Last Shop Standing (Whatever happened to record shops?)

[Royal Oak]

Stockport's HMV was never much good to me. A big unit, but a very small jazz section. Stockport's town centre has one of the UK's highest percentage of empty shops. Now it's lost Comet and Jessop's and quite probably HMV (that's assuming it does close down).

[A Lark Ascending]

Reading all the reportage it seems like there is quite a strong desire to save the brand name and some of the stores.

Peacocks (being a dedicated follower of fashion, the place I frequent on the rare occasions I need clothing) went under a year or more back but I noticed it up and running in Cornwall last summer and the shop in Worksop has returned too.

[David Ayers]

I still buy from HMV. I've tried - though failed - to buy CDs from actual stores, and for the rest go to Spotify. This at least honored the nature of the physical carrier. My local HMV always has (or had) things I would like, though plainly it is (or was) not satisfying to collectors.

[sidewinder]

The Duck, Son and Pinker (or whatever it had become) in Bath still looked like it would sell you styluses for your wind up gramophone a few years back. Bare floor boards, prim shop assistants in late middle age etc.

And record racks sized to take 78s ! Their annual January sale is missed in this house. Always a good selection of jazz DVDs too and sheet music. In the last few years though I kept seeing buckets around the place to stop the rain from coming in, never a good sign.

Edited January 16, 2013 by sidewinder

[A Lark Ascending]

though plainly it is (or was) not satisfying to collectors.

Ah! Those pesky collectors again. If only they had an interest in music.

****************

Apparently Blockbuster went to the wall today. Who is going to occupy all this retail space?

I recall the 1980s when you had things like 'The Sock Shop', 'The Tie Shop', 'The Christmas Shop' and places that sold executive toys. Do they still exist?

Maybe jazz musicians can move in and start a teenies loft-type scene. "Evan Parker - The Meadowhall Sessions".

Edited January 16, 2013 by A Lark Ascending

[BillF]

Apparently Blockbuster went to the wall today. Who is going to occupy all this retail space?

No one. It's called death of the high street.

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

This BBC report on the economics of this is interesting

http://www.bbc.co.uk...siness-21023602

Also interesting, from the HMV pics the Guardian had in their article, was this one

In the fifties, no one needed to be told who Miller and Waller were. (And their material, at the time, was available on HMV.)

MG

[BillF]

This BBC report on the economics of this is interesting

http://www.bbc.co.uk...siness-21023602

Also interesting, from the HMV pics the Guardian had in their article, was this one

In the fifties, no one needed to be told who Miller and Waller were.

MG

Firm of London solicitors, weren't they?

Anyway, cheer up. " Appetite for CDs remains - and will be fed," we are told:

http://www.equities.com/news/headline-story?dt=2013-01-15&val=924407&cat=service

[A Lark Ascending]

Apparently Blockbuster went to the wall today. Who is going to occupy all this retail space?

No one. It's called death of the high street.

Is that a relation of the death of jazz?

[sidewinder]

Apparently Blockbuster went to the wall today.

Incredible that they lasted so long. Beyond last century in fact..

[A Lark Ascending]

I like this one from the Guardian. 1973, around the time I'd have first visited the London shop. Remember those code things on the display cases giving you the prices.

Somewhere else the photo was used speculating he was looking for a Slade album. I'd say he's definitely a Soft Machine fan (there's a fair chance he could have been in Soft Machine with that beard!).

Looks like Richard Williams on the far left.

Edited January 16, 2013 by A Lark Ascending

[sidewinder]

Meanwhile, according to the Telegraph Dobell's is getting an exhibition.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/music-news/9805473/Exhibition-planned-to-honour-historic-record-shop-Dobells.html

Next up - 'Mole Jazz - The Musical'?

[A Lark Ascending]

Meanwhile, according to the Telegraph Dobell's is getting an exhibition.

http://www.telegraph...op-Dobells.html

Next up - 'Mole Jazz - The Musical'?

Ha!

Ray's Jazz on Ice (composed by Rick Wakeman)

[BillF]

Meanwhile, according to the Telegraph Dobell's is getting an exhibition.

http://www.telegraph...op-Dobells.html

Interesting photo! Recognize Doug Dobell and that guy with the beard and aggressive glasses who used to keep up an articulate cymbal beat on the edge of the counter with his ball pen.

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

I like this one from the Guardian. 1973, around the time I'd have first visited the London shop. Remember those code things on the display cases giving you the prices.

Somewhere else the photo was used speculating he was looking for a Slade album. I'd say he's definitely a Soft Machine fan (there's a fair chance he could have been in Soft Machine with that beard!).

But the guy's looking through the sound tracks & musicals section. You can see the sleeves of 'Hair' 'Lawrence of Arabia' and 'Kismet' in front of him.

MG

[Big Beat Steve]

Meanwhile, according to the Telegraph Dobell's is getting an exhibition.

http://www.telegraph...op-Dobells.html

Would love to see that exhibition and will definitely keep an eye open for the planed book on Dobell's.

My visits to Dobell's during 14-day school trips to London in 1975, 76 and 77 when I was just a budding jazz fan and collector left a lasting mark (as well as the eternal regret of having been that short on funds ) on me. London had many, many interesting record shops for me at that time but Dobell's (along with probably the Bloomsbury Book Shop run by the wife of John Chilton) was a class by itself, even to me who at that time had not yet really an accurate idea of its standing among connoisseurs. The next time I made it to London (in 1992) Dobell's was gone and the entire street section had been redeveloped.

At any rate, I am glad I grabbed that Cyril Davies LP freshly released by Doug Dobell during my 1976 visit there.

Edited January 16, 2013 by Big Beat Steve

[A Lark Ascending]

I like this one from the Guardian. 1973, around the time I'd have first visited the London shop. Remember those code things on the display cases giving you the prices.

Somewhere else the photo was used speculating he was looking for a Slade album. I'd say he's definitely a Soft Machine fan (there's a fair chance he could have been in Soft Machine with that beard!).

But the guy's looking through the sound tracks & musicals section. You can see the sleeves of 'Hair' 'Lawrence of Arabia' and 'Kismet' in front of him.

MG

It was the 70s. You don't know what he'd taken.

I was trying to work out the record he's pulling out. Looks familiar but I can't place it.

***************************

Interesting take here:

http://www.guardian....P=ILCNETTXT3487

It's thanks to such online retailers, recession and austerity policies that we're experiencing one of the few booms in recent years; namely, a nostalgia boom, as well-known stores curl up and die, leaving us with memories of ostensibly happier times. That said, there's something pitiful about feeling nostalgic over the death of a favourite shop. It's sad we're so consumerist that our most poignant memories are bound up with retailing experiences.

Edited January 16, 2013 by A Lark Ascending

[danasgoodstuff]

I like this one from the Guardian. 1973, around the time I'd have first visited the London shop. Remember those code things on the display cases giving you the prices.

Somewhere else the photo was used speculating he was looking for a Slade album. I'd say he's definitely a Soft Machine fan (there's a fair chance he could have been in Soft Machine with that beard!).

But the guy's looking through the sound tracks & musicals section. You can see the sleeves of 'Hair' 'Lawrence of Arabia' and 'Kismet' in front of him.

MG

It was the 70s. You don't know what he'd taken.

I was trying to work out the record he's pulling out. Looks familiar but I can't place it.

It's the soundtrack to a film about Jimi Hendrix

***************************

Interesting take here:

http://www.guardian....P=ILCNETTXT3487

It's thanks to such online retailers, recession and austerity policies that we're experiencing one of the few booms in recent years; namely, a nostalgia boom, as well-known stores curl up and die, leaving us with memories of ostensibly happier times. That said, there's something pitiful about feeling nostalgic over the death of a favourite shop. It's sad we're so consumerist that our most poignant memories are bound up with retailing experiences.

[sidewinder]

Can't recall anything much about Dobell's but I must have been in quite a few times if only to check it out after perusing student books over the road in Foyles. Doug Dobell's face looks familiar. I'm sure I picked up a good number of deletions from there in the late 70s. Strangely enough I have a number of Dobell '77' Label test pressings that I picked up from Mole Jazz many years later for £1 each in the upstairs Alladin's Cave ! Maybe I should offer them up for the exhibition?

I had better luck with LPs at that cheap outlet on the Foyles side of Charing Cross Road, which usually had stacks of Blue Note twofer deletions and Impulses. Not sure if it was an early 'Our Price'. The location now has a Chinese 'all you can eat buffet' in it, I think.

Astonishing just how many excellent jazz outlets there were in the London area in the 70s/80s. At the time it was taken for granted.

Edited January 17, 2013 by sidewinder

[Big Beat Steve]

I had better luck with LPs at that cheap outlet on the Foyles side of Charing Cross Road, which usually had stacks of Blue Note twofer deletions and Impulses. Not sure if it was an early 'Our Price'. The location now has a Chinese 'all you can eat buffet' in it, I think.

I remember that one too. It was one of those shops I discovered by chance after a visit to Foyle's (in '75?) that we had been encouraged to visit by our English teachers and also one of those that I dimly remembered years after when I made it back to London in '92, only to find out it was gone (as so many others). Mole Jazz, James Asman's, Ray's Jazz Shop and quite a few in Soho and particularly in Camden Town made more than up for that but still it was a lot less than back in the 70s when you could count on initeresting selections in the "fifties", jazz and blues bins (at least to my tastes) wherever you dropped in.

[sidewinder]

I remember that one too.

It didn't last long - I first remember it around '77 but by '80/81 and the big recession of that time it had gone I think.

[Big Beat Steve]

Interesting take here:

http://www.guardian....P=ILCNETTXT3487

It's thanks to such online retailers, recession and austerity policies that we're experiencing one of the few booms in recent years; namely, a nostalgia boom, as well-known stores curl up and die, leaving us with memories of ostensibly happier times. That said, there's something pitiful about feeling nostalgic over the death of a favourite shop. It's sad we're so consumerist that our most poignant memories are bound up with retailing experiences.

I doubt that this scribe has grasped what it really is all about for many of those who tend to become nostalgic.

IMO is is not about being "consumerist" but about comparing our EVERYDAY LIFE experiences the way they were back then and the way they are now. And shopping invariably is part of our everyday lives, particularly if we (correctly or incorrectly) feel that back then buying real items in real shops - either to cover one's everyday needs or (even more so) to treating us to special objects for our hobbies etc. - was a far more pleasing experience if you look at it beyond pure convenience aspects. Considering that in many cases the choice of products has narrowed down considerably, quality hasn't really improved as much as we are led to believe, staff service likely was better in the past, etc. etc., we tend to become nostalgic (who wouldn't like to go back and buy this or that item that they passed up back then because they didn't know any better?), even though this nostalgia is sometimes a rose-colored glasses affair (many items have only become accessible fairly easily in the internet era, and much of what was around then and what we would like to buy now with the benefit of hindsight actually was much more expensive back then than we'd care to imagine).

So to me the bottom line is that there is little surprise about having fond memories, and this is not limited to the record buying public. (e.g. just look at the numerous comments on SHORPY whenever an antique photo of some main street or shop interior is shown)

[sidewinder]

Totally agree BBS !

Of course, life was not a bed of roses then. Those scarce King Blue Notes were around (briefly) yes - at Mole and the likes. But £8-9 was a small fortune back then. Its nice to remember when you could at least fondle them in the racks.

Edited January 17, 2013 by sidewinder

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

Interesting take here:

http://www.guardian....P=ILCNETTXT3487

It's thanks to such online retailers, recession and austerity policies that we're experiencing one of the few booms in recent years; namely, a nostalgia boom, as well-known stores curl up and die, leaving us with memories of ostensibly happier times. That said, there's something pitiful about feeling nostalgic over the death of a favourite shop. It's sad we're so consumerist that our most poignant memories are bound up with retailing experiences.

I doubt that this scribe has grasped what it really is all about for many of those who tend to become nostalgic.

IMO is is not about being "consumerist" but about comparing our EVERYDAY LIFE experiences the way they were back then and the way they are now. And shopping invariably is part of our everyday lives, particularly if we (correctly or incorrectly) feel that back then buying real items in real shops - either to cover one's everyday needs or (even more so) to treating us to special objects for our hobbies etc. - was a far more pleasing experience if you look at it beyond pure convenience aspects. Considering that in many cases the choice of products has narrowed down considerably, quality hasn't really improved as much as we are led to believe, staff service likely was better in the past, etc. etc., we tend to become nostalgic (who wouldn't like to go back and buy this or that item that they passed up back then because they didn't know any better?), even though this nostalgia is sometimes a rose-colored glasses affair (many items have only become accessible fairly easily in the internet era, and much of what was around then and what we would like to buy now with the benefit of hindsight actually was much more expensive back then than we'd care to imagine).

So to me the bottom line is that there is little surprise about having fond memories, and this is not limited to the record buying public. (e.g. just look at the numerous comments on SHORPY whenever an antique photo of some main street or shop interior is shown)

Yes and no. The writer of the article is right that many (perhaps all) of those chains of stores, whether for music, groceries or overcoats, WERE rubbish and their demise shouldn't be regretted. HMV itself was fine - better than fine really as the old photos show - so long as it was what it was. As soon as they changed it into a chain (I think I remember an HMV shop in Brighton in about '73 or '74, just before I moved to Wales) it became the retail equivalent of Columbia or RCA; seeking to satisfy the easily satisfied majority. Indie retailers, like the indie record companies, tried to get to grips with their local markets. And the best of them at doing so have survived and maybe will continue to survive.

MG

[crisp]

I agree with the article. A refreshing blast of common sense in the current fog of misplaced sentimentality. The only flaw that stands out is that in its day (or in my part of its day) HMV wasn't rubbish, but really good. Always well stocked with decent staff (rare in record shops; most of them were arseholes) and good discounts if you were prepared to play the waiting game (3 for 2!).

But I cringe at the age of 44 to recall all those years of my youth wasted going from store to store in the West End of London hunting down the best prices, leafing through unsorted bins for bargains. I could have been out enjoying myself, or at least indoors enjoying myself by myself, but no, I was out shopping, riding the bus and tube, getting my nostrils filled with soot, lugging bags about.

These days, thanks to the web, you can be a nerd much more efficiently and for less money too.