A few months ago, Delores sold the majority of her record store to some guy from New Orleans and she sold me this record rack. Man, that really changed things. I had collected records years ago and had quite a selection of 80s punk, new wave, and quite a few pop and classic rock selections as well. I combined those with the HUNDREDS I had acquired from cleanouts, auctions, and sales and I was in bizneth.
For a while I've said vinyl records are an excellent example of the "industry" being totally out of touch with what the public wants. Of course you'll remember several years ago when they decided no one wanted vinyl anymore, it was too archaic. Well, the kids didn't seem to think so - now when you see a band play on Letterman, nine times out of 10 the camera zooms in on the cover of an LP on Dave's desk.
I've learned a lot from, and about, today's record collectors. There are definite LP enthusiasts and 7" fans. The 7" guys are way more hardcore than the LP collectors and always seem happy to share their knowledge of a particular act or label.
There are many types of LP collectors: by genre, artists, era, and on and on. Even cover art alone is often reason enough for the expenditure. I price mainly from an algorithm derived from Popsyke, Gemm, eBay completed, and my own determined "coolness factor". Essentially I try to price as replacement value - including shipping, my time, etc. I love it when some fancy vest starts crying about how my prices are so much higher than they should be (meaning: he/she can't sneak up on it for next to nothing). Again, people collect for a variety of reasons - more times than not, it's a spontaneous, nostalgic type of purchase. In an hour they're home listening and remembering the good times way back when they were first into the band they'd essentially forgotten until they came into my shop. They're playing the vinyl and having fun, not scouring the Internet trying to find another copy and save $3 - only to come back later to find a high school sophomore knew what they can't seem to figure out: if you want it, buy it when you see it cause it may not be there next time.
The majority of what I have for sale are $1 each - LPs and 7"s (and don't go saying that's not fair because Lps have more songs, that's fuzzy math and you know it!).You can also pay $65 for The Orange Donuts, but I'll be sad to see it go (I'll give you half Hopewell). Always happy to work on a price if I know it's going to a good home.
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