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Used Vinyl Stores: Can't keep up?

trueno92

trueno92

Active Member
I have been into vinyl for a while and was excited when hearing that the format is making a comeback and an increasing number of artists are pushing for their releases to come out on vinyl.

One thing I didn't see coming was the used vinyl stores taking a beating on getting their stock.

Maybe its the cold weather and less people feel inclined to cart out a crate of LP's to their nearest Buy/Sell/Trade vendor of choice? It appears with vinyl on the rise, there is a diminishing supply of older popular titles in good condition... and its giving sellers a few more options that just taking them to the nearest store.. instead, they are being offered up on ebay/discogs etc, since they can get more money for them than the record store - vinyl is getting more popular globally, and vintage albums are harder to find in far away places.

Is vinyl becoming the next "collectable"? Because I noticed, when things get harder to find, they get collectable, and when that happens, people tend to hang on to it because "it could be worth something someday"... and this could seriously impact the quality of offerings at the used record stores...

my friends are mainly gravitating to new pressings.. but im curious if others here are also seeing this?
 
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Vinyl has been a collectible for many, many years. It's just bigger now than it has been in recent years. I think vinyl sales still only make up 3-4% of music sales, so it's really, really small, but us vinyl hounds who hit the record shops think it must be 50% or more due to prices and finding good vinyl. As a collector of vinyl for well over 30 years, I've seen this happen in the past. While this has to be the biggest uptick in vinyl interest, it will drop off and balance out, just like any other collectible. Ebb and flow.
 
Most of the used record stores in this region want to buy everything at ten cents on the dollar and sell it for full ebay prices, and won't even take a lot of titles, so people are listing stuff themselves or selling to local flea market flippers who are willing to come pick up the "lot" and give them a few more bucks and take everything away.

I've gotten a lot of entire collections from people that just want them out of their basement/garage--most of them for free, or a few dollars. I just have to take them home and sort out the chaffe myself.
 
The legacy inventory has been in a steady decline for years ... as far as quality & quantity on popular titles. I remember a used record store owner commenting on this back in the late 2000's when I was on vacation near a college town.

I usually don't go record hunting in the winter ... but I needed to take a trip to Ikea in Pittsburgh PA last week (danger mouse, the weather was not good w/ one clean lane of slow moving traffic and some cars & trucks slid off the road) ... did some LP hunting near by and the legacy inventory was abysmal. :dunno: Maybe people don't haul records to the store in the winter ... guess I'll find out this spring/summer.

Definitely happy that I started building my vinyl collection in 2000 during the dollar bin bonanza days ... it's all just icing on the cake now.
 
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I see signs of a huge new interest.
I see people hanging on to some thinking they are all valuable.

I think the only desirable stuff is 60s, 70s, 80s rock, alternative, punk, etcetera.
Can't give away country western, classical, etcetera.

A lot of the desirable stuff was ruined by poor storage, handling, parties, crap TT, etcetera.

I've been collecting since the 70s. Took many years off. Thought I had everything, yeah right.

Now I grab them when they are cheap, great condition and or rare.
So I'm hoarding, but feel I am saving (protecting) for the future owner.

Stores have overhead, I get that. So they must buy low. Since people see online prices, store resale prices, antique roadshow type shows, they think they may have something valuable. Forget about condition grading, I can't even get that right some times. So people are probably not dumping collections in good condition to the stores and the stores are being squeezed.

I'm surprised there still are some stores.
But, they did make millions and millions of "vinyls" and I guess enough people never quit buying them.
 
What I have been seeing in toronto is a slew of NEW Used Record shops and a wack load of places carrying new vinyl.

The used places are paying less than flattering prices for what people bring in. Sure they gotta turn a profit, but at the same time, what is going to motivate people to bring it to their shop? Why not flip it online?

My vinyl has missed a good chunk of the 80's and all of the 90's and I spent most of my time doing the completely legitimate exercise of digitizing everything and building a cd collection - pre minidisc and pre ipod days... So now getting back into it, I'm kinda shocked at the sub-economy that is just low-hanging fruit. Its collectable so its going to really reduce the chances of it appearing on the used-record store shelf.
Like when collecting sports cards was a big deal in the early 90s. Except now I can sell to anyone worldwide.. and I am going to guess my stuff is "hard to find" somewhere in the world!!
 
savatage1973 said:
Most of the used record stores in this region want to buy everything at ten cents on the dollar and sell it for full ebay prices, and won't even take a lot of titles, so people are listing stuff themselves or selling to local flea market flippers who are willing to come pick up the "lot" and give them a few more bucks and take everything away.

I've gotten a lot of entire collections from people that just want them out of their basement/garage--most of them for free, or a few dollars. I just have to take them home and sort out the chaffe myself.
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This. I've taught people how to buy and sell LPs from GW and SA to B&M dealers, then after they flooded the local market with product, the stores get wise and start lowballing. :thumbsdn:

Familiarity breeds contempt, as in many aspects of life.
 
In Ottawa, the used LP market is thriving. There are three stores I go to regularly, and they always have good stuff on the shelves. Mind you, good luck finding a good condition Zeppelin album. It does happen, but they seem to bring a premium of $25 up to $40.

But I believe these three stores are actually willing to pay fair prices for their stock. And that pays off in having good stock to sell. I know I have talked to a few guys who sold their collections and got good coin for them. In the end, everyone wins.

I still find some good stuff at the thrifts, but Garage Sales are really where to find the gems, and that means we have to wait until spring.

As a seller of vintage stereo systems, I see a lot of interest in records. It has driven a lot of my system and turntable sales. Again, to buy new, you either get crap or you spend a lot of coin to get something good. And there are so many great options in vintage.
 
Condorsat said:
Definitely happy that I started building my vinyl collection in 2000 during the dollar bin bonanza days ... it's all just icing on the cake now.
Click to expand...

I've been buying LPs for 40 years, but the late 90s and early 2000s were the best -- lots of people were dumping their LPs, and stores were selling them for next to nothing. Lots of rock LPs were going as low as 25 cents and classical LPs as low as 10 cents. No one wanted them. I bought way over a thousand in those years. Now, prices are up substantially compared to just a couple of years ago.

These days, I'm more interested in jazz from the last 20-30 years, which is usually available only on CDs, and they are more reasonably priced compared to LPs.
 
I have been saying it for awhile, most of the goods stuff has been bought or is not going to see a used store bin, at least anytime soon.
These kids of the older generation are understanding not only the value of vinyl but the coolness of owning it.....So they are holding on to it for now. Problem is the albums that were well kept by their parents probably will not be kept in the same manner.
So if they do sell it, will not be anywhere close to VG or VG+....

Most estate sales around here got raped by the big vinyl buyers from California, I have heard this from a few used stores owners around here.

On the west coast, for sure Calif has the most records available, there are used stores everywhere.
 
johnebravo said:
I've been buying LPs for 40 years, but the late 90s and early 2000s were the best -- lots of people were dumping their LPs, and stores were selling them for next to nothing. Lots of rock LPs were going as low as 25 cents and classical LPs as low as 10 cents. No one wanted them. I bought way over a thousand in those years. Now, prices are up substantially compared to just a couple of years ago.
Click to expand...

I remember the early 2000's (sweet time for vinyl hunting) ... some bloggers were complaining back then about the inventory of used vinyl not being what it used to be :yikes: ... must have been unbelievable in the late 90's.
 
Catcher10 said:
I have been saying it for awhile, most of the goods stuff has been bought or is not going to see a used store bin, at least anytime soon.
These kids of the older generation are understanding not only the value of vinyl but the coolness of owning it.....So they are holding on to it for now. Problem is the albums that were well kept by their parents probably will not be kept in the same manner.
So if they do sell it, will not be anywhere close to VG or VG+....

Most estate sales around here got raped by the big vinyl buyers from California, I have heard this from a few used stores owners around here.

On the west coast, for sure Calif has the most records available, there are used stores everywhere.
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Plenty of records here:naughty:in California nice and minty:D
 
4-2-7 said:
Plenty of records here:naughty:in California nice and minty:D
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OOOOh nice :yes:

4-2-7 said:
No No No, We have many regulations in Cal, one being petroleum base product leaving the state must incur a export fee of 150% of total cost..:thmbsp:
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Yeah you tell him, those need to be examined by a higher qualified technician (and Daza), before anything black and shiny leave the area. :nono: otherwise hefty fines will be incurred!!! :yes:
 
4-2-7 said:
No No No, We have many regulations in Cal, one being petroleum base product leaving the state must incur a export fee of 150% of total cost..:thmbsp:
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That's funny.....and you guys probably need the fee to be 200% to get all those state IOU's paid...:D

I grew up in So Cal so am allowed to slam the state :yes:

I will hide them in the roof of my car, the dogs are not trained to sniff out vinyl.
 
It used to be that records were plentiful and cheap at yardsales on on craigslist; the same with older gear - hardly the case anymore to the point that I rarely bother looking.

Almost a year ago the brother of a friend contacted me. His uncle owned 2 used record stores in the Albany NY area and when he passed away the inventory went to the brother. He wanated my advice as to how to sell 20,000+ records.
After too many phone calls and messages back and forth we finally got the records a new home at a record store run by a little old lady in Natick, MA.
Yesterday he showed up with a 26' U-Haul truck.
Pix in the next message...
 
With the renewed interest in records, I am seeing more and more people that I have never seen before going through the used records, and they include all age ranges, a lot in their 20's, teens, and even an 8 year old looking for the Yardbirds' LP's.

I also agree with some of the previous posters. With all of the media hype, I think more people are holding onto their records or selling them using alternate means.

Regardless, the usual pop records that I flip past still seem to be plentiful and even those do not linger as long as they did before.
 
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