Retailers cutting back on Jazz.

[Hardbopjazz]

Today I went to my local Boarders during lunch that in the past had 3 1/2 isles of jazz. It is now down a little over a half an isle. Buying jazz CD's more and more seems to only be fesable on line. I like to browse through the rows andshelves. A lot of times I would end up buying more than what I came for. You can't do this on line. Maybe I souldn't complain, the classical section was just 6 rows.

Even Tower records use to have a large section for jazz, but that too is a thing of the past. I remember in the 1990's, Tower records of west 4th street had nearly an entire floor for jazz. No more.

Edited August 23, 2005 by Hardbopjazz

[neveronfriday]

Yep, the two places I shop at a lot also constantly move the jazz section around. It appears as an afterthought, somewhere in the shop, usually next to other sections which aren't remotely related.

Online shopping has become the main thing for me, although I'm sure that contributes majorly to the problem you were describing.

[wesbed]

I gave up on Border's sometime during the Spring/Summer of the year 2004. The internet is my jazz source these days.

[7/4]

Even Tower records use to have a large section for jazz, but that too is a thing of the past. I remember in the 1990's, Tower records of west 4th street had nearly an entire floor for jazz.  No more.

←

Tower is in bad shape. I wonder how long they will be in biznez.

Everytime I go in there the Jazz dept. has shrunk. Downtown Music Gallery and J&R are the places to go.

[Jazzmoose]

Hardbopjazz, your location reads NY; am I incorrect in assuming this is New York? And you go to buy jazz at Borders and Tower??? Surely you must have some nice local independant music stores that respect jazz and are willing to maintain a decent inventory...what you are doing is like going to McDonalds and complaining that steak isn't on the menu!

[Jim Alfredson]

I thought this thread was about what happens to men as we enter or exit the swimming pool. Calling George Castanza!!!

[Kalo]

You beat me to it, Jim.

When I saw the thread title, I immediately thought: genitalia/cold water joke.

I guess that organissominds, great or small, think alike.

Edited June 21, 2005 by Kalo

[Peter Johnson]

Me too!

[Kalo]

Peter Johnson  Posted Today, 12:04 AM     

Me too!

With a name like "Peter Johnson" how could you not...

Edited June 21, 2005 by Kalo

[Bill Nelson]

"Shrinkage? Doesn't it Bother You?"

Yeah, like when it makes my record jackets buckle, then I'll remove...

[Kalo]

Of course, this has been going on for years.

Blame the bean counters.

Back in the late 1980s I remember visiting a store in Brookline, Massachussetts and buying a stack of 8 or so LPs. While ringing me out, the guy at the counter said, "This'll keep vinyl alive in our store for at least another month or so."

I also remember, around the same time, visiting the Boston Tower Records, not having been there for some months, and being rather startled that ALL OF THE VINYL HAD DISAPPEARED.

Remember when they took that poll and we all agreed that vinyl had to go? I thought not.

So now it's happening to an entire genre, regardless of format. Despite the fact that the jazz buyer probably buys three or more discs a visit (not to mention visits the store two or three times a month), while the Norah Jones or other pop music buyer averages one disc and one visit per month, if that.

All that being said, the Borders in Newton, MA, where I grew up just outside of Boston, has a pretty good jazz section, at least the last time I was there a month or so ago.

[marcello]

Go here; great shop for vinyl, cds and books.

Jazz Record Center

236 W. 26th St., eighth fl. (Chelsea)

near Seventh Ave.

212-675-4480

jazzrecordcenter.com

Jazz Record Center Site

Edited June 21, 2005 by marcello

[JohnS]

Same in the UK. After years of shrinkage jazz racks have more or less disappeared in this neck of the woods, even at the so called megastores. Perhaps bigger cities do better but I doubt they have much more than items from the majors.

Doesn't bother me too much as I usually buy on line/mail order so I can't complain but I miss the opportunity to browse.

Edited June 21, 2005 by JohnS

[Geoff]

I've never bought a CD/LP online in my life.

Mostly because I don't have a credit card yet

[Alexander]

My local Borders has REALLY gone downhill in terms of its jazz selection. There was a time when you could find all of the new releases there on any given week, and they were all prominently displayed. Now, you're lucky if they update the new releases bin every OTHER week. When the new Wayne Shorter came out, they got in ONE copy and it was in the section under Wayne's name rather than the new releases bin. If I hadn't looked, I might've assumed they didn't get it in at all!

Even worse than the treatment jazz gets (and its pretty bad), is the treatment reggae gets in these stores. The sections are dinky, they have NO selection, and they constantly move (Borders just moved reggae from near soul/R&B to the "world music" ghetto. No one's gonna buy reggae now!).

Of course, its a self-fulfilling prophesy: If you don't carry jazz (or reggae), no one's gonna buy it, which justifies not carrying it in the first place...

[mikeweil]

I thought this thread was about what happens to men as we enter or exit the swimming pool.  Calling George Castanza!!!

←

Something in that vein crossed my mind, too ...... talk about eye-catching thread titles!

[Hardbopjazz]

I figured the thread title would make you read it.

[sal]

I wonder if this thing with Borders is a national trend. All three Borders that I normally visit seem to have cut back on jazz. A shame. Good thing Jazz Record Mart and Dusty Groove are in the vicinity.

[Jazzmoose]

I thought this thread was about what happens to men as we enter or exit the swimming pool.  Calling George Castanza!!!

←

Something in that vein crossed my mind, too ...... talk about eye-catching thread titles!

←

I've spent too much time in retail...my first thought was shoplifters...

[Hardbopjazz]

It will come to a point where you can only shop for jazz on the web. Maybe it will be a good thing. Maybe some of these labels will open their vaults and we can download albums as well as order them. Just think if Prestige, Blue Note, Fantasy and others offered their catalog.

[Jazzmoose]

I wonder if this thing with Borders is a national trend.  All three Borders that I normally visit seem to have cut back on jazz.  A shame.  Good thing Jazz Record Mart and Dusty Groove are in the vicinity.

←

Could be; the local Borders here was cut back by half last time I was there.

[JohnJ]

I haven't noticed any shrinkage here in Tokyo. Both Tower and HMV have very extensive jazz sections, although I only buy from them during their sales. Moreover, we have wonderful used stores such as Disc Union were I spend far too much of my time browsing.

[BERIGAN]

Man, it makes me sad to hear that Borders has cut way back on their jazz selection...When I worked for them in the late 90's, even with a 25% discount, a $300 tab (We got 30 bucks a month as book credit, which I almost never used for books) I was forever having to leave stuff behind....we always got interesting cds perhaps only one cd, but it was the only place in town you would find a Adrian Rollini cd....Online is fine, up to a point, but I always stumble across cds just browsing, which is harder online..and if you like the ancient school jazz, often times online they only mention the title of the cd, no tracks listings, no years, no nothing.....

Edited June 22, 2005 by BERIGAN

[David Ayers]

I'm actually surprised that there is so much jazz in stores like Borders and HMV. I can hardly believe it's worth the floor space. UK retailers have the concept of 'Fifty Quid Man' - that is, a bloke with spare cash who goes to the shops at the weekend looking to spend £50 ($80) on entertainment products. It may be that some of these guys are into jazz and just keep the racks turning over quickly enough to make it worth it. You much less frequently see cool young people shopping for this stuff! Although some people have the perception that it is getting worse (I think CDs in general are a less good business proposition than they once were) I think that the CD boom put a lot more jazz in the stores (at least here in the UK) than we used to have. So before it started to get worse, it had gotten better. I think that over time, considering jazz is supposedly such a minority music, it seems to have held up quite well, even if of late it has been cut back a bit (that's as I see it here in the UK - when I visit the US the chains are better than here and the specialist music stores are just outstanding).

[Hardbopjazz]

I went back into Boarders and asked the clerk why has the jazz and classical sections have deminished so much. He told me the Boarder's headquarters had them cut it back, since no one real is buy jazz and classical music. That sucks to hear that it's a money issue with the corporate office. Yeah I know, it's just business, but will this pour over to their internet site? Will they cut back even there? Sure there are many other web site I can go to buy my jazz. Just hope it doesn't become pandemic across other sources where we get our music.

Edited August 23, 2005 by Hardbopjazz