History of Independent Record StoresFinding definitive evidence surrounding the creation of the first independent record stores is difficult. However, my hunch is that many of the first record stores resulted from some of the early distribution networks --forged by numerous record manufacturers, including both the Victor (later RCA-Victor) and Columbia record companies who held sway in the early 1920s. The distinction of being "America's Oldest Record Store" belongs to George's Song Shop. Located in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, George's has been in continuous operation since 1932. Founder Bernie George, along with his brother Eugene, started things off. In 1962, when Eugene passed away, his son John took the reigns and today continues on at the store. Their website, www.georgessongshop.com features some of their history and pictures of George's "Five Floors of Records." Finding authoritative books with specific reference material covering early record store history is surprisingly difficult. However, in the book "Jazz: A History of America's Music", co-authors Geoffrey C. Ward and Ken Burns mention the Commodore Music Shop, which first opened in 1935. Operated by record label head Milt Gabler, Commodore's first store selling records, was on Forty-second Street in New York. Gabler's business benefited greatly from his friendships with numerous music business pals --including Count Basie, Chick Webb, Gene Krupa and Benny Goodman. Gabler implemented the practice of having Sunday jam sessions in the store. Later known as an in-store appearance, this idea became an essential staple of many successful record stores. With the help of legendary impresario John Hammond, these Sunday sessions at Commodore soon outgrew Gabler's Forty-second Street location, which was only nine feet wide! In 1941, Tower Records founder Russ Solomon began his initial foray into selling records. He got his start in the record retailing business by trying out records as a category -- sold among the numerous offerings at his dad's drug store, Tower Drug. Located in downtown Sacramento, California, Tower Drug was founded in 1938, and enjoyed the distinction of being one of the first independently owned and operated drug stores in Northern California. With the end of World War II, Solomon returned to his dad's store to resume his record sales. In those several years following the war, the record business saw the rise of the rack jobber --people who serviced racks in stores specifically designed to hold music. It was the rack jobbers' responsibility to apply their expertise toward satisfying a music hungry public. In the process, rack jobbers became tastemakers. Parallel developments in the post war period included the rise of discount style department stores --and everything from the growth and expansion of suburbia to the implementation of the Interstate Highway System. By the mid to late 1950s, cities known for vibrant music scenes had their department stores, like Kresge's, Grant's and Woolworth's. These outlets for records were soon joined by fledgling entrepreneurial startups --independently owned record stores-- whose music sales would yet eclipse department stores. Among collectors, one of those stores, Times Square Records in New York, singlehandedly defined the early marketplace for desirable vinyl. Some of the employees of Times Square, notably Jerry Greene and Jared Weinstein, would later team up with legendary DJ Jerry Blavat (aka "The Geator with the Heater") to create an indomitable Philadelphia area record store empire known as the Record Museum. Stores like Times Square Records, which closed in the 1960s, and the Record Museum, which closed in the mid-1970s, are no longer around. But their impact and influence are still keenly felt. Others, like Tower, struggled with world-wide expansion until finally surrendering to defeat at the hands of banker/managers in 2006. Solomon soon opened R5 Records, across the street from Tower's original Sacramento location. In my March, 2008, Elmore Magazine feature ("Vinyl Revival: Platters Still Matter"), I asked Solomon about the future of record stores: "Everybody has predicted that the digital world has killed off the physical world--that's simply not true. It's out there and it's flourishing, and these really good independent retail stores: Waterloo in Austin, Amoeba in Los Angeles and San Francisco, Twist and Shout in Denver--I can't even name them all, there's a bunch of them, they're still carrying the flag." With that comment, Solomon influenced the course of the next few years of my life, sending me on a vision quest and trying to get some answers (and putting a book together) chronicling independent record stores and the ongoing interest in vinyl. In Spring 2010, after almost 70 years in music retail, Solomon announced his plans to sell R5 Records to Dimple Records, also based in Sacramento, and retire. (see: Here's to Russ Solomon, Vinylives Blog). It's fair to say that record stores have long been an endangered species. To me, the record store embodies everything important in the larger musical culture. My field research at times felt very much like cultural archaeology. As such, my collection of owner interviews might be referred to as akin to collecting geologic core samples --evidence to be examined and debated by students of Americana. Though my initial thoughts about the fate of record stores often turned gloomy, I have difficulty insisting that they are like the proverbial canary in the coal mine. Instead, the onslaught of store closings in the early years of the new millennium has given way to a new crop of record stores. Trends may come and go. As always, it is up to the next generations to learn the business of record retailing --and continue to carry the flag. © James P. Goss, 2009. All rights reserved. Website by FCE Web Design. |
