Yes, I will be opening an actual independant record store that caters to niches that are not to be considered mainstream.

kane - thanks man, im gonna set out to do exactly that...hit up all the stores and take stock....


thanks for the replies everyone..

Try opening up a coffee and record shop. Call it Java Jazz :pimp

you're going to have some stiff competition in nyc from people like other music, kim's, and academy.

still, you only live once.
go for it. it'll bug you the rest of your life if you don't give it a shot.

hehe watch for the downloaders!!!!

go look at rents in nyc first for your store it will be a real eye opener. I would think go work part time in a store like the one you want to open so you can see if its really for you and see if the money you are looking for will be there.

These days the only small music places that make it really either cater to DJ's and music nerds, are really close to a college or are in an area that isn't near a mega-box store.I have a friend in Milwaukee who runs a small record store that caters to Music nerds and they really have to hustle to make it. They are constantly selling junk on ebay. He told me they really have an upswing when some famous rocker dying. Now he is thinking of opening a wine bar.

Opening a store in NYC sounds like a giant money pit to me.

Successful small record stores in NY... Joes on St. Marks, The place in Dumbo, Bleeker Bobs.... anywhere else? I'm sure there are some but I can't think of them....

fuhkinglou - it seems ur right for the most part, but theres quite a few stores like satellite who cater to dj's and music nerds which is exactly what i wanna do. And satelliterecords.com makes them real nice cake im sure. I know guys from argentina to new zealand who order from satellite. I wanna do that man!

When I sit here cramming a semesters worth of business law in 2 nights before my final on monday morning.....I must admit to myself that when im not pushed im lazy and this forever sitting behind the computer thing isn't for me right now. I gotta hustle, I gotta be out there, with people, making moves. Sitting here all day alone just doesn't feel right....

anyways...

Here's what i intend to do so far:

a) im gonna spend a week or 3 taking stock of the city's record stores

b) im gonna chat up staffers and get a few to come have a beer and talk about it

c) im gonna check the rent situations in all the neighborhoods im in interested in

d) im gonna spend a day or two just walking around the city looking for more ideas of brick and mortar type shit i'd be interested in running in case this thing don't work out.

market research and location , find out what ppl want what's in demand

Anyway, who inspired you to start such idea?

no one really, it's something i've always wanted to do..

Khmm,what will be different?You will still need to sit entire day in store and pray God for customers.Atleast on computer and internet you have more freedom.

Also you might want to add the following to your list:

Insurance costs.
Commercial property tax costs.
Initial stock and equipment purchase costs.
Alarm system (insurance guys will likely insist on it)
Shop fittings (usually 3 times more than your worst guess) you should include printed plastic bags, sign for shop front etc etc.
Get a business account at your bank of choice
Check out Accountants fees and your likely tax situation.
Draw up a business plan. At least 12 months that projects sales/costs at a minimum.
Advertising costs.
Visa account - should be free but contact a merchant to make sure you can get it and what their fees for retail are.

Most important - A list of product distributors, their unit cost and supply terms. Its unlikely that they will give you revolving credit iniitlally. In addition you'll need to work out who distributes which labels. Its not uncommon to have 20 plus distributors to get all the labels you need.

Theres probably more but off the top of my head it wasnt a bad start.

Record store? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH

Thank you.

Another couple of things is you need to consider. You need to take into consideration employees. You may want to run it yourself, but if you are open 12-15 hours a day 7 days a week it won't take long until you are burned out working those hours. So you need to add in the cost of employees and everything that goes with them (workman's comp, social security, any benefits etc.)

Also you will need capitol to sustain you for several months. Many people say you should make sure you enough money to keep the business open for 12 months so if it takes you several months to start making a profit you won't close.

Another thing to consider: Once you get a place and sign a lease, what is the cost of breaking it? If your company goes under in a 9 months you don't want to be stuck paying a 10 year lease.

You may want to consider hiring some kind of a publicist at first to help you get some publicity for the new store.

One last thing is that you might want to look into what it will take to get in-store shows from bands. A lot of bands will show up at stores and do small acoustic shows. This can really help you get noticed. When I was writing for The Rocket I would see bands go to small record stores and draw a 1000 people to see them, many of those people would buy the CD so it could get signed and they now know about the store and think it's cool so they go back and tell their friends. Word of mouth will be your #1 marketing tool so you will need to develop ways to get this and be patient while it grows.

we have a few killer record stores here in Atlanta, whoever is saying they won't make it is an idiot

one of the main ones here is only about as big as a garage, they have at least 100k albums at any time, covering all genres, and it is PACKED in there every day....i would say they get EASILY 100 people buying records every day....there isn't a time I am in there, even at 1pm on a weekday, that I don't see 2-3 people checkout making purchases

a record store is something I have always wanted to open too, and I will one day....mine is going to be a record store / pez collectors store

there are only like 3 stores in the USA decicated to pez collectors, i wanna be one of them

oh yeah, there is a HUGE chain called Amoeba Music that specializes in records...one thing they do to get their stock in whatever city they are opening in, is take a HUGE ad out in a few papers saying "we will buy your records" and people will come down all day long and Amoeba will just buy full lots of records from people for REALLY cheap prices

http://www.amoebamusic.com/

If you are going to buy records check out local auctions too. I went to a local auction not too long ago and there was a collection of about 3,000 records that went for $1000. I don't know much about what records are worth what so I stopped bidding when it hit $500, but that could be a great way to get some product in your hands at a reasonable price.

kane, jace and ultimatebbw - thanks for all your suggestions and for holding back on the fearmongering. I live in new york city and i believe there will be plenty more succesful independant record stores to emerge in my city in my lifetime and if i try i just might be one of them. thanks again, and im most definitely open to more advice.

I would love to open a cool record store. I don't want to scare anyone, just want to help you get a realistic idea of what it would take.

If you do decide to do it, I hope you succeed and make a kick ass store.

Great suggestion and well worth negotiating with your landlord.

If i remember rightly its called a "Break clause" and even though a landlord will offer cheaper rent for say a 5 year lease than a 1 year - if you can take the 5 year but ask for a break clause to be put in at the 2 year mark, you should still be able to walk away with the preferential terms but not the millstone around your neck that goes with them.

Thats the LAST business Id start.
Haven't you noticed records sales are at an all time low?
Remember the old days when the top albums would sell 5-10 million?
Now none of them do
http://billboard.com/bbcom/charts/ch...+Billboard+200

All the Tower Records that I know of have either closed or are holding going out of business sales