tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3094937232522894470.post8974488607563596102..comments2024-03-28T03:39:41.417-07:00Comments on Beyond the Black Gate: The Death of the FLRSAlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01682401446176099294noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3094937232522894470.post-26401499893921370792012-02-11T15:48:30.184-08:002012-02-11T15:48:30.184-08:00Extremely sad, but well said. The Suits did it to ...Extremely sad, but well said. The Suits did it to themselves (and to us). :-(Mina Lobohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10173895884776280826noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3094937232522894470.post-71824358152319689952012-02-09T04:27:50.551-08:002012-02-09T04:27:50.551-08:00"on a whim one year they instituted a "n..."on a whim one year they instituted a "no long hair or facial hair" policy" - They did this at my chain too! And made us put on ties, too. <br /><br />"the policy of not letting our own store managers or employees to pick out what we could carry in our store" This was also a huge sales killer for us. It basically alienated our nice base of "regulars" who would shop only at our store, in favor of mall-walking impulse buyers.Alhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01682401446176099294noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3094937232522894470.post-34929023802180446362012-02-08T12:50:40.152-08:002012-02-08T12:50:40.152-08:00I worked part time at a mall record store chain fr...I worked part time at a mall record store chain from 1988 through 1994 or so, and I can concur with everything you said. From what I saw, record store executives and managers were some of the stupidest human beings on the planet. The policies they enacted that made little or no sense and actually caused us to lose sales were staggering. One of my favorites was when on a whim one year they instituted a "no long hair or facial hair" policy (cause, you know, shoppers don't want to see long hair on a dude in a MUSIC STORE), strictly enforced, which caused half our employees (mostly the best ones, including our assistant manager), to quit and move to other record stores in the same mall. After we had lost most of our best employees (right in time for Christmas), a year later they belatedly changed the policy back to allowing any sort of facial hair or long hair. Pure stupidity. And also the policy of not letting our own store managers or employees to pick out what we could carry in our store, eliminating any chance of regional artist sales that would have sold 100's of copies over, say, some metal or hip hop album we might sell 1-2 copies of in a year(but probably killed on the west or east coast). The music industry deserves every brickbat ever hurled at them and as you said they happily committed suicide in the 90s for no reason except they had mentally unsound people working in their corporate offices.Badmikehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06199830751033032585noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3094937232522894470.post-56054363445308165282012-02-08T06:57:55.320-08:002012-02-08T06:57:55.320-08:00In the Age of Amazon, there's really only two ...In the Age of Amazon, there's really only two reasons to buy it locally:<br />1. You want your purchase immediately.<br />2. You want to have a local retailer.<br /><br />Personally, #2 is important enough to me that a 20% upcharge is acceptable: My FLGS provides services that Amazon doesn't (for example, hosting games), and I want it to continue to exist. I also recognize that I'm in the dwindling minority on that score; unfortunately, the eventual demise of the store will mean that #1 becomes more of a problem (forgotten dice, last-minute gaming paper, etc.).Benhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13595082643036277704noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3094937232522894470.post-64198054483787232162012-02-08T06:23:39.978-08:002012-02-08T06:23:39.978-08:00as Aaron mentioned, Amazon makes it extremely diff...as Aaron mentioned, Amazon makes it extremely difficult to rationalize making puchases from the local bookstore. I've got a comic shop at the end of my street here. Its a good shop with a great selection. However, I can get stuff shipped to my door from amazon for 30% less than the price of the same item at the local shop...and that includes shipping which is usually free. I'd like to support the local shop, but I just can't ignore that sort of price difference...Donhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00323022731513484213noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3094937232522894470.post-65989996704814830272012-02-08T04:33:27.384-08:002012-02-08T04:33:27.384-08:00great post, Al. I remember there being two record ...great post, Al. I remember there being two record stores in my college town (pop. 7000 or so). One was all new stuff. The other had new material, but was largely reserved for 'cut-outs', apparently the new records that had been sent out of places like your store. The cut-outs all had a notch cut in the album sleeve, but were otherwise pristine. The best thing about them was the price - $2-$8 (in the mid 1980s). I could walk in with $25 and come away with 8-10 albums. It encouraged me to take all kinds of risks ... and it was wonderful! You can still do that, I guess, with itunes and the preview function, but it really is not the same.Rickhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09581075774319858322noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3094937232522894470.post-83602354518594182132012-02-07T21:30:46.382-08:002012-02-07T21:30:46.382-08:00One of the unmentioned factors in the death of the...One of the unmentioned factors in the death of the FLGS is deep discounts and 3 day shipping from Amazon. I made a recent $300 purchase from my FLGS and another person bought it from an Amazon for $240 with free shipping.<br /><br />Soon we'll all be $8/hour warehouse employees working for Amazon.Aaron E. Steelehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07789462075611254929noreply@blogger.com