THE LAST OF THE INDEPENDENTS
Sunday, March 25, 2007
When Tower Records went under last year, few people were surprised. With online sales and illegal downloads on the rise, neighborhood music retailers of all sizes have felt the squeeze. Take into account added pressure from the big-box stores and rising rents, and many of the Bay Area's independent record shops -- if not already gone -- are endangered. Meet some of the survivors and find out what's keeping them alive.
AMOEBA MUSIC
As one of the biggest independent music retailers in the Bay Area, Amoeba has also seen the biggest market changes.
"Every five years you would typically have a crop of new 14-year-olds that were discovering music and coming into the store," says Joe Goldmark, co-owner of the 25,000-square-foot Haight Street store. "But you don't have that anymore. They don't shop for music in stores. They download."
As a reaction, he says, the two Bay Area stores have simply emphasized their strengths.
"The No. 1 thing we try to do is customer service," he says. "We try to be as user friendly as we can be."
Increasing DVD sales have helped the store get through the CD slump, and there are tentative steps to get into the download business.
"We are just trying to stay ahead of the curve," Goldmark says.
Ultimately, he believes that it's the physical shopping experience that will help Amoeba stick around, and the store is sweetening the deal by offering free in-store concerts, a knowledgeable staff and generous trade-in credit.
"We try to make it a fun destination," he says.
1855 Haight St., San Francisco. (415) 831-1200. 2455 Telegraph Ave., Berkeley. (510) 549-1125. www.amoeba.com.
AQUARIUS RECORDS
Since settling into its current home in the Mission, the oldest independent record store in San Francisco has been catering to discriminating fans of indie rock, unusual sounds and hard-to-find releases.
Allan Horrocks, who became a co-owner in 1995, attributes much of the store's staying power to the exhaustive staff-generated reviews that not only accompany new releases on the shelves but also appear on Aquarius' Web site and get sent out through its biweekly e-mail newsletter.
"Having a record store is a lot like making a mix tape for your friends," he says. "We just happen to have 10,000 of them."
1055 Valencia St., San Francisco. (415) 647-2272. www.aquariusrecords.org.
BIG AL'S RECORD BARN
"Big" Al Farleigh, a former roofer who got into the record business after he fell and broke his back, was forced to shut down his original Santa Clara store after the landlord sold the building.
Eight months later he reopened at his current 6,000-square-foot location in San Jose, where he's been for nine years.
"I do records like nobody," he says. "I got stuff here nobody's got."
Farleigh recently bought 50,000 vintage 45s to add to his stock from a South Bay jukebox company that went under.
"It's something to see," he says. "The store is like a museum. I'm 74, and the guy who works for me is 82. It's a lot of fun."
Farleigh says his formula for success is simple: "People come in here looking for a record, and they don't mind paying a fair price for it."
522 S. Bascom Ave., San Jose. (408) 294-7200.
GROOVE MERCHANT RECORDS
Famously name-checked by the Beastie Boys in the song "Professor Booty" ("This one goes out to my man the Groove Merchant/ Coming through with the beats for which I've been searchin' "), this Lower Haight institution has provided record collectors with hard-to-find jazz, soul, disco, psychedelic rock and Latin American vinyl gems since 1989.
"We're customer oriented," says Chris Veltri, who bought the store from its original owners in 1997. "Everything that's in here is handpicked for certain people in mind."
Despite heavy competition from online auction houses that also deal in vintage goods, Veltri says he has little trouble keeping the regulars coming back.
"You just have to be really focused and always look ahead," he says.
687 Haight St., San Francisco. (415) 252-5766. www.groovemerchantrecords.com.
GROOVES
Giving music fans not so much a record store as a sensory experience, Grooves owner Ray Andersen has decorated his windows with colored vinyl and his walls with all kinds of tantalizing rock, jazz, blues, soundtrack and lounge rarities.
A prominent character on the '60s San Francisco scene as head of the Holy See Light Show, Andersen doesn't seem particularly surprised by his vinyl-only store's continuing success.
"CDs haven't done anybody any good," he says.
It's a philosophy his customers seem to share. Since 1997, Andersen has kept them coming back by regularly slipping gems from his personal collection into the general clutter.
"People like the idea of being able to find something serendipitously," he says.
Much of the store's success, he reckons, has to do with the eclectic population of the Bay Area: "I wouldn't want to do this in Ohio."
1797 Market St., San Francisco. (415) 436-9933. www.groovesrecords.com.
MOD LANG
Mod Lang was recently forced to move from its University Avenue home, a block from the UC Berkeley campus, after rents shot up.
"It's not just record stores," owner Paul Bradshaw says. "The price of running a small business in downtown Berkeley is just not feasible anymore."
The store, which once specialized in import CDs, was also affected by an influx of tech-savvy UC students.
"One person can buy a CD and go back to the dorm and put it up on a server that 400 people can access," he says.
With that insight, Bradshaw realized Mod Lang no longer had to cater to that demographic.
"It was a liberating moment," he says.
Mod Lang relocated to El Cerrito and started carrying more vintage country, soul and jazz vinyl releases. The hardest part has been shaking people's perception that it's still a Britpop specialty store, but the owner believes the customers are slowly coming around.
"We moved 4 miles and it feels like 400," he says. "You have to find your niche and accept that it's a different time."
6328 Fairmount Ave., El Cerrito. (510) 486-1880. www.modlang.com.
RECYCLED RECORDS
One of the only used-record stores in the Upper Haight that managed to survive the bust. For almost 30 years, owner Bruce Lyall has kept the focus the same: " '60s rock -- everything from the Beatles to the Grateful Dead."
There is a small corner for CDs, but Recycled has mostly adapted to the changing times by embracing online auction houses on eBay and expanding its inventory to include paper goods such as collectible books, posters and movie memorabilia.
"You just have to go with it," Lyall says. "You can't fight it."
1377 Haight St., San Francisco. (415) 626-4075. www.recycled-records.com.
ROOKY RICARDO'S RECORDS
"Business has never been better," says Richard Vivian, who opened Rooky Ricardo's on a rough stretch of Haight Street in 1987.
This overstuffed vinyl emporium features mostly soul and oldies 45s, but there are also a few surprises in the mix.
"I make my rent selling girl-group records," Vivian says.
Besides offering the thrill of discovery for young music buffs ("My customers are always in their 20s," he says), the store also sells vintage turntables, offers weekly repair clinics and does occasional business through online retailers such as Global Electronic Music Marketplace.
Despite his devotion to an outdated format, Vivian isn't at odds with new technology.
"A lot of my customers first hear this music on iTunes or Pandora," he says. "But at the end of the day, they need to touch the records, listen to them and thumb through them."
448 Haight St., San Francisco. (415) 864-7526. www.rookyricardosrecords.com.
SOUNDWORKS
Catering primarily to professional DJs, Soundworks has carved out its niche with the Bay Area club set by carrying a judicious supply of vinyl and offering a monthly record pool.
Owners Tom Seymour and Sam Labelle work with, rather than compete with, the like-minded stores in the city.
"Each of us has a little family," Seymour says. "And we help each other out."
Although Soundworks is facing a rent increase, Seymour and Labelle believe they can ride it out, unlike recent lease casualties such as BPM and Open Mind Music. It's all about keeping a skilled clientele.
"Not only do MP3s sound like crap when they're amplified, but the main problem with laptop DJs is it's hard to tell if they're mixing live," Labelle says. "They're making themselves expendable."
228 Valencia St, San Francisco. (415) 487-3980. www.soundworks-sf.com.
STREETLIGHT RECORDS
Streetlight has faced stiff competition not only from chains and online sellers but also illicit file-sharing networks that are loaded with hot sellers.
According to Andrew Shadgett, a manager and employee at the Market Street location since 1988, the four shops have survived by keeping up with their customers' changing demands.
"We're all neighborhood stores," he says. "We listen to what people are looking for and what people want."
While Tower Records' closure actually helped bring new faces into the stores, they still feel the burden of loss leaders like Best Buy and Target that undercut prices on new releases.
Still, Shadgett believes Streetlight can offer something the bigger chains can't.
"People still like the social component of going to a small record store," he says.
2350 Market St, San Francisco. (888) 396-2350. 3979 24th St., San Francisco. (888) 682-3550. 980 S. Bascom Ave., San Jose. (888) 330-7776. 939 Pacific Ave., Santa Cruz. (888) 648-9201. www.streetlightrecords.com.
TWEEKIN' RECORDS
This little specialty store may be tucked away in a sublevel space in the Lower Haight, but it's known around the world by club DJs.
Since 1991, Tweekin' has featured a tightly edited selection of the latest electro, break and hip-hop records (plus some disco reissues) and has let its customers sample the wares before making any purchases.
"We carry stuff you're not going to find on iTunes," says Anthony Mansfield, who became a co-owner last year.
He adds that the staff has made a serious effort to adapt to a changing market by building up its Web site and offering MP3 clips for every new release in stock.
"For a small store," he says, "we do a lot of work."
593 Haight St, San Francisco. (415) 626-6995. www.tweekin.com.
THE END IS NEAR
Time is ticking for CDs.
There's no shortage of evidence to show that compact discs are rapidly going the way of the eight-track tape. While vinyl sales have unexpectedly surged in the Bay Area, the LP's younger, shinier and glitchier cousin hasn't fared so well. According to year-end sales figures released by Nielsen SoundScan in 2006, sales of the physical format dropped nearly 5 percent, while digital sales shot up 65 percent. That means that while overall music sales jumped more than 19 percent last year, most of the purchases were made by clicking a mouse rather than stepping into a store.
THE LOSS LEADERS
Wondering why it's getting harder to find the latest releases at neighborhood stores? Blame big chains like Wal-Mart and Target, which sell new CDs as loss leaders.That's the practice in which the big-box retailers draw customers into their stores by offering hot sellers at cut-rate prices in the hopes of getting them to linger and make impulse purchases on bigger-ticket items such as televisions and stereo equipment.
Earlier this month Best Buy offered breakout singer-songwriter Mat Kearney's debut album, "Nothing Left to Lose," at $7.99, while Rasputin listed the disc at the discounted price of $11.99 and Streetlight had a few new copies for $11.98. The mega-retailers simply write off the loss as an advertising expense.
Many industry insiders suspect that that pricing strategy led to Tower Records' demise in the United States. And Virgin Megastores could be next. The chain reported a $495 million loss in the past two years.
LEAVING THE VILLAGE BEHIND
After nearly 40 years of operating this Mill Valley institution, Village Music owner John Goddard announced that he was planning to permanently shut its doors in September."I got this place rolling on my own terms, I ran it on my own terms, and I'm closing it on my own terms," he says.
There are several reasons, he says, among them a lack of local support and general burnout. But ultimately it was a business decision.
"The price of rent in Mill Valley is absolutely insane," says Goddard, who started working at Village Music in 1957, when he was 13, and took over in 1968. "I can't afford to stay open."
In recent years, the cluttered warehouse -- stocked with a treasure trove of 33s, 45s, 78s and rock 'n' roll memorabilia -- has mostly served as a popular destination for international collectors and touring musicians such as Tom Waits, B.B. King and Elvis Costello, who once called it "the greatest record-collecting store in the world."
Goddard says the only thing that has kept him around this long is stubbornness.
"The man created the store out of nothing and operated it almost as a public service to the community," says blues guitarist Ry Cooder, who recently made an in-store appearance at Village Music. "But that's not good enough anymore."
Many regulars would like to see it granted landmark status by the city, which they feel is quickly homogenizing.
"It's sad to see an institution close," says Richard Vivian, owner of San Francisco's Rooky Ricardo's record store. "It should be a museum."
But Goddard doesn't seem likely to change his mind in the next few months.
"I might be open to the idea of somebody buying the store and having me run it for a while, but it depends on the day you ask me," he says.
In the meantime, Village Music will get a bang-up goodbye. Costello has agreed to perform in the store sometime in May, and DJ Shadow (Marin resident Josh Davis) has designs on playing every day in September until the doors close for good.
"Might as well," Goddard says. "He's practically paying my rent now."
9 E. Blithedale Ave., Mill Valley. (415) 388-7400, www.villagemusic.com.
THE REST
More independent record stores that are still hanging in there:
Bird & Beckett Books and Records, 2788 Diamond St., San Francisco. (415) 586-3733. www.bird-beckett.com. Neighborhood bookstore that carries a small collection of classical, jazz and rock records.
Down Home Music Store, 10341 San Pablo Ave., El Cerrito. (510) 525-2129. www.downhomemusic.com. Specializing in jazz, folk and blues since 1976.
Green Apple Books and Music, 506 Clement St., San Francisco. (415) 387-2272. www.greenapplebooks.com. An annex stuffed with new and used CDs, plus a discriminating selection of vinyl.
In House Records, 988 Mission St., San Francisco. (415) 543-4003. www.throwdownsound.com. South of Market spot geared toward house DJs.
Jack's Record Cellar, 254 Scott St., San Francisco. (415) 431-3047. Another vinyl-only store, best known for its walls of 78s. Open Wednesday through Saturday, or by appointment.
Jazz Quarter, 1267 20th Ave., San Francisco. (415) 661-2331. Rare and out-of-print jazz records. Open Tuesday through Saturday.
Medium Rare Records, 2310 Market St., San Francisco. (415) 255-7273. www.modsystem.com/mediumrare. Show tunes, dance and lounge.
The Music Store, 66 W. Portal Ave., San Francisco. (415) 664-2044. Small record store with a knowledgeable staff, lots of vinyl and an '80s-leaning used-CD selection.
101 Music, 1414 Grant Ave., San Francisco. (415) 392-6369. A vinyl store with junk-shop ambience. Offers eight-track, cassette and reel-to-reel tapes, and working turntables.
Rasputin Music, 2401 Telegraph Ave., Berkeley. 69 Powell St., San Francisco. 1820 S. Bascom Ave., Campbell. 5777 Mowry Ave., Newark. 1035 Contra Costa Blvd., Pleasant Hill. 15590 Hesperian Blvd., San Lorenzo. 920 Admiral Callaghan Lane, Vallejo. (800) 350-8700. www.rasputinmusic.com. Fast-expanding local chain, offering a competitively priced variety of new and used releases.
The Record Man, 1322 El Camino Real, Redwood City. (650) 368-9065. www.recordman.com. A former residential building stuffed with albums, plus separate units for used CDs, reel-to-reel tapes and videos.
Reverb Records, 1816 Haight St., San Francisco. (415) 221-4142. www.reverbsf.com. Club music, dance tracks.
Saturn Records, 5488 College Ave., Oakland. (510) 654-0335. www.saturnrecords.com. Rockridge collectors' store, offering mail order and online sales.
Did we miss your favorite Bay Area independent record store? Let us know.
E-mail Aidin Vaziri at avaziri@sfchronicle.com.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/03/25/PKGV4OMBI51.DTL
This article appeared on page PK - 18 of the San Francisco Chronicle
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