As Emily Litella: “Never mind.”
Sorry, I wasn’t trying to dismiss your advice! I absolutely agree with it.
Vintage Vinyl is still alive and kicking–they even sell cassettes! what surprises me is still seeing 8-tracks? Of course when you Blueberry Hill next door…
and your landlord id going to be looking over your shoulder
Nah. Not in my experience – at least, not in a bad way. If they make money when you make money, then your interests are aligned.
You just can’t cook the books in order to avoid paying legitimate percentage rent.
Which isn’t something you should be doing anyway.
There is a used DVD market.
Especially for porn and Anime. And, obviously, Hentai.
Cool!
I used to live in the CWE and recall the little store on the SW corner of Euclid and Laclede. Google tells me that’s now a nail salon. If I’m remembering the right storefront in that little building.
I think that was Vintage Vinyl’s first location, then they moved to the Loop.
Although the longer I cogitate on this, the name “Next Door Records” is somehow emerging from the depths of mostly forgotten memories.
I’ll take “Things that do not surprise me” for $100, Alex.
Yes, based on my observations of successful used record stores, you should also be selling DVDs, T-shirts, fanzines and stuff. Maybe even a music-centric used book section. Consider getting an espresso machine. Try to build a community around your store; if you have a back room, you could let gaming groups or whatnot meet there. Most importantly of all, though, the one thing that seems to keep used record stores alive in our modern world of digitalized music is selling weed under the counter.
Good luck! Keep us posted!
Unfortunately (for that income stream, not for life in general) that’s legal here for recreational use. I could (and maybe should) open right next to a dispensary.
In that case, make sure you stock Cheetos and Funyuns at the register.
Alas …
There’s something great about The Onion, a fake news magazine, having an article on Funyuns, a fake onion food-like substance.
It just occurred to me that this whole thread could be an Onion story:
Old white stoner dreams of opening used record store.
Adam Akaj, a 59-year-old resident of Waukegan, Illinois, loves to browse used record stores, but bemoans having to drive 45 minutes to the nearest one. So, he’s decided to open one in his home town, despite having no retail or business ownership experience.
“I mean, some of these stores have been around for decades,” says Akaj. "I know the business has evolved, but …
Continued on page 12
I’m a used-record and used-book store shopper…in addition to all of the Business 101 items already posted, it seems to me the hardest part about a records store is establishing the “it factor” to get people in and browsing. Nobody is going to be interested in a selection that looks like Half Price Books (multiple copies of Styx - Kilroy Was Here, and Kiss - Alive), or Target (no surprises Top 40). I might peek in the door of one of those, and never come back. However, a well-curated niche store with frequently refreshed ‘spotlight’ items would have me coming back and telling everyone I know. “Hey, this store has an amazing Acid Jazz listening room where you can get a free absinthe spoon if you buy two jazz records, and the facing punk rock museum wall had an autographed Husker Du on display! And on Tuesday’s it’s 2 dollars off if you wear a dog collar!”
For example, the Punk Rock Museum in Reykjavik is a tiny little hole in the wall that got me in the door to browse/buy vinyl and music trinkets, and has reputation beyond Iceland as a travel destination in its own right. What can you do to your vinyl that can make people raise an eyebrow.
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/icelandic-punk-museum
One thing that just popped into my head is that, IMHO, you can’t afford to be to narrow in scope of the items you carry.
The people I know who buy the most vinyl are my brother who wants obscure acid jazz, prog rock and death metal. My friend Jon wants psychedelic jazz and modern indie. My friend Kris wants obscure beats for DJing.
Also, my brother and friend Jon need to be able to come in with their kids, pre-teen girls. They want (and have) Taylor Swift and Olivia Rodrigo vinyl. They want some Nirvana t-shirts and Anime stickers. They want to look at Funkos.
You don’t have to be Five Below for the kiddies, but you also can’t just be the place that just sells Creedence and Stones records. If you want my brother and friend to wander in, their kids have to want to come in too.
Totally agree.
Also agreed, except …
… is also true. If I’m the only used record/CD store in a 30-minute radius, I ideally want to be a niche store for a broad range of niche tastes – IOW, the niche store for everyone. 
Maybe I should name the store Oxymoron Records.
Waukegan is a demographic salad, and I hope I can stock fun and hard-to-find items that appeal to many of its cultures and ethnicities.
Have you done a check to see if others have tried to start such a business in your area in the past 10-20 years?
And you could sell oxy under the counter!
Nothing official. Everyone I’ve spoken to mentions the old store that closed in 2021, but no one’s mentioned other attempts to open one. Any idea how I’d research something like that?
But only to morons.