Don't write off the record shops yet

I found this feature from the UK interesing:

EVEN in these distressed economic times, few business models would appear more shot to bits than the independent record store.

While many people download music for free on the internet, those willing to pay are switching to online stores like Amazon with their massive choice and cheap prices.

But amazingly, those independent stores that remain are increasingly optimistic about their future.

The main reason for this confidence is simply because their market cannot get much smaller.

Adrian Rondeau, 60, of Wickford store Adrian’s Records, in High Street, certainly believes this to be the case.

He said: “I think what has happened is there were a lot of independent stores, but they’ve greatly thinned out now so there isn’t very many for people to choose from.

“We are getting a lot of new customers, often serious collectors, and they are coming a long way to get here.”

Adrian’s store is featured in a new book called Last Shop Standing, which charts the demise of the record store.

Its author, Graham Jones, shares Adrian’s optimism and said another important factor is the death of some of the store’s big high street competitors.

He said: “I deal with all the independent shops in Britain through my work and virtually every store has told me business is up since Christmas.

“It’s the Woolworths factor.

“Many of these stores are in small towns where their only competition was Woolworths. They have all gone along with Zavvi.”

Fives Records, in Leigh Broadway, is also featured in the book and is a good example of the Woolworths effect, after the town’s branch closed in January.

Owner Pete Driscoll, 68, said: “It’s definitely helped with the top-selling CDs because they were our main competition.

“You’ve still got the supermarkets of course and I doubt they will be closing anytime soon.

“Our sales have been up for the last couple of years.

“I’m starting to see a future for the business when I didn’t a couple of years ago.”

In his book, Mr Jones notes there are only 305 independent stores left in the UK, but he is hopeful for those that remain.

He said: “I still think the market will shrink a little bit, but there is room for around 200 record stores in the UK.

“It’s not going to be a lucrative business like it was in the 80s and early-90s, when CDs were sold for £15, but the people running these shops are not in the business to make money, they are doing it because they love music.”

The history of Adrian’s Records perfectly mirrors the rise and fall of the music shop.

Having started off in 1969 in a room shared with his mother’s wool shop, his business blossomed.

At one point, he employed 52 people working across four stores with two music shops, a video shop and a video rental, all within 50metres of one another.

Now he owns just the one store, with five workers.

He said: “We almost got too big for our roots.

“We were competing on the high street level and we had a massive mail-order business.

“The business is much slimmer now, but also more solid.”

Those stores that remain do not just have rarity on their side.

According to Adrian, another product doing a roaring trade is the 7-inch vinyl single.

He said: “Virtually every single is released on 7-inch these days because record companies were scrambling around for a market and have cottoned on to the fact there are a lot of collectors out there.

“That’s had some odd consequences, because the CD single is now becoming rare.

“Amy Winehouse’s Valerie is now going for about £20 because it’s so hard to find.”

But Adrian has a note of warning for anyone crazy enough to try to join the last shops standing.

He said: “Someone starting up a shop today has about a one per cent chance of success.

“You simply have to know the industry.”

And who could argue with a great survivor like Adrian?

SOURCE: http://www.echo-news.co.uk