Another potential resource that I, naturally, had never before heard ot:
You never know what very specific information they might know and be willing to share.
Make sure you keep lots of Hot Tuna, Hawkwind, and Rory Gallagher records available. 
That’s what I would do. I’ve also never run a record store.
Good luck!
I don’t know anything about selling vinyl. The chain stores that did it in Canada are no longer in business. Most of the independents have also closed, but not all of them.
But so do know the local university recently had a pop-up store selling records in the student social/cafeteria building. And it was mobbed. There were hundreds of students thumbing through their boxes and dozens of guys holding big stacks of discs. I was surprised - they valued vinyl far more than I do.
So if your audience skews young (do you really know who buys most of the vinyl these days?), selling outside universities might be both lucrative and save you many fixed costs. I have no idea about the details, how many colleges are in your area, what they want, whether this is a good idea. But it might be. Worth considering.
If my local Half Price Books is any indication, the secret is to stock eleven copies of every Captain & Tennille album. Seriously, at what point are they going to say “You know what? We have enough Captain & Tennille, thanks”. 'Cause I would have guessed around three albums, total.
For what it’s worth (little!), there’s four or five independent record stores within a 20 min drive of me in my southwest Chicago suburbs location and at least one has moved into a larger location since it opened and another was planning to move soon.
Same with any new business. Can you pay the rent and all of the expenses while you lose money for 3 years?
Do you have 3 years expenses covered? If the answer is, NO, you cannot afford to start a new business.
don’t forget the Navy Base
I think I read something online recently that vinyl is outselling CDs, and that’s new vinyl
Yes; as per this report, vinyl passed CDs in 2023 (43 million units sold versus 37 million). But, in the absolute, only 11% of total music revenues in the US last year were from sales of physical media.
I’ve got a couple of hundred old vinyl albums that I haven’t touched in over 20 years. This thread is making me think I should try to sell them.
Do you know for a fact it was very successful? Like, did you have an accountant go over the guy’s books or something?
So he had a very successful that he had to close down for solely personal reasons, but ostensibly there was no one else who wanted to buy up and take over his very successful business for themselves, is that correct?
I’m not trying to shit on the idea, I’m just getting a little bit of a Peggy-Hill-buys-a-bookstore vibe.
So if assume for simplicity that CDs & vinyl sell for the same price per unit, then vinyl is ~5% of total music revenues.
Further, I suspect the RIAA has no interest in used CD & vinyl sales; they’re only talking about new sales since that’s what flows money to the labels and artists. The used trade is invisible to the RIAA’s interest group.
My understanding of the OP’s hoped for business is almost entirely selling used vinyl. Although that may just be me reading my own ignorance into their plan.
I remain gobsmacked that anyone is manufacturing new vinyl today. I accept the cites as factual, but I’m just baffled.
I’d call it more like 2x the price for vinyl. A single disc album is around $30 new but a lot of releases are double albums (for vinyl) and more like $65.
I don’t know of any record stores (out of the ones near me) that don’t sell new vinyl releases.
Thank you. And now you’ve got me musing - always a dangerous thing …
Now when and where did I last enter a store selling prerecorded music as their main line of business? Probably about the year 2000 in the old part of St. Louis. And they were selling almost exclusively old used LPs. I think they had used CDs too, but I’m not sure.
I think every CD I bought after then was bought directly from the band during a break between sets or from the drummer’s GF working the merch table outside. I certainly haven’t bought anything new from a major group or record label in eons.
Evidently I’m not the OP’s target demographic.
This might sound like a no-brainer, but you need to be open during the hours you say you’re going to be open. There was a small gaming store here in Arkansas I used to go to on occasion even though it was a bit out of the way. But the second time I went there during their posted hours only to find they were closed was the last time I went. For most people who own a small business, I think it kind of takes over their life. It’s not really a part time hobby. Just consider that before you open a store of your own.
This.
Work at a record store for a while. Learn this business. It’s a free education. And then decide if you want to pursue it.
There’s a used record store that’s been in my city for many years, and they have branched out into vintage electronics, and share a space with a woman who sells antique clothing, mostly for women, and accessories. (Some of the costumes in “Titanic” were patterned from authentic period items this woman had, 30 years ago!) It also goes without saying that they also do a significant portion of their business online.
As a library volunteer, I have taken CDs there many times, which they purchase for cash (pennies on the dollar, sure, but it’s guaranteed money) and last weekend, I saw the owner at the grocery store. He recognized me first (I mean, he was at the grocery store, not the record store, and he was with his wife) and I told him, “We haven’t gotten any big donations lately. Okay, we have, but not of things you’d be interested in.”
There used to be a store here that probably would have been very interested in the cartons of books we recently got about chakras, crystal healing, and the like, but it closed.
Sounds like the couldn’t make enough money to survive on just music sales, so they sell electronics and had to take on a roommate to split the rent.
Eh, maybe. Or the owner just thought vintage electronics were neat and they already owned a retail space. Which honestly makes more sense than “We’re going bankrupt selling these albums but you know what would save us? Vintage electronics. That’s where the real money is.”
This is assuming “vintage electronics” isn’t just the usual old audio equipment you often see for sale.
Yeah, totally. I had a local pet food & accessories store I went to. I had known the owner from her dog training business and followed her when she started a store. I tried to buy my dog food there, and did so fairly successfully. She even gave me a discount. It was further away than PetCo and PetSmart but I diligently went there to replenish my dog food. Then I went once during posted hours and she wasn’t open. Ended up at PetCo. Then it happened again. And again. I started buying my food at PetCo and that was that. I really tried to be a loyal customer but she made it too hard.
… or at least leave the door open