Record Store Day

April 17, 2010 is Record Store Day, a celebration of all the independent record stores out there. Many stores participated by giving customers a discount in appreciation of their loyalty and business so we headed out to support the cause and do some shopping at the same time. The irony of the situation is that at two of the three stores I visited, workers were either borderline rude (unfriendly at best) or disinterested, exhibiting zero social skills whatsoever.



I don't care what your business is, with an economy like the one we are currently experiencing, every customer DOES matter. Sluggish sales, big box store competition and electronic downloads are certainly competitive challenges to the independent record store but it also comes down to basic kindness and appreciation. Treat a customer with no appreciation and loyalty goes out the window. At the first record store we visited, the worker made no attempt at small talk and seemed "bothered" when we asked for assistance in finding a certain artist. At another store, I first-hand saw a customer ask to play a 45 record on a record player, only to be told by the employee that it was for records "more than $2.99". The employee "allowed" the customer to listen and preview the record prior to purchase, but just once "this time". Honestly, I would have told this store employee what he could do with that record and walked out. There is no doubt that people right now have less discretionary income to spend on music and records but part of the blame also lies with the disinterested, "I think I am better than you are" typical record store worker attitude. So that's enough of my rants, on to the good stuff.

At one record store my sister and I found several autographed pieces for sale. We both were surprised that they were all authentically-signed as many times I come across at least a few, if not all the signed items being offered for sale not being authentic. Some of the items were personalized to the same name and several others were dedicated to another name, so it was apparent that these had come from someone's collection.

Van Halen is my favorite band so we were excited when my sister spotted a signed, limited edition "Van Halen 3" tin autographed in red Sharpie marker by all 4 members, Eddie Van Halen, Gary Cherone, Michael Anthony and Alex Van Halen. Having dealt with numerous Van Halen signatures in the past, we immediately had no doubts as to the authenticity of the item. A store employee told us that the item had just been acquired by the store on Thursday (it is now Saturday). Priced at $50, with a 20% Record Store Day discount, I never imagined that I would ever be able to pick up a genuine, completed piece by Van Halen at anywhere near that price. Even though "Van Halen 3" featured their least popular front man (at least in terms of album sales), $40 is an unheard of price and this was a fantastic deal!