I'm sorry for your loss.

*plays 21-obsucre-45-salute*

I've had a few of my favorite shops die on me. And places like Other Music here in NYC show that the 'indie' ethos can be faked enough to fool trendoids. Thank god there's still Bleecker Bob's, Kim's and a few others flying the flag. And like you, I've found some of my most life changing music by prowling throw indie store racks and listening to the older guys hanging out.

(the fact that I (and lots of guys like me) tend to find my obscurities *cough* through completely legal means *cough* probably isn't helping)

.

RIP Longplayer.

TheDonF, that's a shame. It's always sad to see a part of your town's history or your past close down. Around here they tear buildings down and build high-rise condos in their place. It's very depressing.

My town's mom and pop record store closed around 1981. I remember shopping there often with my older cousin. The last record we bought before it closed was "Super Freak" by Rick James.

What my town is left with is a crappy second hand shop and a hyper-expensive HMV, staffed almost exclusively with teenagers wanting a holiday job who have no knowledge of music other than what they like or is in the charts. I guess I'm left with online resources like WOXY, bands' sites and MySpace accounts to discover new music. But there's little joy in that; there's no passionate discussion and fat-chewing over the latest new release or advanced copy of an album that's been made available. There's no joy in the piss-taking conversations of "oh wow, I can't believe you own albums by them" and "if you like this band, you'll love this" and so on. There's so much pleasure to be had in talking to people to whom music is an obsession rather than to those whose collection consists solely of The Best Of UB40 and the latest piece of fetid crap by (Pop|American|whatever) Idol.

The shop had cards on the shelves and the owner had letters in the office from customers saying how sad they were that Longplayer was closing.

Up until recently when a Mechazen YSI'd me a couple of out-of-print albums that I really did try to buy but couldn't get, I've never owned music I haven't paid for. I guess maybe I'm strange that I've bought every single piece of music I own because I feel that the artists deserve paying.

jonmc - illegal downloading doesn't help, especially when the people concerned then walk into the high-street record shop and steal the CD box to put their burnt CD in, leaving shop with a CD but no case. But it's the legal tax-dodging UK supermarkets selling, sometimes below cost, that's crucifying small shops. As an example, a small record shop will have to buy a CD from a major label (such as Universal or Sony BMG) at about £8.50. They then have to add their profit margin and 17.5% tax onto that. UK supermarkets are selling CDs at generally between £7 and £9 - less than other shops can even buy their stock at. The tax-dodging loophole is one that our chancellor has been threatening to close for a while, but so far hasn't (and probably won't). If you ship from Jersey (a tax exile Island), you don't pay tax if the package is under something like £18. So if you order 10 CDs from a Jersey-based company like Play.com, you'll get 10 separate packages so that they escape tax. I believe that there's even a way that you can be based in the UK, send the CD to Jersey to be officially sent to the recipient, back in the UK. Bizarre!

I dunno, it's all bolloxed up, I guess.

Damn, I put commas in the strangest of places. I also spelt Randy Rhoads' name wrong. Whoops.

So sorry. This is a loss.

I'm lucky to still have (and yes, try to support over the chains whenever I can) Bull Moose in my new hometown, and Jack's in my old hometown. Bull Moose is a chain, but a small, owner-operated chain where prices are low and people are really friendly and really know music.

Thanks guys for the words. The staff are in today to strip the place bare - I'm going to pop by and see if I can salvage a memento.

Mmmm... if you didn't have a day-job, I'd suggest YOU get into the second-hand record business. Hope you go a memento.
There has got to be somewhere you can hang out once a week and get that kind of buzz, problem is, its probably in London.
:(

You had a long stretch together. Many good times. I'm sorry to hear of the shop's passing. From one music lover to another, you have my sympathies for your loss.

I've been passed a couple of times today, but missed the guys - I'm still hoping that I'll bump into them as there's still some junk in the shop that they may clear out. There's an Atlantic Records open/closed sign on the front door that I really want. Grrrr.

Yeah, we had a good run together and I'm gutted that they're gone. There just isn't anywhere to chew the musical fat with anymore.

Got it :) and also :(

≡ Click to see image ≡

(hurry up bonus month, I really need a replacement camera - this phone sucks ass)