky with a limited vinyl except that their UK label put it on sale ages ago at again a price below cost. The Last Shadow Puppets also have a limited vinyl but you can be sure their label will email the entire LSP/Arctic Monkeys fan base to sell directly and if previous emails are anything to go by not even mention it will be available in shops. That leaves us with a limited indies only Mogwai vinyl which shops are at least given a fair chance to sell.

Depressing as all this might be for a shop like myself it is nothing compared to the Record Store Day list for this year. Given the fantastic rosters many record companies and labels have what shops have been offered is a huge disappointment but not a great surprise given vinyl reissues were once an unusual occurrence whereas they now appear every week. Collectors will still buy the artists they collect but it is no wonder so many shops are asking what people are looking for as it is impossible to guess what these once a year customers will buy.

And in news that isn't unrelated at all:

Sainsbury’s has announced it’s going to be selling vinyl albums from Monday March 21.

The supermarket will sell LPs for the first time since the 1980s following the success of Adele’s 25 which sold over 300,000 in the retailer’s stores.

We hear a lot about how vinyl is back. Not entirely convinced its back to such an extent that the market can sustain supermarkets muscling in.

Bookmarks: Frankie And The Heartstrings

Riley-endorsed band Frankie And The Heartstrings have opened a record shop (which is a bit like a cow getting a job on the cheesecounter). BBC News' Ian Youngs went down to see if they had I Just Called To Say I Love You:

Four out of the five bandmates work there full time and, last month, the venture earned them the title of hardest working band in Britain from the Association of Independent Music.

When I visit, the lead singer is manning the coffee machine, busily grinding beans and frothing milk as the shop fills up before an in-store gig by visiting Manchester band Dutch Uncles.

Drummer Dave Harper and bassist Steve Dennis are behind the counter in a state of harangued dishevelment - passing coffee cups, jabbing the till, fetching supplies, pausing to chat to friends.

Ex-HMV man forced to bow to His Ex-Master's Voice

Tony Cregan had been managing HMV in Derry when the brilliant minds who had restructured the chain suddenly realised they didn't know what they were doing and closed the place down.

Cregan, being enterprising, and understanding the local market, reckoned this would be an opportunity, bought an empty retail unit, and opened up a new record shop.

Cheekily, he branded it HVM. (I really wish I could tell you he sent out press releases from Castalro Gennado, but he didn't.)

Were HMV's new owners Hilco delighted to see one of the people they no longer wanted doing well in a market from which they had chosen to withdraw?

Of course not:

In a letter from its legal team it warned Mr Cregan that he was causing confusion in the minds of the public that the business "is associated with or connected with that of our client".

The warning added: "The continued presence in the market of your business operating under the name HVM has caused and will continue to cause substantial damage to our client's reputation and goodwill."

You know what else harms goodwill towards HMV? HMV behaving like asshats. In fact, that probably does far more damage to any feelings of goodwill towards HMV, given that they've come across as humourless and bullying on a national level.

Rather than get into a legal battle, Cregan has simply turned the sign upside down and rebranded as WAH.

Funnily enough, an identical thing happened to a woman who took over a defunct Woolworths.

OneUp down

As HMV bravely claims there's a way ahead, more grim news from record shops: Aberdeen's OneUp is closing:

"It is with deep regret that we have to announce a closing down sale.

"As you are all aware, recent trading has been very difficult. We cannot express just how much we have appreciated all the support our loyal customers have given over the years.

"And we would like to thank all of our past and present staff for their amazing effort who made One Up what it was, we could not have done it without you. We will continue to trade till January 31st and will keep you updated."

OneUp opened in 1979, and has been an enthusiastic and key part of the local music scene since then. Not just selling records, but offering performances too:

Shopwatch: Avalanche, Edinburgh

Bad news from Edinburgh, I'm afraid: Avalanche Records is closing in January.

The announcement is not without hope - there are plans, someone trying to find a new way of financing the store; possibly some sort of move online. But, for the time being, there's nothing solid.

The reason for the closure? Here's what they say in their announcement:

In the 6 months from the start of 2011 many new releases from PJ Harvey to Bon Iver sold well and certainly the location was not a problem. However over the last year or so not only has there been less big releases for us but even those we would hope to do well with have not sold well. The new Animal Collective album is just the latest example. The last Frightened Rabbit EP and new Godspeed album were reminders of how it used to be. As happened with the Tom Waits album that FOPP seemed to fail to keep in stock we did get a fair number of people who came to the shop for the new Godspeed album on vinyl because FOPP were out of it proving unfortunately that our sales are not entirely in our own hands. We are not alone as the figures I gave recently showed the indies losing market share on new vinyl at the same time that sales were increasing by 10%.

However the biggest loss has been in selling local and Scottish bands. While our reputation has grown our sales have plummeted. As many will have heard me say more than once selling an album to fans is the easy bit. Selling it to those who don’t know the album or artist is far harder and often time consuming. If that is all that is left to a shop it simply isn’t economical. Even the latest Meursault album which is at No. 2 in our chart achieved that with just a quarter of the sales of the first album. Seventy per cent of those sales were on my recommendation.

Let's hope the plans to save the business come together before it's too late.

Retailobit: Brian Selby

Brian Selby, who founded legendary Nottingham record shop Selectadisc, has died.

Selectadisc was always the highlight of any visit to Nottingham; a place where long-forgotten Revolving Paint Dream singles would dangle tantalisingly at reasonable prices from the walls.

Brian also created The Garage nightclub in Nottingham's Lace Market, and that made a difference, too. DJ Graeme Park explains how to the Nottingham Post:

Everybody who worked there used to go there because it used to a have a reggae sound system and it was the only place in Nottingham that wasn't like a Ritzy or full of idiots.

Selectadisc opened a London branch, which is frozen in time on the front of some sort of record; Selby eventually sold up in 2008 as the changing shape of the music industry started to have an impact.

Brian was 71; his family have set up a campaign in his memory to help the Pancreatic Cancer Research Fund.

Fox breaks from HMV

A couple of years back, Simon Fox turned down the chance to run ITV to stick the course of turning round HMV. He's sticking the course no more, as he's stepping down.

"I am proud to be leaving HMV with a profitable future secured," Fox said.

The word "future" is rather important there - he's leaving as the company is expected to announce a sixteen million quid loss, so his legacy appears to be a profit for 2012-2013 of ten million he's promised.

As he's not going to be there, he could announce that he fully expects Nipper to be reanimated in the next financial year and claim that as a legacy.

Fox hasn't really been a resounding success - he's spent the last few months of his time at the company trying to offload the live business he spent much of his earlier time trying to build up; his other boffo ideas have pretty much run into the sand - remember when HMV was going to open a chain of teeny tiny cinemas in the space above its stores? And the doomed attempt to create youth-club style games areas? Ooh, and intention to take on the consumer electronics market by flogging headphones?

Worse, the stores would have vanished entirely if it wasn't for a deal with the labels to keep it afloat. It's true that Fox should take some credit for having done that deal, but it has to be balanced out by the severe lack of flexibility in dealing with its new music business partners when shaping the group for the future.

So, it's going to be a tricky task for the new head of the company. Surely HMV have looked high and low for a leader who has experience of turning round failing retailers?

Trevor Moore, the former chief executive of photography chain Jessops, has been appointed as Fox's replacement.

Well, that explains why Trevor Moore was headhunted away from Jessops last month.

To be fair, while hiring someone from a high street photo shop to take over a high street record shop might sound like replacing asthma with bronchitis, Moore hasn't had a totally bad time of it in Jessops - the chain has been selling more digital cameras in an overall declining market; under his time at the top the company has had a significant growth in online sales; and a fusty, failing confused business has been tidied up. Even if Jessops isn't quite a household name, it has remained a strong high street presence and that's something of victory.

But, the bottom line is his last full year still saw the chain make nearly a million quid loss. So he's turned things around, but without moving them forward. It'll be interesting to see if he can actually make HMV profitable.

Goodbye, Rounder

Today is the final day of trading at Rounder Records in Brighton. A minute's silence, please, played from the runout groove of your choice.

[Earlier: Rounder Records to close]

Rounder 'bout the end

I was born in Brighton, and grew up there; when I was misspending my youth, and spending my pocket money, I'd make my way down The Lanes and go to Brighton Square. Rounder Records. It was a couple of years older than me, and something of a survivor. Until now, that is:

Hello all,
It is with huge regret and sadness that we have to announce that we are closing down. We will shut our doors at 6pm on Sunday 29th July after 46 years of being a record shop in Brighton Square.

What we have always strived to do is to stock the best range of music at the best prices for our customers – sadly that is not enough for us to stay open.

We are closing because we can't make it add up any more. We are a business that has been decimated by downloads (both legal and illegal), VAT avoidance by the big online retailers, a double dip recession, & the decline of the high street. Our lease has ended and we have nowhere to go.

We would like to give heartfelt thanks to all our customers over the years, and hope that we have managed to provide you with some special and great music throughout this time. That's why we have been here – as place to obtain, hear, find out about, discuss all types of the weird & wonderful world of music, to be a social hub for a musical city, a place where future bands are born, where record labels are started, where local bands can stock their first release, where you can get tickets for gigs, where there's something playing on the shop stereo that might be your new favourite band. Sadly, in 2012, this is just not financially viable.

The guy I sat next to at Sixth Form used to do the wall paintings promoting the new releases - I noticed the last time I was in town they still had them, although I suspect it's not Kevin who was doing them.

I loved Rounder for the range of stock they had - they were pretty good on Sarah Records stuff but also covered dance, and they had a warmth and approachability that - especially post-High Fidelty - you wouldn't normally associate with a well-stocked independent record shop. Moving to Liverpool, and graduating to Probe, was something of a culture shock.

Thanks, Rounder. You'll be missed.

Physical decline: Best Buy closes 50 stores

Another knock for CDs: Best Buy has announced plans to close 50 big-box stores in the US in favour of opening 100 Best Buy Mobile shops.

The closing stores have massive racks of CDs. The opening ones, not so much.

Tom Jones goes vinyl only

This is lovely: Tom Jones has created a limited-edition, coloured-vinyl version of his Jack White collaboration Evil, and is only selling it through Spillers.

Spillers being the shop in Cardiff where he bought records when he was a tiny Tom.

Gennaro Castaldo watch: Aylesbury fail

The spokesperson who shares HMV's pain at closing the branch in Aylesbury isn't named as Gennaro Castaldo, but we can be sure it is him:

A HMV spokesman said: “We’re really sorry to be closing our store in Friars Square.

“This is not a decision we’ve taken lightly and doesn’t in any way reflect on the fantastic work colleagues that we have there.

“We are working hard to relocate our Aylesbury staff to other stores in the region.

“We would also like to point out that our decision does not in any way reflect on our regular customers who we would like to thank most sincerely for their valued support over the past years.

“We shall be looking forward to perhaps seeing our Aylesbury customers at nearby HMV stores or online at hmv.com.

“Nine members of staff are currently in employment at the Friars Square store, all of whom are currently in consultation."

How can we sure that it is Gennaro? Because this is what he said about the closure of the Cheshire Oaks branch:

HMV spokesman Gennaro Castaldo said: “We’re very sorry to be closing our outlet in Cheshire Oaks, which is not a decision we’ve taken lightly and certainly doesn’t in any way reflect on the fantastic work colleagues we have there, who we are looking to relocate to other stores in the region where at all possible, or indeed on our regular customers, who we’d like to thank for their valued support over the past eight years.”

Maybe I'm being oversensitive, but if you can't be arsed to come up with something specific to say about the people you're kicking out of work, it might be best not to bother. Gennaro might as well leave a message saying "The thing being affected by the event under discussion has caused us the correct emotions for a corporation of our type."

[Thanks to Steven from Subsiren for the tip]

Record Shop Update: Bleecker Bob's Golden Oldies closes

Grim news from New York, as long-standing fixture Bleecker Bobs has announced it's closing at the end of winter.

The space is needed to provide New York with a Starbucks - an understandable; for while most cities the size of New York have record shops on every corner, there's hardly anywhere left you can buy coffee.

The New York Times remembers the good days:

Bleecker Bob’s, which began as Village Oldies Records in 1968, on Bleecker Street, and moved to two other locations before ending up at No. 118, had many rock ’n’ roll moments. Jimmy Page, Led Zeppelin’s guitarist, tended the register there occasionally, as did Frank Zappa, according to employees, who said both musicians were friends with Bob Plotnick, the store’s owner.

The same story notes the upcoming departure from the city of the Southpaw live venue.

Shopwatch: Criminal Records

Criminal Records has been in Atlanta for 20 years; its owner, Eric Levin, is the president of the Alliance Of Independent Media Stores. And, unless Eric can clear a $150,000 debt by November 1st, it's likely it'll go out of business.

Levin is optimistic that he can make it:

Criminal is reminding people its end is not certain. "OK, y'all, please hold off on the RIPs and farewells," they wrote at the Criminal Records Twitter page. We're not dead and gone yet."

"It's up to the public and Atlanta now," says Levin. "We've done our part."

And bands are rallying round - Manchester Orchestra is offering to do an in-store. But it's clearly touch and go. It's not often you'd wish Criminals good luck, but these deserve everybody's support.

Jay Z's Best Buy link up unpopular

So, the new Jay-Z album has its launch all lined up - iTunes get an exclusive first go; then Best Buy get a super-duper special exclusive version.

And what about the smaller stores, the ones that helped Mr Z as his career was getting going?

Ah, they just get the bum's rush. And they're not happy about it. The New York Times reports:

An open letter addressed to Jay-Z and Kanye West and signed by 200 independent record stores, including Mr. Hill’s, was published by Billboard last Thursday, calling the deal “short-sighted”.

Michael Bunnell, a founder of Record Store Day, an umbrella organization that represents the independent stores that signed the letter, said the recent trend of big-name artists aligning with large retail stores to push album sales saddled already suffering independent stores with more pressure.

“These stores are family owned and still have a passion for what they do,” said Mr. Bunnell, 61, who has owned the Record Exchange in Boise, Idaho for 34 years. “They don’t sell appliances on the side.”

Mr. Hill, whose store doubles as a barbershop to stay open, says that he would have ordered 300 copies of the album, but that, given the deal with Best Buy, he is scaling back orders by half.

Mr Z's response isn't entirely encouraging:

“We made this album and it took us eight months,” he said. “We should be able to release it the way we like, without everybody being up in arms.”

Yes, how dare the people who were there for him when he was starting out expect a bit of support in return? How dare they "get up in arms" and try to tell the IMPORTANT MR ZEE what to do?

Z's rather lame explanation for the deal is "mutter mutter probably something to do with piracy":

[H]e said a same-day release to all outlets would inevitably lead to leaked songs during the process of shipping the album all over the country, which would take several days. Ensuring releases go to one retailer first, he said, would prevent that and allow for higher sales.

Because, you know, nothing helps sales like going on the radio and suggesting that somehow small record shop owners are less trustworthy than the people who shove boxes of stuff round Best Buy. Or seeming to imply that somehow a CD in Best Buy is impregnable.

Given you only need one copy for an album to be leaked online, the Z defence is palpably nonsense. Obviously, a very rich man going on the radio and saying "look, I love money, and this way, I get lots and lots more money" would have been unpleasant. But at least it would have been honest.

Now, that's a limited edition

The Witch And The Robot know how to do a limited edition. Their next album will involve a bit of a hike if you'd like a copy:

Fear of Mountains pt1 is the name of our new album, it will be available to buy from Hide and Horn – a little shop off The Slack in Ambleside from 1st September 2011.

If anyone does make the trip up to Los Ambleside to purchase the said album, we will also throw in a nice picture and some other treats as well, just to make the journey really worth it…

We are doing this because this is the first part in a trilogy of albums about the Lake District, it is very much a product of place and its difficult to think of a shop that sums up all of the esoteric nuances of The Lakes more then Hide And Horn.

This is their website http://www.hidehornambleside.co.uk/

So that’s it really.

It would be worth the detour, but please don't ask the shop staff at Hide And Horn if they've also got Stevie Wonder doing I Just Called To Say I Loved You.

Record shop update: Birdel's to close

Last time, two years ago, when Joe Long tried to close New York record store Birdels, he wasn't allowed to. His customers made him keep open.

This time, though, he really has closed up for good.

On the down side, the city has lost what sounds like a brilliant music store. On the plus side, it sounds like Joe Long is really planning to enjoy his hard-earned retirement:

Mr. Long’s immediate plans include traveling far from New York, where he has lived since 1954: first to North Carolina, where he will visit family, then perhaps to Aruba or Ghana.

[via @PatrickTrojman]

Closing Borders

Britain's Borders went months and months ago; earlier this week the Australian flavour closed down altogether, and in the US the company sought protective bankruptcy and announced the closure of a number of stores.

To be fair, when we read through the list of closures in Colorado, we were going "What? they had a store there? Why?" so there is an element of genuine consolidation possible here. Borders seem to have had a policy of opening branches in new malls but leaving branches operating in nearby, declining malls, which does leave a bit of room to take out some stores without the network collapsing. (The American mall market is different to the UK one, where HMV is hoping that people will travel five or six miles extra to the next High Steet store.) The 200 closures and Chapter 11 could bring $2billion back into play that otherwise would be spent on rent.

But what does the protective bankruptcy mean for the music industry? Billboard have some interesting figures which shows the size of the bath the majors might take:

The site also lists Borders' 30 largest creditors, beginning with Penguin Putnam, which is owed $41 million. The first music vendor to appear on the list is Sony Music at no. 14, which is owed $4.3 million. It is followed by Universal Music Group at no. 17 ($3.75 million), WEA at no 18 ($3.4 million) and EMI Music at no. 26 ($1.7 million).

Unpleasant sums, but not the sort of hit that would even take out EMI right now.

And even if the stores vanish, it's not going to be more than a final drying of a sales source that has been in decline for years:

The company, which only carries music in 500 of its stores, was once a significant force in music, but its SKU count has steadily declined as U.S. music sales dropped during the past decade. In 2000, when music sales was at its U.S. peak, the typical Borders store was carrying 50,000 titles, but that dropped to 29,000 by 2003, 14,000 in 2006, and 9,500 by 2009

The real worry for the music industry seems to be not so much what they'd lose directly if Borders close, but what the knock-on effect might be:

If Borders pulls out of music or the chain goes away, the question of whether Barnes & Noble will continue to stay in music looms large as a future worry, according to executives.

This seems to be a tacit admission that both chains are only using CDs as a loss leader, doesn't it?

Indie record shops return to Cowley Road

Good news for the people of Oxford - three years after Polar Bear melted, there's going to be indie record shop on Cowley Road again. Rapture, which already has branches in Evesham and Cameronville Witney is opening a third branch. It may or may not be called Rapture; and it's going to get marketing help from the Truck Festival team.

[Rapture Owner Gary] Smith denied it was a risk to open a shop in the current economic situation. He said: “It is a risk, but when we opened in Witney six years ago, people said it was a risky business back then, but we are still here and going strong.

“Judging by the response we got when we opened for one day, there is a market for us.”

He added: “We pride ourselves on customer service and stock knowledge.

“That is what people will get, friendly staff, great stock and great customer service.”

Hey... imagine that. Do you think HMV have thought of that as a way forward?

[Thanks to @jimwaterson for the tip]

HMV to shutter 60 stores

It's sad, but I don't think this morning's announcement from HMV that it's closing 60 stores after a rotten Christmas will come as any surprise.

Blaming everything - except the horrible atmosphere in its confused and curiously stocked-stores - HMV warned it was in danger of breaking the terms of its loans:

"The challenging entertainment markets, combined with the severe weather over our peak trading period have had a negative impact on our trading year to date. In addition, there are well-reported consumer headwinds as we enter 2011," said the company. Many retailers have warned that Britain's austerity measures, such as the VAT rise, will hurt them this year.

"Given the difficult trading conditions over Christmas and the likely outturn for the year, the board now expects that compliance with the April covenant test under the group's bank facility will be tight and is taking further mitigating actions during the next four months to address this," HMV added.

Chief executive Simon Fox insisted that HMV remained "a profitable and cash-generative business and a powerful entertainment brand".

The sort of cash-generative business that had like-for-like December sales plunge over 13% between 2009 and 2010.

No word yet on which shops will be holding closing-down sales.