Last Shop Standing (Whatever happened to record shops?)

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

Must be spam

MG

[A Lark Ascending]

I think it means the HMV branch in Vladivostok has been saved.

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

I think it's HMV Moscow - I'd guess that Moscow is the first word.

MG

[A Lark Ascending]

The bit at the end looks like a price. How long before someone starting asking about shipping rates?

[Scott Dolan]

Можно ли у вас на форуме разместить банер нашего интернет магазина сток-24.рф

"You can if you have the forum to place our banner internet store runoff-24."

That's a pretty lazy spammer. No links, no nothing.

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

Можно ли у вас на форуме разместить банер нашего интернет магазина сток-24.рф

"You can if you have the forum to place our banner internet store runoff-24."

That's a pretty lazy spammer. No links, no nothing.

That's a slick bit of translating, Scott. Gooogle no doubt. Thanks.

MG

[Scott Dolan]

Yep.

[erwbol]

Looks like a Russian sleeper cell has been activated this weekend.

[A Lark Ascending]

"Perhaps you would like to reconsider what you have asserted about Eric Clapton..."

[Scott Dolan]

Vee haft vays to make you talk!

[erwbol]

Oh, sock off!

[A Lark Ascending]

Spent a couple of days in London last weekend. Popped into two of the last remaining record shops from my traditional path a decade or more back. Rays at Foyles seemed to be holding its own though without the depth it once had. But HMV...oh dear! The big classical room had been cleared out and moved into the jazz room. The jazz was back in the main body of the shop. Could have been HMV Leicester from about 2006.

Bought one CD from Foyles (Trio 3 + Jason Moran) where ten years ago I would have gone away on my annual trip with 20! Even then I got home to find it was available on Amazon as a download for less than £6 where I paid £13.

Oh how the world has changed.

[sidewinder]

Last time I was in HMV Oxford St it was still a main room for jazz and with OK selection. It was only a few years ago that they had some Mosaic Selects for sale there. Sad.

[A Lark Ascending]

It looks like it's just happened over the last week or so - the classical room was empty apart from step ladders and things.

A few months back when HMV got 'saved' there was talk of it reorienting itself towards more specialised music. Haven't seen much evidence of that in the couple of provincial shops I've stepped into. Slim pickings in the jazz, classical etc area - still lots of space for T-shirts, mugs with your favourite album on etc!

I suppose it takes time to turn an oil tanker round!

Edited August 20, 2013 by A Lark Ascending

[A Lark Ascending]

Had a couple of hours to kill early on Saturday morning in London so I wandered up Oxford Street to find HMV gone. Recalled some talk of it moving back to the site I remember it in on the south side of Oxford Street by Bond Street station. So I wandered up that way and there it was. After an initial 'Ooh, its 40 years ago!' feeling interest rapidly dropped. Not much different to the provincial shops.

Had a brief root around in the opera Blu-rays. When you are charging double what you can get them for on Amazon your long term survival must be in doubt.

Another sign of the times was the shop in the Barbican. I'm sure I remember a book shop there. Now it sells 'gifts' - mugs, paper products etc with just a few CDs from the LSO's own label and a handful of books.

Market forces.

Edited February 19, 2014 by A Lark Ascending

[sidewinder]

Was that the music shop just before you get to the Barbican main entrance? Always looked well stocked but have never been in.

HMV is starting to be a joke - unless you want to buy their DVD movies I guess. Forget anything to do with jazz. I popped into the Bath branch some time back and didn't linger for long.

[A Lark Ascending]

Was that the music shop just before you get to the Barbican main entrance? Always looked well stocked but have never been in.

This one was in the main building on the ground level with the fountains outside. Maybe there's another shop. I find the geography of the Barbican utterly confusing. Never know which way to go back to the tube station. The music library looked well stocked, though the entrance to the library looked well hidden. I was trying to work out if it was a shop or a library - turned out to be the latter.

You can see the delights on offer here:

http://www.barbican.org.uk/visitor-information/shops

Designer pencil case? iPhone cover?

Edited February 19, 2014 by A Lark Ascending

[mjazzg]

Had a couple of hours to kill early on Saturday morning in London so I wandered up Oxford Street to find HMV gone. Recalled some talk of it moving back to the site I remember it in on the south side of Oxford Street by Bond Street station. So I wandered up that way and there it was. After an initial 'Ooh, its 40 years ago!' feeling interest rapidly dropped. Not much different to the provincial shops.

Had a brief root around in the opera Blu-rays. When you are charging double what you can get them for on Amazon your long term survival must be in doubt.

Another sign of the times was the shop in the Barbican. I'm sure I remember a book shop there. Now it sells 'gifts' - mugs, paper products etc with just a few CDs from the LSO's own label and a handful of books.

Market forces.

Yes, i was surprised the other week to see the shuttered HMV on Oxford Street but then remembered the relocation. I didn't bother to look for the other site.

Did you visit Harold Moores in your time killing Bev?

The gift shop's been a feature at the Barbican for at least a couple of years. There is a music shop, selling scores, instruments and Cds by the Silk Street entrance which is the one I think Sidewinder's referring to - I've never been in it though.

The labyrinth that is the Barbican Centre defies any logical navigation suffice to say what is Sidewinder's 'main entrance' is on the other side of the building to the pedestrian 'fountain entrance'. Tthere are still people who attended the opening of the complex in 1982 trying to find an exit, they are heard weeping and wailing through the night

[A Lark Ascending]

Yes, i was surprised the other week to see the shuttered HMV on Oxford Street but then remembered the relocation. I didn't bother to look for the other site.

Did you visit Harold Moores in your time killing Bev?

The gift shop's been a feature at the Barbican for at least a couple of years. There is a music shop, selling scores, instruments and Cds by the Silk Street entrance which is the one I think Sidewinder's referring to - I've never been in it though.

The labyrinth that is the Barbican Centre defies any logical navigation suffice to say what is Sidewinder's 'main entrance' is on the other side of the building to the pedestrian 'fountain entrance'. Tthere are still people who attended the opening of the complex in 1982 trying to find an exit, they are heard weeping and wailing through the night

I walked past Moores but it was early and not open. Have been there before.

Like that bit about the lost souls of the Barbican. Maybe someone could commission Birtwistle to write an opera about them?

I had a friend who stayed in the YMCA in one of those towers for a few months. Recall kipping on his floor (against regulations) at one point.

Edited February 19, 2014 by A Lark Ascending

[sidewinder]

Yes, it's the Silk Street music store that I was thinking of. Always pass it on the way in - and invariably get disoriented every time I visit the place. Maybe it is all that Brutalism gone mad !

[BillF]

A sign of the times!

http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/whats-on/whats-on-news/hmv-market-street-pound-shop-6915776

[sidewinder]

A sign of the times!

http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/whats-on/whats-on-news/hmv-market-street-pound-shop-6915776

Can never understand why those idiotic pound stores are proliferating in this country. People end up paying more for stuff that they can get way cheaper elsewhere. A total con, exploiting people's pricing/value ignorance.

Also just reported is that the venerable, long-established Acorn Records in Yeovil is about to close this Summer. That place has been selling recordings since about 1973 and has always kept at least a small jazz selection. Sad news.

Edited April 4, 2014 by sidewinder

[ghost of miles]

I've touted them before (and full disclosure--they do production support for Night Lights, but I was a fan of them before they started doing that, and they really are an outstanding record store), but if you're passing through Bloomington, Indiana, be sure to check out Landlocked Music, just off the downtown square:

http://www.landlockedmusic.com/

In Indianapolis, Luna Music remains an excellent record store as well:

http://www.lunamusic.net/

They're both part of the the Alliance of Independent Media Stores, which provides a handy list of members on its website:

http://thealliancerocks.com/

[A Lark Ascending]

I got an Anthony Braxton one track record off e-music for 30p or so a while back.

New line for pound shops, perhaps, next to the bag of pegs and the chocolate bars from Paraguay.

[BillF]

I see Foyles have moved a hundred yards or so in Charing Cross Road to the former St Martin's School of Art premises. Surprisingly, they're still listing Ray's Jazz as one of their features. They've probably relegated it to a broom cupboard!

http://www.foyles.co.uk/Public/Stores/Detail.aspx?storeid=1011