Two Stories, One Store
New World Records moved from its Elmwood location six months ago to a shopping center at the corner of Delaware and Hertel. It has now announced that it’s going out of business. While this is a shame, it’s hardly unexpected.
There are two “hyperlocal” good-news sites out there in Buffaloland, and they both discuss the possible reasons for New World’s demise.
On the one hand, Buffalo Rising’s Newell Nussbaumer discusses the matter with WBFO’s Mark Scott. Newell asserts that New World was doomed to failure once it left the more walkable Elmwood Avenue for its pedestrian-free final location. He refers to New World as an “institution” on Elmwood, and that it should have stayed there by sheer virtue of that fact.
That’s missing the point. New World didn’t move from Elmwood on a whim; it moved because it wasn’t selling enough merchandise on Elmwood to justify its continuing presence there. The move was a hail-Mary, and it didn’t work. The rents on Elmwood are becoming rather high, and the number of empty storefronts is growing. There’s an unsustainable disconnect there.
Why didn’t they sell enough merchandise? My guess is that people can now take or buy whatever music - from Top 40 to classical to ultra-obscure Indie - online in an a la carte basis. Like a song? 99 cent download - you can even sample the rest of the album to see if any other songs are worth buying. There’s no way CDs can compete with that.
Then we turn to Block Club, which produces a wonderfully designed magazine, and has a website that doesn’t get hardly the discussions that Buffalo Rising sees. But to me, the most attractive thing about Block Club is the fact that its “hyperlocal” focus extends beyond the limits of the city, and it highlights not only good city news, but good suburban news, too.
There’s nothing wrong with promoting why the City is great, but there’s nothing wrong with promoting why the suburbs are great (or, in WNYMedia’s case, what’s wrong with them, too). To try and attract people to move to Buffalo and completely ignore extraurban things that are fun to do even for city dwellers misses half the story - things like sledding at Chestnut Ridge, Vidler’s in East Aurora, Old Home Days in Williamsville, the Christmas / Pumpkin park in Clarence, the locks in Lockport, Old Fort Niagara, Niagara Falls, Delaware Ave. in Kenmore, and yes - even the malls.
Block Club recognizes that the city and suburbs are intertwined and dependent on each other for better or for worse. That reflects how I see things.
So, we turn to Block Club’s post about New World Records. Why are they going out of business?
The music industry, they shrugged at every chance, it’s just not keeping up…
…In any case, I’ll miss New World….yet again. It’s always been fun heading in and checking out new indie tunes I’m supposed to be listening to religiously while pretending to not know who they are in the first place, then get mad at everyone once they get big and proclaim I knew them before they sold out. You just can’t do that at Best Buy.
Good stuff. Go check out their website.
jack fate Says:January 22nd, 2008 at 9:05 am
New World’s closing was a foregone conclusion in some respects. I think a lot of people saw it around the corner when HOTH closed. As for Newell: It would be nice if Buffalo’s “leading advocate” knew what he was talking about. That segment he does on WBFO can be painful to listen to.
mike hudson Says:January 22nd, 2008 at 9:54 am
nobody buys records anymore except record collector scum, and they rely on shows, ebay and other underground channels to get what they want. the very notion of a “record store” has been a quaint one for some years now. and have you noticed how all of the blacksmith shops have gone out of business?
Bill Altreuter Says:January 22nd, 2008 at 10:47 am
I wish I liked the Buffalo Rising segments on WBFO– it’s a good idea, but the execution is insufferable. I mean, I’m preservationist yuppie scum myself (well, maybe not so young) and if I sound like that then just shoot me, please. I’ve never heard anything quite that smug, and poor Mark Scott sounds like he thinks he’s basking in the reflected hipness of it all.
New World hung on by being more than a music store, but obviously music was its core business. Inventory will kill you in a business like that. You have to have the current stuff, but what makes people into repeat customers is the back catalogue. That means that you’ve got that copy of “Kind of Blue” sitting in the rack for months before somebody decides to buy it, and every day that someone doesn’t buy it, you are paying for it. And Amazon has it, and will sell it for two bucks less than you can afford to. And nobody buys CDs these days. They were selling button hooks, and although I miss them already, it was not a business model that was sustainable.
MIke Says:January 22nd, 2008 at 11:24 am
Mike, “record collector scum” who are you referring? I thought you were buddies with Ted Zounds, since you wrote how the town of Niagara were trying to put him out of business because his store made Ang’s junk yard look good.
But anyway New World Records should of never moved from the Williamsville location, the store there was centrally located in a area where people had good jobs and a huge parking lot. Its funny how short memories are here, but I only went once to the new location on Elmwood for tickets for a Shane McGowen show that was later cancelled and the owner gave us a refund only after trying to lie that the show was going to be rescheduled at a late date.(never was)
Record stores are in the past, if he want to still sell music he can start a website and sell them out of his mom’s basement. This same thing happened to the sports card market and now Dave and Adam sell from their mom’s basement too.
In closing Mike, i don’t think record collectors are scum, but I agree that they should bathe, the leonard post shows need to hand out a free bar of soap instead of a copy of Goldmine.
STEEL Says:January 22nd, 2008 at 11:47 pm
And BRO doesn’t even give alerts on where the mean car dealerships are!
Howard Goldman Says:January 22nd, 2008 at 11:50 pm
Govindan Kartha,
Congratulations New World Record founder, Govindan Kartha, for 24 years of success. That may not be a “world record” - but it’s a hell of a record for any private enterprise. That doesn’t happen without the right chops and a lot of hard work. You may be leaving an expired industry but you certainly are not leaving behind the business experience and instincts that come from 24 years in the trenches.
My own specialty electronics e-commerce (mail-order before WWW) business happens to be 24 years old this year also. 10 years in, I started losing money because the nature of the home and studio recording industry changed, just as the record store industry now has changed. I hung on until the end because I really didn’t think I knew how to do anything else, it was all I had ever done since college. I quickly learned that the experience easily transferred to new industries. In fact, I am convinced that the experience I gained during the tougher years was even more valuable than the experience gained during the successful years. Looking back, I wouldn’t trade that painful experience for anything.
You are battle hardened my friend. I hope that you decide to remain self-employed because you will be amazed at the resources that you discover within yourself. As in physical exercise, when talent is exercised one day at a time, over the years, you don’t realize or notice all of that development and power until you have the opportunity to test your strength on something new.
Congratulations again, and may your next venture bring 24 years of success.
Howard Goldman
mike hudson Says:January 23rd, 2008 at 11:29 am
for the record — ha ha — i have no idea what ted zounds is and have never written anything about him/her/it. and mike, now that you live in an actual city, may i recommend a saloon called the billy goat, 430 north michigan, where you can have cheeseborger, no fries, chips, and swoon over my picture on the wall.
MIke Says:January 23rd, 2008 at 12:00 pm
Im sorry mike, it was in the other niagara falls paper,www.flickr.com/photos/vickispix/1795755902/, heres a link, you should get out more and enjoy what niagara falls has to offer
Mary Says:January 24th, 2008 at 10:43 am
Sorry to see New World go, but speaking of Delaware Ave in Kenmore, Record Baron has gone from a marginal second-hand vinyl shop to a place with staying power. The thrill of the hunt is part of the allure; you never know what you’ll find. Geezers know vinyl sounds better and kids think it’s novel to take a record home and listen to it with friends. And blacksmiths, even they are making a comeback. I know three near where I live in Saranac Lake. Don’t underestimate tangibility (sorry bloggers).