 Local indie record stores fight for survival
by Rob van Alstyne
Once upon a time, in the halcyon days of yore—let’s call it the pre-Clear Channel era—independent record stores dotted the landscapes of America. Even in piddling mid-sized cities like the one I grew up in—Albany, N.Y., affectionately known by many as “smallbany”—there was at least one or two hip spots where a musically curious kid could get lost in stacks of used CDs, vintage vinyl and obscure bootleg cassettes.
A trip to the local indie-shop, in my case a hole in the wall called Last Vestige, was its own form of musical history lesson, with cool music blasting over the speakers and listening stations on hand, where one could sample releases before plunking down their hard-earned cash. New independent releases also dotted the shelves, live concerts were displayed on overhead TVs and the entire place gave off an aura of unattainable cool to my early teenaged self. This was just 10 short years ago, but it feels like a lifetime.
 Now,
larger and indisputably hipper places like the Twin Cities are slowly seeing
independent record stores fade off into the sunset. The recent closing of totemic
indie institution Let It Be Records’ downtown Minneapolis storefront rightfully
sent shockwaves through the local music community, and provides a prime example
of just one of the problems facing indie record stores in the metro area. A
staple on the scene for more than a decade, Let It Be was essentially priced
out of its location at the Nicollet Mall, where it had been since 1989, by the
constant onslaught of high-priced condominium projects in the area (owner Ryan
Cameron will continue running a scaled-down online version of the store and
was unavailable for comment on this story).
Overlooked in much of the Let It Be discussion, however, was that the store
was far from the first to shutter its doors in the face of the economic tough
times that have besieged the land post-9-11. Both Root Cellar Records, which
had been the epicenter of the Twin Cities heavy metal scene for 15 years, and
Eclipse Records, a great live venue and all-ages hangout in the Grand Avenue
neighborhood of St. Paul, closed up shop in the preceding two years (Eclipse
is hoping to reopen at a new location later this year).
Are brick and mortar independent record stores the last of a dying breed? And
if so, what (or who) is killing them off? I decided to dive into the belly of
the beast to find out the answer, asking those working the front lines (record
store clerks, store managers) and making the big decisions (store owners) at
some of the aforementioned closed institutions and those still in the game just
what obstacles the indie stores of the Twin Cities are facing in their current
fight for survival—and whether they’ve got a fighting chance of
making it out alive.
ATTACK OF THE CLONES
 Undoubtedly
one of the biggest crises currently facing the music industry at large has been
the technological advance in CD recording over the last five years. Sales of
recordable CDs now outpace commercial releases, and that gap only continues
to widen. Even as Napster has come and gone, the record industry continues to
play the role of the boy with his finger in the dyke rather than addressing
the real issues. The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) busies
itself with hunting down young down-loaders while Rome continues to burn. As
one would expect, indie record stores have been hit particularly hard by the
new “download first, ask questions later” generation of music listeners.
“Little guys like us are being weeded out for a number of different reasons,”
said Earl Root, former proprietor of Root Cellar Records, with a slight hint
of anger in his voice. “It isn’t clear cut why it’s happening,
dude, it’s just the way things change. When is the last time you saw a
kid running around with a BETA or an 8-track? It’s the same principle.
I noticed a 30-percent decrease in sales for three years in a row before I finally
decided to close up shop. With the onset of CD burners, the impact was really
gradual. It used to be that once in a week I’d hear someone say, ‘Don’t
buy that, I’ll burn it for you.’ Then it got to be once a day, then
it got to be once an hour. After a while it feels like you’re selling
ice cubes to Eskimos. There still is that fringe community of seekers who wants
guidance and wants to know what’s up with the music; they’ll always
be there. The real question is, where are the followers, man?”
Root’s sentiments were echoed by many others in the business who worry
that the current crop of teens, a demographic previously a critically huge piece
of the indie-record store pie, have turned away from buying records altogether.
 “Pretty
much every home computer has a CD burner now,” said Bob Fuchs, manager
at the Electric Fetus’ Minneapolis location for over 10 years. “Every
kid in high school has one, every kid in college has one. There’s no awareness
with these younger kids coming up now of buying records, or even what it means
to buy a CD. They didn’t grow up with that experience of going into a
record store. Kind of keeping the record store as a cultural center is hard,
but I think when people get older, maybe a little more educated, and have a
little more disposable income, they tend to actually want to buy whole albums
and maybe even old LPs—you can’t download everything.”
“I do still know a lot of people who download just to check stuff out,
and then buy it if they like it,” said Dan Cote, manager of Treehouse
records. “But it’s so easy to download something and then, once
you already have it, decide that the money you would spend buying the album
would be better spent on food or some other necessity—that’s pretty
hard to argue with.”
“I’ve sort of maintained all along that the burning and the downloads
has a bigger impact than people realized—just because now there are kids
coming up who have never bought a record,” said John Beggs, who owns Roadrunner
Records in conjunction with his wife Sarah. “Their mentality is, why would
you pay for it when you can get it for free—it doesn’t take a dummy
to figure that out. The music industry and the major labels are going after
the downloading now as a way to try and regain control of the business—and
that’s never going to work. I think the only way that the industry can
really regain control again is by lowering the price on CDs. I remember 22 years
ago, when CDs first started hitting the market, that everyone was told, ‘Well,
these are expensive now, but the price is going to come down to the same as
that of albums once the format gets off the ground’—and that never
happened. I’m really curious to see, if we went back to the days of a
$7.99 retail selling price, if we would go back to selling 50 million copies
of certain records. Could you make up that difference in price through volume?
I think you probably could. But the more time that passes I think the harder
it’s going to be [to go back to that earlier model] and make that work.”
WAL-MART: IN IT TO WIN IT
 Beggs’
dreams of a $7.99 retail price for CDs might rightfully be scoffed at as nonsense
if it weren’t for one troubling fact—its already a reality in the
bottom line minded corporate mega culture of companies like Wal-Mart and our
very own Target and Best Buy—and the result is actually more of a nightmare
for Beggs and his fellow independent record store entrepreneurs than a dream.
As these monolithic businesses continue to expand in scope it seems inevitable
that they would want in on the music selling action, and they haven’t
hesitated to throw their weight around in the game.
Current industry reports show that one out of every five major label albums
purchased in America is bought at Wal-Mart, and as if the mega-corporations
questionable censorship doctrine weren’t enough cause for this fact to
keep any conscionable American up at night, their pricing strategies are equally
circumspect. Wal-Mart, Best Buy and every other McChain specialize in using
music as a so-called “loss leader” product, meaning they’re
willing to sell major label albums at below cost (in some cases $6.99) in the
hope that said bargain shopper who headed out to the store to pick up that new
White Stripes or Cold Play album might just stick around and end up grabbing
a new high-priced refrigerator or gaudy plasma TV. The phenomenon’s negative
impact on indie record stores who could never attempt such “inventive”
pricing maneuvers is devastating.
“When Best Buy and Target advertise the new White Stripes or Coldplay
CD for sale at $9.99 it’s tough because that’s two to three dollars
less than what [Treehouse] pays for the discs from our distributors,”
said Cote. “We would be better off going over there and buying them from
Best Buy ourselves—and that sucks.”
Chris Valenty, a clerk at Know Name Records in Dinkytown for ten years, echoed
Cote’s thoughts on the impact of the mega-corporation’s music machinations
on small businesses.
 “Until
the Best Buys and Targets are forced to pay more for their product I think they’re
going to continue to hurt small businesses,” said Valenty. “They
sell CDs for less than we buy them for from the distributor so that they can
bring people into the store and sell them something else. If we don’t
get [Minnesota Attorney General] Mike Hatch to do something about that kind
of bullshit that’s killing small businesses, then the situation is hopeless.
I think we really do need to get all of the smaller record stores in town to
come together and say to our local elected officials, ‘Look, this is what’s
hurting us and we need to stop it.’ If people really want a completely
ugly [musical culture] of the future [they can] keep on going to Best Buy and
Target and that’s fine, but if you want something more beautiful and diverse,
then try to seek those smaller businesses out—because it’s important.
These corporations get too many loopholes, small businesses get nothing by comparison
and it’s such crap—it just makes me mad.”
Others struck a more resilient pose. “Wal-Mart is the one that has changed
the business the most,” said Al Brown, owner and founder of Cheapo Records,
which started as one store back in 1972 and has subsequently expanded to multiple
locations nationwide. “They make the majors sell them CDs for far lower
than I can buy them for—that’s just the way it is. There’s
no such thing as a level playing field in this business. So far we’ve
been able to ride that out over time. I don’t have a big concern about
what’s going on with Wal-Mart and Best Buy, my concern is what’s
going on with Cheapo. We’re just trying every year to get better.”
“[The Electric Fetus] lost a lot of our Billboard Top 100 titles type
sales to $9.99 pricing at the larger chains,” admitted Fuchs. “That
market has just gone away, our new Hip-Hop and R&B sales have just plummeted—but
catalog sales across the board are still fantastic. So we’re down a couple
of points, but it’s almost indiscernible from where we were at three years
ago.”
DARK DAYS
 Of
course, it could just be that the indie record stores are feeling the same pinch
as everybody else, in a post 9-11 economy that continues to struggle despite
incessant optimism from Fox News anchors.
“I’ve been [at the Electric Fetus] for 18 years and I’ve been
managing for over 10,” stated Fuchs. “This last two-year period
has probably been the single hardest financial period that we’ve endured.
Things are still good, but it’s been really tough. We had a double whammy
of a bad economy—which is recovering or not recovering, depending on whom
you listen to—and then you combine that with the advances in home technology
with CD burning and downloading. The business has been up and down but you just
try and find new ways to bring people in. From about 1995, when we expanded
our store, until 2001 things were always just moving upward and then the bubble
in the economy finally popped. It’s been difficult but it’s forced
us to be really smart about our business. We’ve figured out what we do
well and what we don’t. It’s always a good check for business to
get lean, and we’ve done that and things are really healthy now. We watch
every little detail very closely. You keep it tight because when you’re
not seeing 25 percent gains like you did 10 years ago you don’t have the
ability to play with that money.”
“I think it’s certainly a dark time,” admitted Valenty. “We
[Know Name Records] laid off about 80 percent of our workforce last year, I
think the economy is doing a lot worse than people say it is. With the amount
of state jobs lost in the last four years and the amount of other jobs lost,
people just don’t have the money to spend on records and CDs. I feel it’s
more like a Pawlenty problem or a Bush problem really that’s created this
situation for a lot of the indie record stores, they’re really stabbing
the economy in the back.”
 “I
think just about anybody in any kind of business will tell you that after 9-11
things changed forever,” said Beggs. “I don’t know if we’ve
ever really fully recovered from that.”
“It’s really tough with the current economy,” admitted Vincent
Murray, owner of Aardvark Records. “I haven’t been able to afford
any other employees the last two years, it’s just me every day. People
come in all the time and say, ‘yeah I love your stuff but I just can’t
afford to buy anything today,’ and I understand where they’re coming
from. There are days I sit here all day and nobody comes through the door—those
are the times when I worry about paying rent.”
ONLY THE STRONG SURVIVE
Unsurprisingly, the largest stores I spoke with—those involved in national
coalitions and boasting multiple locations—tended to be the most optimistic
about the state of the industry. But more surprisingly, and encouragingly, even
the most bedraggled mom and pop operation wasn’t about to throw in the
towel. All the stores are in the midst of reconfiguring their business models
to better accommodate the ever-changing record industry and find new ways to
remain vital, or at the very least, open.
For the Electric Fetus, the key has been collectivization. “Being a member
of the coalition of independent music stores (CIMS) has made a huge difference
for us over the years. We’ve gotten tons of play with the majors and independents
because of CIMS.  It
used to be that we had to search them out to try and do things and sell them
on ideas, now they’re seeking us out. They’re coming to us knowing
that we’re the marquee stores in their cities and that we do things well.
The groups of CIMS members that I’ve met are so impressive and so kind,
it was our 10-year anniversary this year and it truly is a family, everybody
knows each other’s kids. We’re getting all kinds of programs set
up with the majors now that we never used to get—now as an entity they
can’t deny us. CIMS represents over 90 individual stores in good markets,
they recognize us as tastemaker stores now and that’s hugely important.”
Smaller operations have been forced to focus their attention more on collectable
vinyl and—in an oddly ironic twist given that online sales are undoubtedly
contributing to brick and mortar stores sales woes—Ebay auctioning. “There’s
certainly some Ebay stuff that we’ve had to get into [at Roadrunner],”
admitted Beggs. “If the store survives it’s going to be due to more
web visibility. Ebay is sort of the instant gratification route where you can
make up for a lot by taking the time to list old vinyl items on there. At the
same time, that’s a finite amount you’re dealing with—granny’s
attic is going to be empty at some point. So even though sales of old vinyl
is something that does really well, it’s hard to maintain.”
“[Treehouse Records] has always specialized in quality used vinyl,”
said Cote, “so our niche has always been that higher quality collectible
kind of stuff. We do well with that but it tends to be the higher-end stuff,
which then again gets back to the customers not having the money to afford it.
We’ve dabbled a little bit with using Ebay on really high priced stuff
and that’s been good. I don’t know how I feel about it because I
would really like to save the cool stuff for our customers who come into the
store regularly rather than just some dude sitting on his computer in New York
City.”
 ALL
YOU NEED IS LOVE (AND CUSTOMERS)
One unifying element in all the interviews I did for this piece, from agitated
store clerk Chris Valenty at Know Name Records to the far more upbeat Bob Fuchs
at the Electric Fetus, was the feeling that I was speaking with true music lovers.
In those stores where I conducted interviews as other customers milled about,
the owners and clerks invariably chatted with their customers by name and talked
about various record pressings and collectibles shows (at one point the merits
of an alternate Monkees album cover featuring the TV band sporting beards was
discussed). It was then that I realized, all over again as if I were 14 and
poorly affecting insouciant cool at a dive record store back in Albany, the
secret weapon that indie-record stores have over all the corporate chains and
faceless download programs in the world – personality.
“I think that a lot of the people who come to Aardvark and places like
it are sort of the last of the true music lovers,” said Murray. “Downloading
hurts us, but I think for the kind of person who comes into Aardvark, a real
music lover, they may download to sample some music but they’re still
going to want to have the full product, they want the artwork, they want to
hold it in their hands.”
“I ran into friends yesterday at a café and they said they were
swinging by [the Electric Fetus] later and wanted to hear my recommendations—that’s
what we do,” said Fuchs.  “You
have your favorite records because you love ’em and then your friends
come in and you tell them, ‘Hey I can’t stop listening to the new
Teenage Fanclub,’ or ‘I can’t stop playing M. Ward,’
whatever it is. I think it’s important for record stores to remain that
sort of Church for people who love music, a place to celebrate music. People
have a connection to this place that’s stronger than just the need to
come in and buy a record. I’ve had many customers that became friends,
many vendors that became friends. There’s just a really organic and natural
environment here that Wal-Mart and other stores try to prove that they have
or advertise that they have—but it’s been here all along.”
So even as dark clouds continue to swirl above most local record store retailers’
bottom lines, a mood of defiant optimism remains. In a sign of hopefully better
times to come, Joe Furth, proprietor of currently-on-hiatus Eclipse Records,
sounds audibly excited about the possibilities the future still holds for his
store (looking to reopen with its usual commitment to near nightly live music
and a sweet retro arcade sometime this fall)—and others.
“You need new blood, you need a fan of some of the stores that have closed
to pick up the reins and start their own,” Furth said. “I plan on
getting things up and running again as soon as I can with Eclipse Records, and
part of me feels good that no one has done what I was doing in the two years
we’ve been shut down, but it also saddens me. Even a copycat store would
be nice. For as strongly as I feel about Eclipse, I would do all that I could
to help out somebody starting a new store in terms of advice. In a few short
years [the local record store community] has lost a lot of things. It’s
easy to become less optimistic and harder for people to want to make something
happen. I had to sue the city and I had all these other things stacked up against
me when Eclipse was closing, at the end I didn’t get along with my landlord.
I run into kids all the time who ask me, ‘When are you going to reopen’
and my response is ‘What are you going to do?’ There are still these
kids out there that need to be turned onto the music, and want to be turned
on. There’s plenty of room out there for new stores.” ||
 Please patronize the locally owned record stores conveniently located in the
Twin Cities metro area and featured in this article.
Aardvark
Records
924 Lowry Ave. NE, Minneapolis
612-781-3404
Aardvark-Records.com
Cheapo
80 Snelling Ave. N., St. Paul
651-644-8981, and
1300 West Lake Street, Minneapolis
612-827-8238
The Electric Fetus
2000 4th Ave. S, Minneapolis
612-870-9300
eFetus.com
 Know Name Records
6009 Portland Ave. S., Minneapolis
612-869-1070, and
1309 4th St. SE, Minneapolis
612-627-9680
KnowName.com
Roadrunner Records
4304 Nicollet Avenue, Minneapolis
612-822-0613
LandspeedRecords.com
Treehouse Records
2557 Lyndale Ave. S., Minneapolis
612-872-7400
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