Good names for record stores...

[lastpicked4kickball]

Hey, I am applying for grants/loans to open a record store in my town. What would you name it, and what would you do to make it different from the rest?

[Mr. Dipity]

Hey, I am applying for grants/loans to open a record store in my town. What would you name it, and what would you do to make it different from the rest?

What kind of music are you going to be selling?

[lastpicked4kickball]

I want to emphasis on independents and imports mostly, and get a little more into the local Seattle area music. I of course don't want to sell pop crap, but I think I may have to bend like a reed on that one, just to stay afloat. I also want to have a skate/snowboard shop there as well. I have some contacts with distributors for that end, but the music end I'm falling a bit short. I just want to put something unique in the area I live, since there is one record store really in my town, and it's "budget used tapes/cd's" which is a local chain, but still no other cool record shops around here have surfaced. I would of course be competing with Wal-Mart (a.k.a. Satan incarnate), but I think if I keep it simple stupid, I should be fine. Not to mention, I think just that people would have a choice would be a help.

I'd also like to slap in a big vinyl section, since no one seems to sell it anywhere around here.

[tkheadroom]

Can't help ya on a name, but I will tell you that my friends and I crunched the numbers on this idea, sans skate and snow gear, when we moved to Cleveland after college, it sounded like a lot of fun, but didn't seem like too much of a money-making prospect given the competition from Best Buy and chain stores and especially the Internet, both downloads and mail order.

OK, so that's my devils advocate 2 cents, however my friend John Cellura has been running Bent Crayon here in Cleveland for years, focusing exclusively on independent music with a really good vinyl selection. He doesn't really get too many people in the store, but he sells online and has a really good newsletter that he puts out and a good repoire with his customers. I'm telling you about this for two reasons, first it's a great website to visit to do some reasearch, and second, the age of the non-specialized mom and pop record store is dead, or very nearly so. Even in the college town where i went to school, with 20,000+ students and a pretty liberal community, there is only one record store left, the guy who is super-specialized in what he carries new, sells lots of used CD's and isn't trying to get rich.

Anyway, here are some cool sites to visit if you're doing research:

www.bentcrayon.com- Cleveland independent record store, indie, post rock, idm, downtempo etc.

www.dustygroove.com- soul, jazz, funk etc. in Chicago. Super specialized, lot's of rare cuts and whatnot.

and, being on the west coast and all you've probably been to what I consider to be the best record store in the US:

www.amoebamusic.om

Anyway, hope this helps, I'm interested to see how this project turns out for you.

Ted

[Bear]

I don't know anything about business, but from a customer point of view, I've always liked it when there's a variety of music on the overhead speakers. There used to be a record store in town where the employees actually played good music (of all kinds), and I bought a number of records from just hearing the songs in the store. In comparison to the other record store of the time, where the employees only played metal, and a lot of it not very good, the "atmosphere" was a lot better, and I usually got into conversations with the clerks about new stuff to hear, which made the place feel more familiar.

As for names, I usually like them better when they don't sound so directly related to music. For local examples: I prefer "The Theory Shop" to "CD Connection" or "Smash Music."

[bobbydj]

If I had a shop I'd make use of the space under the racks (there's always a good 3 feet of space there going to waste in the big shit shops) and I'd stock it with local bands' stuff and there'd be no mark up on it, and I'd encourage them to sell at cost. In fact, maybe that would be the deal - they could have the shelf-space for free if they kept costs right the fuck down. So local cds would be going for - I dunno - say, between $4 and $5 (maybe less!) whilst any shit major crap would be whatever the fuck full price cds cost over there. The intention would be to give local bands a further incentive to record and finish up their stuff, and to get some sort of virtuous circle of buzz going, whereby everyone buys everyone else's stuff. Actually, if I had a shop, it would be like the local one here - which is all non-profit and doesn't sell any major label shite unless it comes in 2ndhand. Meanwhile there are entire racks dedicated to local stuff and tiny indie self-releases of ace stuff.

[sonikbliss]

I just learned that the local indie shop around here takes gift certificates from any of the big stores and gives you store credit for them, they then take the gift certificate to Best Buy or where ever and buy a bunch of their cheaper closeout cd's to sell at their store since it's cheaper than ordering that stuff. I guess this is a fairly common practice among the indies. This probably doesn't answer your question but I thought it was interesting.

Here's their website if you're interested. http://www.parkavecds.com/

[spideyjack]

Top three names for NEW record stores

1) Unlimited FREE Downloads!!
2) Metal With Cusswords Intact
3) RAP Records TWO WEEKS before street date!!

Im not sure how to make money with the first one, but the others will make money.

spideyjack

[Rigsby]

I quite like the simplicity of 'Records and Snowboards', though if it were me i think i'd just call it 'Rigsby's' and have it in cheers style writing. I'd also have a chequered floor like many did back in the day (barbers too).

I agree about the playing varied styles of music in your store thing, it's lead to many an impulse buy on my part and doesn't exclude people. A lot of independent stores seem to encourage an in-crowd which is just bizarre as far as i'm concerned, and unnecessary. My dad was a huge record collector (CDs from the internet these days), and used to take me round all thess record shops when i was a kid, mostly looking for jazz stuff around the soho area, and back then it was more about what you were interested in than your haircut or clothes, kind of strange to see my dad shopping with all these rastas, beatnik-types, hippies, old men and students, but far more pleasant than the sort of mentality you see in a lot of places these days.

[inverseroom]

My favorite record store name ever is Garage D'or (ie., "Garage of Gold") in I think Minneapolis. I think there was also a Plastic Fantastic in Philly, that was pretty good.

You could always go with a record-themed pun/double entendre, like Grooves or The Platter Shack or Sit -n- Spin or Discs of Tron.

Or howabout

Rock -n- Pay
Needle Trax
The Shiny Circle
The Waxworks
I/O
Anti-Mart
Antimatter

Or, if you intend to be mean snobs like the guys at my local (and really crappy) CD store, you could call yourself what I always call them: Hostility Barn.

Actually I kind of like I/O and Antimatter.

[inverseroom]

Actually, I've been thinking about this all day for some reason, and I am now absolutely certain that your record store MUST be called Anti-Mart. I think this is the best idea for anything I've had in six months. Anti-Mart CD's and Records. And I LOVE Bobby's idea about carrying local CD's at cost. Become an instant pal to every musician in town. Perfect.

[bobbydj]

You should call it Wartmal.

[inverseroom]

Or if you go with I/O Records you could have the sign be a photo of Jupiter's moon Io.



That would be acceptable too.

[inverseroom]

Either way you need to have a photo of me behind the counter with a little sign reading OUR SPIRITUAL LEADER.

[ataraxia]

the "cool" record store here sells, crappy hippie clothes and novelty things like "smoking accessories" that tend to sell alot. they thrive on shit like "sunny detox" and since meth contols most of the us at this point it's a guaranteed seller. my names. a coffe pot with self serve coffee would rule. i'm a sucker for fresh popcorn and it's cheap.

CRIMINAL RECORDS. (okay i'm a pun guy)
(you could make it look like an ol' timey jail)
THE LISTENING ROOM(it's cuter and talors to the indie folk)
STICK MY DISC IN YOUR EAR (anyone ...come on anyone)
SPOON TUNES (sell small serving ice cream too, like 35 cents a cone)
THE BEST RECORD STORE EVER (we all like confidence)
STORY RECORDS (it's a phonetic thing)
THE EAR DRUM (sell used music equipment too consingment so you dont have to invest)
THE BINGE LISTENER (eh)
I"LL BOOM YOUR SYSTEM
SHANGRA LOTTA ROCK (it's sux so bad it's good)
NO DEF LEOPARD (it's a gimmick you won't sell them no matter what)
WHEN THE ALBUM DROPS

you should use a description of yourself in the title, a character trait
SHAGGY DUDE... NEAR SIGHTED, ASTHMA RECORDS, HARRY BALZE, CHESTY MCLURES MUSIC SHOP, CORONARY RECORDS, DENTAL...
oh i got one bamm.... The PARTHENON... seriously. that sums it up

good luck in our economy. seriously have a gimmick or a reason people will go in that normally won't, free coffee or something cheap like popcorn or icecream. socialble un arrogant elitist employees!! i fucking hate that. it' soounds horrible but a attractive scene guy (though not a scenester?) and girl employee. when i was 16 i used to buy so many shitty comic books from the the girls who worked at my local store. It's sad but a fact that can make or break you financially.

and the sonikbliss comment about the gift certificate ideal is good. im gonna recomend that to our local store.

oh yeah my million dollar idea since ill never do anything with it. a singles board, people put like pictures/personals up on a board. free at first then charge a dollar. i always wanted to meet a cool girl that liked the same music, but i'm always in the store with the burley metal dude....

good luck again