Jazz Record Mart for sale

[uli]

Howard Reich ‏@howardreich 2h2 hours ago

Jazz Record Mart for sale http://fw.to/

makes me sad

[Chuck Nessa]

Thanks to Uli for the heads up. I posted this on FB yesterday and it received tons of responses.

My professional career started at JRM, as did many others.

The jazz world owes a bunch to this place.

[danasgoodstuff]

Guess this would be a good time to win the lottery!

[Hot Ptah]

This is very sad.

[Joe]

Aarrrrghhhh... JRM is an institution in the best sense of the word...

[JSngry]

Not knowing the personal, personality, or financial factors involved in such a move, would the Dusty Groove people be in a position to buy the inventory and allow the store to keep its name and direction at a new location?

[Dmitry]

It's time for that Chicago trip I've been thinking about. Perhaps a long weekend this Spring.

[Eric]

  On 2/4/2016 at 4:21 PM, JSngry said:

Not knowing the personal, personality, or financial factors involved in such a move, would the Dusty Groove people be in a position to buy the inventory and allow the store to keep its name and direction at a new location?

Expand  

When I read this thread earlier, it occurred to me that DG has long been my "go to" record store in Chicago.  Last time I went to JRM it was nearly empty (in terms of other patrons, not stock) and nothing distinctive about the stock.  Some of it has to do with marketing - certainly from an online perspective, DG is fun and interesting, whereas JRM barely has an online presence.  In store, DG is smaller - seemingly much smaller, but definitely seems to favor quality over quantity.  Too bad for JRM.  Not sure how you make a go of it.

Now in terms of lifetime spend, JRM probably still has the edge 

Edited February 4, 2016 by Eric

[johnblitweiler]

I was there yesterday. The sale and the end of the JRM could happen in a matter of days.

Above and beyond my working there (a season before JRM hired Chuck Nessa) and my buying records there, the JRM was enormously important in my life. We're enormously indebted to Bob Koester, a great guy to learn from.

[David Ayers]

 

In London, as is well known, Mole Jazz closed and disappeared, but Ray's found a home in Foyles bookstore. While you still have DG my guess is that there's not much mileage in anyone taking over the other store - there might be a buyer for the stock but not for the trading name.  

[jay2b2]

Update:

 

https://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20160206/river-north/jazz-record-mart-owner-reaches-deal-sell-all-his-records-closing-soon

[JSngry]

Wonder if this is the new guy?

http://www.vinylrecorddude.com/home.html

 

[MomsMobley]

i've posted this elsewhere but worth noting again, re- (re-) listening, JRM c. '62-'64 (??) employee Don Kent and brilliant blues / old-timey scholar on John's Old Time Radio Show, Big Joe Williams sleeping in the basement (where Don's filling mail orders)--

http://www.eastriverstringband.com/radioshow/?p=455

http://www.eastriverstringband.com/radioshow/?p=498

I think it's on a later broadcast where Don talks about Bernie Klatzko having found Berha Lee Patton, Don & his girlfriend then taking Bertha Lee to see Howlin' Wolf, who (understandably) ignores Don & gf, says "It's been a long time Bertha Lee..." 

[Chuck Nessa]

new tonight    ;

http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/music/reich/ct-jazz-mart-sale-20160211-column.html

[David Ayers]

Well, I've been there precisely once, but at least I've been. 

[danasgoodstuff]

Twice, I think, but I got to talk to Bob...

[Rooster_Ties]

6-7 times, but not since at least 10 years ago.

[Peter Friedman]

Whenever I get to Chicago to visit my son, daughter in law and grandkids I always make a trek to the JRM and spend a lot of time browsing through the stock. Would always come away with , at least, a few cd's to add to my collection.

 Brick and mortar record shops have been dying out for a number of years. It was nice to know that at least the JRM was still there to  remind me of the many many years I would visit record stores in whatever city I lived in or visited.

I will most likely get back to Chicago to see family within the next 2 months or so. It will be very sad to know that I will no longer be able to plan a  visit to the JRM. 

 

[uli]

 

 

 

Howard Reich ‏@howardreich

Jazz Record Mart closes http://fw.to/UeW4b4

 

 

[Jay]

Wolfgang's Vault?  Shame...

[Eric]

Hey, he got a quick close - there is some value to that - and presumably a price he could live with.  Delmark carries on.

Even as an icon, you have to have a web presence - which JRM did not.  They had a large (i.e. not inexpensive) footprint and frankly nothing of great consequence that you could not easily find online.  I'm not damning them - that is very hard to do in this day and age.  I can say from personal experience - in the pre-Internet era, I stopped in every time I visited Chicago, usually for hours at a time (and usually multiple visits per trip - just ask the ex ).  As I mentioned earlier, Dusty Groove had long since become my "go-to brick and mortar" alternative in Chicago - less stock, for sure, but more "hard to find" stock.  Again, no disrespect meant to JRM - that's just how it was.  

Hopefully he did not take a bath on his inventory and got some value for his trade name.

[mjzee]

I wonder what's Wolfgang's plan.

[Chuck Nessa]

I don't care. That part of my life is over and I move on to consider my plan(s).  I hope Bob's check clears.

[Larry Kart]

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/editorials/ct-chicago-jazz-record-blues-brubeck-edit-0219-jm-20160218-story.html

 

Hugh Hefner?

[JSngry]

That was quite the collection of facts and emotions, but did I miss the part where they actually came together into a salient point?