Stopped in a record shop and holy crap!

Yes. A friend asked me for a business opinion on opening a record/stereo shop. The core of my response was; you can't pay rent and survive. If you can finance buying the real estate, then you have a better chance.

These type of little shops need a fast selling small items to keep people coming in and then they need those people to buy the bigger items. A buddy of mine has his own watch repair/custom jewelry shop and the things that keeps the doors open is selling and installing watch batteries. He charges around $7 to change a battery.....the cost of the battery is about $.50 to 80 cents. He is tucked away in an old strip mall and even then he replaces 7- 10 an hour on slow days.

A guy or gal that tries to open a record shop and only sells records without selling cleaning kits and fluid etc wont last long.
 
I see that at some of the shops I visit, but not to that extent. I mentioned a record store that sells gear to a tech, and he said he repairs a lot of gear bought from them that dies soon after purchase. Outside of a spit shine, and a Deoxit treatment, I'd be skeptical about any claims as to "fully serviced", no matter where purchased.
As a HiFi repair technician I take umberance to your statement. If I were to sell something as "fully serviced" it would be just that. Repair any defects, clean the chassis and front panel, clean all the switches, pots, tuners. etc. Make sure the bias is correct, the power supplies are working properly. Plus, I guarantee my work for 90 days and tubes for 180 days. Only one piece failed out of about 50 over the years. Is was a well used guitar amp, the customer never brought it back to me for some unknown reason.
 
Damn. I used to live in Haverhill. Maybe I should rent a full-size van and make a vacation trip back there ...
 
I would imagine if one calculated the cost of fuel and time that it would take to find scores at your local thrift or estate sales you would probably be saving money spending it on this guys stuff over what you have spent looking for scores. It just seems like you have a score as you don't factor in all the fuel charges, mileage charges, and man hours.
 
These type of little shops need a fast selling small items to keep people coming in and then they need those people to buy the bigger items. A buddy of mine has his own watch repair/custom jewelry shop and the things that keeps the doors open is selling and installing watch batteries. He charges around $7 to change a battery.....the cost of the battery is about $.50 to 80 cents. He is tucked away in an old strip mall and even then he replaces 7- 10 an hour on slow days.

A guy or gal that tries to open a record shop and only sells records without selling cleaning kits and fluid etc wont last long.

Bodyblue, you're showing your retail experience on your sleeve here and are absolutely correct.

When I was working in a record store way back in the 80's, the owner starting stocking buttons, posters, cheap sunglasses, and all sorts of crap like that. I was sort of put off, until I became aware of the immense profit margin in these things. As well as blank tapes. We also got into video tape rentals during the early days of VHS rentals, also renting machines.

Many perhaps will not believe it, but a record or cassette that we sold for 10.99 cost us 8.99. Not too much on the bone there!
 
Damn. I used to live in Haverhill. Maybe I should rent a full-size van and make a vacation trip back there ...

Then you could resell the stuff out of the back of the van, just like the old days.

I'm pretty close to this place. I don't think I'll buy anything more than a few albums, but it looks like a fun place to visit.
 
Whenever a 2nd hand store has so much inventory, there is a simple reason - stuff comes in, but does not go out.

And as my real estate agent friend used to say, you can sell any house in a day - for the right price!
 
Whenever a 2nd hand store has so much inventory, there is a simple reason - stuff comes in, but does not go out.

And as my real estate agent friend used to say, you can sell any house in a day - for the right price!
Maybe so, but it was still a lot of fun to see all that gear.
 
> Maybe so, but it was still a lot of fun to see all that gear.

I don't doubt it. I would have had a ball! I have always thought somebody should start a museum with all this stuff. It would likely attract more attention than many modern art galleries. And some of this stuff is art!

Maybe this could be the foundation of a museum. I'd pay a few bucks admission. :)
 
I would imagine if one calculated the cost of fuel and time that it would take to find scores at your local thrift or estate sales you would probably be saving money spending it on this guys stuff over what you have spent looking for scores. It just seems like you have a score as you don't factor in all the fuel charges, mileage charges, and man hours.

For me it’s the thrill of the hunt. I used to do this with obscure grey market BMW, Mercedes, Porsche parts. I would hit junk yards about 30 miles outside major cities. These were usually to far from the city in areas where the parts I wanted were not sought after, but close enough to get some good iron. Mostly rare dogleg transmissions, manual Mercedes, euro bumpers, lights, dash boards, BBS RS and Porsche Fuchs wheels, I could go on. For some reason this all really dried up when the economy crapped out in 07. Now with audio I hit rural towns, with good results, given the competition is high in cites, I’m hoping to find some Klipsch horns in the corner of a dusty junk store just as I was hoping for an grey market E24 M635csi in the weeds with bad flywheel sensors, it’s happened.
 
A vintage audio museum would be killer if it was a dozen or so listening room that had music looped through them, and the gear roped off.
 
I would imagine if one calculated the cost of fuel and time that it would take to find scores at your local thrift or estate sales you would probably be saving money spending it on this guys stuff over what you have spent looking for scores. It just seems like you have a score as you don't factor in all the fuel charges, mileage charges, and man hours.

Part of it is the fun of looking.
 
I was hoping for an grey market E24 M635csi in the weeds with bad flywheel sensors, it’s happened.
Prefer it to be the main relay a much easier fix.

A vintage audio museum would be killer if it was a dozen or so listening room that had music looped through them, and the gear roped off.

Would need to be roped off or the knobs might go missing and the cones punched in like at the thrifts.
 
While I'm at the point where I don't want to be seeking out techs every 3 years (when those damned knobs, push buttons, and switches inevitably get corroded) this was a treat to see in pictures.

I cannot imagine seeing all that live, and in person.

Thanks so much for sharing, Glenn.
 
Bodyblue, you're showing your retail experience on your sleeve here and are absolutely correct.

When I was working in a record store way back in the 80's, the owner starting stocking buttons, posters, cheap sunglasses, and all sorts of crap like that. I was sort of put off, until I became aware of the immense profit margin in these things. As well as blank tapes. We also got into video tape rentals during the early days of VHS rentals, also renting machines.

Many perhaps will not believe it, but a record or cassette that we sold for 10.99 cost us 8.99. Not too much on the bone there!

I’m always going to the thrifts. I look for stereo gear, which is getting rarer and rarer, but while I’m there, I also check out the Records, tapes, and other items that interest me. It is very true about the smalls. It is the smalls that give me my daily spending cash.

However, I love going to my local Record Centre to check out the gear he has. I normally end up walking out with a few Records, and every now and then, I will buy or trade for something I covet in the gear section. But I would be a kid in the candy store at that place. Just think, instead of hoping you will find something good, you can be fairly certain you might actually find what you want at a store like that! Wow! That place would be so fun!
 
While I'm at the point where I don't want to be seeking out techs every 3 years (when those damned knobs, push buttons, and switches inevitably get corroded) this was a treat to see in pictures.

I cannot imagine seeing all that live, and in person.

Thanks so much for sharing, Glenn.
Hey Jer!
You can imagine my surprise and chit eaten grin when I turned the corner and saw all this!
First thing I thought was can't wait to post a thread and pics in AK! If I was looking to put a system together, I would go there.
There was so much more than I was able to take pics of. At least 3 pairs of AR-2's, one with pine cabs, a nice pair of HPM-100's with fresh surrounds, some nice ADS 1090's, some big Polks and many more.
Glenn
 
@ GD70, it's "Tim" but hey, I'll answer to most anything. And yeah, I would have to bring something home from there.

Anyone spot that Pioneer PL600 tt underneath a heap? Made me cringe.
 
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