we had a day off today and my buddy and i went on a CD shopping trip to akron.......found that 'buybacks' had closed their location in chappel hill...which now leaves only 2 stores to to go to when we go to akron on a trip. we used to be able to hit 5 - 6 stores on an akron trip and 7 - 8 when we went to cleveland. cleveland trips now include exactly 1 store unless we want to drive about 30 miles farther west from where go (which is also 30 miles farther from home).

anyway that is neither here nor there.

today is, for the first time that i can ever remember, the first time i did not purchase even 1 CD on our trip i even brought a list and came up empty on that too.

i did get the 'godfather' blu-ray - "coppolla restoration' for $25.

it really is a sad day, as i usually come home with at least 3 - 5 CD's on one of these trips.

the dump bins ($1 - $2 - $5) wre just full of CD's that i remember paying full price for when i first got them (especially saturated: rod stewart - sting - elton john - dave matthews - elvis - madonna) noticeably empty and quite scarce: anything 60's - CSN related - and virtually no imports CDs' in any bins used or new whatsoever.

alas........i think these trips will be fewer and farther between, it isn't even worth the gas....sad, very sad.

Thanks for sharing the story, even if it is depressing as hell.

I remember after turning 17 my parents would let me take the car to Madison (WI) which was about a 2 1/2 hour drive. We did have three record stores locally that were worth going to (plus a Musicland in the mall...not counting that), but Madison had about twelve worth visiting and the Madison shops had things that were magical and awe-inspiring like big IMPORT and BOOTLEG sections. My two friends and I were in heaven on those trips. That is nearly thirty years ago, and I can still remember many of the titles I picked up on those journeys. We would scour the 12" and CD single sections heavily...those were pre-internet day so our only real knowledge of what was out there was ads in Goldmine magazine. Needless to say those dealers can't list everything so we would always find a few singles with unreleased songs that we didn't even know existed.

The town where I grew up still has one of those three record stores still remaining. Back in the day it doubled as the local headshop and that is probably the only reason it is still around. Madison in 2015, well from what I understand it's actually not too bad if you are a vinyl hound. But if you are a compact disc buyer...I think there are only a couple shops where the primary part of the business is selling new CDs (and one of those two is a punk/metal specialty shop which works well for me since I am into metal) and they are small and generally not worth the 20 minute drive across town to get to.

It's really a damn shame. For me and my friends the record store was the #1 main cultural center back when we were kids. It totally sucks that they are no longer around.

There hasn't been a store worth driving to around here for years now. The high point was when we had an actual Tower Records in this town along with Circuit City and The Wiz. Always was able to find something good. What's worse, there is nothing even in Manhattan worth going to anymore.

My brother in law and I used to hit NYC every year for his birthday. We haven't done it in years now. As you say John, there's not much in NYC that's worth making the effort for anymore. Sad.

That still blows my mind when I hear/read this.

Rick A.

Yep all the big ones are gone. J&R was the last of the great ones and even they were a shell of the glory days of physical product.

I'm glad we have stores like Newbury Comics and some scattered local indies for those days when I get the urge to buy a CD or two.

Yeah - I'm lucky enough to have a couple pretty dependable locals to hit. And a pretty good store for used vinyl. But it's nothing like it used to be.

There still are a few stores worth checking out in Evanston[Squeezebox,Barnes and Noble and Vintage Vinyl which still has a pretty good selection of import cd's and bootlegs].

Still several great record shops in my area. Cassette Tape Day brought out a small crowd at a couple shops today. I didn't buy any tapes but picked up nearly a dozen CDs & LPs..

Wow! I have six record stores within a 5-mile radius, (not including Big Box Stores).

I haven't purchased music in a store since around 2012.

Don't care-Amazon is my store now and other sites.

At this point the only store that maybe could give me a thrill is Ameoba in LA.

It's particularly sad when we consider Circuit City as being part of the "good ol' days". Compared to Tower and many others 15-20 years ago, it was no great shakes. However, it was a viable option for CD shopping. I loved their occasional $9.99 sales and yearn for the days of browsing their CD racks.

Jim

I liked Circuit City for music and DVDs, it was actually better than BestBuy ever was at one point. We had a NY centric chain called The Wiz that was actually pretty good for awhile. And of course those mall music stores that would have sales.

The king at that time was of course Tower Records that had a branch in my small town shockingly. Now that was a great store. I really loved the one in Carle Place and would make special trips there. I even once had a Tower Records Visa Rewards Card.

"Buybacks" closed here a couple years ago. I was using them as a wholesaler in the brief period they were open.

There is going to be another yearly postage increase in January. Depending on the amount, it may finish off physical media. Even the price slashing online giants can only eat so much postage; & afaik, the only thing close to a moderately large national B&M left is Barnes & Noble.

And the AVERAGE consumer (i.e. not fanatics like us!) have largly gotten used to paying $5 delivered for most used common cd's & dvd's & no more then $8 for new.

At some point people are going to all but have to switch to files due to the price of postage.

What I find ironic, is the USPS is cutting there own throats with these increases. Where they have been cheaper then UPS/Fed Ex, etc is small parcels, international (they've already gotten so high on international that I sell almost nothing outside of the the USA; with a handling charge I add to cover lost shipments, 1 cd to Canada is now over $10, & over $14 anywhere else) & letters (email & texting have pretty much killed snail mail except for foreclosure notices required by law).

UPS & Fed Ex are already cheaper on many non-media large packages. I hope this is a small increase. We'll see............

The Exclusive Company in Wisconsin is still around and has a great selection, at least in the Milwaukee area. Lucky to have it.

Yes, it's good to live in New England. Newbury isn't what it used to be but I come home happy from there more often than I don't. Bull Moose is great. I even have a lot of luck at the FYE's in Auburn, MA and Buckland Hills Mall in CT. Favorite independent of the moment is Listen Up! In Natick.

I forgot Bullmoose. Always pop into one if I pass by.

About the only place, okay THE only place I can still go to and really feel like browsing the racks is Rolling Stones in Norridge IL, about fifteen miles northwest of downtown Chicago. If I pretend a little it's almost like the good old days in Tower Records. Lots of CDs including a respectably sized oldies section. For you LP folks (I'll never get it) they have the latest releases (re-releases). It's just that I have to make it a point to go and visit two or three times a year. It used to be a lot more but the large portion of my music buying dollar has also gone to Amazon. Oh, and the section that used to be filled with prerecorded cassettes is now devoted to porn DVDs.

I wish we had a great used CD store on Long Island but a good one closed a few years ago in the Garden City area called Empire Records. It had tons of used CDs, some good stuff too.