The Record Store Day After: New York's Iconic Bleecker Bob's Closes

Mitch Myers: What becomes of the vinyl faithful now that the Greenwich Village mainstay -- in business since 1967 -- has shut its doors?

For many of Bob's generation and their progeny, frequenting a record store was like hanging at Cheers, where everybody knew your name -- or loafing at the barbershop where an assortment of semisocialized individuals came together and agreed to disagree. But like most small businesses, a record store usually relies on one person to keep the enterprise going. Independent retailers can endure only as long as that one person is able and interested.

Read the rest, including Myers's unexpectedly nifty bin pick at Hollywood Reporter.

Chicago Magazine C Notes Blog Praises saki and CTR

First, a note from our founder:

Now, on to business.

To my, and our, great surprise, Chicago Magazine's C Notes blog posted The C Notes Power List: Music’s Hit Makers about six musical "cultural influencers" Wednesday evening. My name was included in a list of people who are doing cool things in Chicago. There's some awesome and inspired people on this list who've decided to take bold steps to help raise the musical awareness level here in the cultural capital of the middle two thirds of our nation. I was not aware that my name would be included on this list until Whet Moser @whet pointed it out on Twitter Wednesday night. Incredible company with whom to be named. Wow.

Obviously I'm very touched to be thought of in this regard and with these excellent people. Had I talked with the author of this post, I would have shared some things that got overlooked when crunching saki, CTR, and CTD down into 110 kind words. There's also a lot of hyperbole crammed into there.

On Record Store Day, "Pop-Up Leeches," and the Point

or Every Day is Record Store Day, or Save Thyself, or Call Me Jeffersonian, or All You Need Is Love and $20.

Last year, I was quite pissed when I heard about Numero Group's successful Record Store Day (RSD) pop-up store in Wicker Park. My thoughts were, "Wow! What a cool concept!" quickly followed by, "Why in the FUCK are they doing it on RSD?" I heard no feedback or uproar on it from other quarters, and so I figured I was the only one who cared about it. Last April, my mother had just passed away after a long fight with cancer, and I was busy figuring out how to deal with not having parents and simultaneously trying to dig myself out of the deep work hole I had dug for myself while I was in Texas helping to care for her. A RSD pop-up store was not first on my list. But it did stick with me.

Great article in Salon about future of Record Stores

A few days ago, Salon posted an article by Pitchfork contributor Marc Hogan on a real yet mostly positive outlook on the future of independent record stores . You can read that article here. It features quotes from our friends at Wuxtry in Athens, GA, Grimey's in Nashville, Guestroom in Oklahoma, and Permanent in Chicago and LA.

Here are some choice quotes from the article:

"But the survivors aren’t going away. They’re simply changing their tune, becoming smaller and more focused. Time will tell whether that’s enough — for some, continued existence may require a whole new arrangement."

"Still, all isn’t lost. Independent record store closures have been on the decline since 2008, according to Almighty. Amoeba Records, a three-location California independent record store chain that celebrated its 20th anniversary about a year ago, was founded as a “comprehensive, one-stop music destination for everybody,” co-owner Marc Weinstein has said. But that’s an exception. More often, today’s best record stores are carefully curated, niche-oriented establishments, selling new and used vinyl to a specialized market — which tends to be found in critical mass near large cities or universities."

"So against all odds, is there reason for optimism? Hopeful music lovers do keep opening stores. Excluding mass merchants like Wal-Mart and Target, the number of record store openings has increased each of the past three years, including 62 new independent record stores so far this year, according to Almighty. After Louisville, Ky., indie ear X-tacy closed this fall, Matador Records — the label that’s home to Pavement, Yo La Tengo and the New Pornographers — pointed out in a blog post that the death of the record store has been exaggerated, and used Steady Sounds, in Richmond, Va.; Cyklopx, in Forest Park, Ill.; All Day Records, in Carrboro, N.C.; Co Op 87, in Brooklyn, N.Y.; and Saki, in Chicago as examples."

"Sone existing stores are actually expanding. In Austin, Texas, End of an Ear recently added an 180-square-foot space next-door, co-owner Dan Plunkett said. In Oklahoma City, Guestroom Records is in the midst of opening a third store, located on the ground floor of a music school. In an email, co-owners Tarvis Searle and Justin Sowers pointed to their independently released offerings: “You’re not going to find many Best Buys that have big Tune-Yards, Dum Dum Girls or Oh Sees displays,” they wrote. Chicago’s Permanent Records recently opened up a second location in Los Angeles."

Keep fighting the good fight!

saki spotlighted on Details Magazine's "Daily Details" Blog!

SPIN CITY: THE VINYL REVIVAL

Good news in the music biz is rare lately, but get this: Vinyl sales were up 33 percent last year. Fetishists are shelling out for 180-gram editions--thicker records less prone to warping. And brick-and-mortar retailers are popping up across the U.S. Here's where to crate-dig now.

CHICAGO Saki

This shop represents Chicago's avant-rock scene, and local acts like Califone and Jon Langford play concerts amid the racks of far-flung sounds, from eighties Brazilian punk to sixties Cambodia rock.

3716 W. Fullerton Ave.

773-486-3997; sakistore.net.

 Also spotlighted are Vacation Vinyl in LA and Black Gold in Brooklyn.

Rolling Stone's Top 25 Record Stores in the USA

We love record stores. Saki is a record store, CTD, Ltd sells records to record stores. It's nice to see that the massive publication such as Rolling Stone has set aside their political agenda to put together this list of their favorite Record Stores in the country.



Special shout out goes to the record stores listed that have been partners w/ CTD over the past 14 years. We love you!



(in chronological order according to the link, and in no special order)

• Amoeba Music - CA
• Sound Garden - Baltimore
• Ear-x-tacy - Louiville
• Electric Fetus - Minneapolis
• Jackpot Records - Portland
• Laurie's Planet of Sound - Chicago
• Newbury Comics - MA
• Other Music - NYC
• Sonic Boom - Seattle
• Vinyl Fever - Tampa, FL
• Waterloo - Austin
• Wuxtry - Athens, GA
• Academy - Brooklyn
• Dave's Records - Chicago
  

Now go out and buy some music!

Photograph by Rob Lambert via Rolling Stone/ Wax.fm