Happy Record Store Day

I'm sorry but I'm going to speak my mind about the above
negative comments. After rereading the posts several times
it comes off as "sour grapes". If you had arrived
earlier and were closer to the front of the line and got
what you wanted, you'd be singing the praises of RSD.

Boo-hoo, you got there late, crowds were large, items were
already sold out, lines were long to check out, blah, blah,
blah..."woe is me".

This is just like going to a "general admission
only" concert and getting there late and complaining
about the bad seats. Your fault dude.

Most of these stores are mom and pop shops. Most only have
one register and one credit card machine. I agree that if
they did have access to more registers, they should have
opened them, but these are not Best Buys or Walmarts.

As far as loyal customers go, the store I went to, I've been
going to for over 20 years. Seems pretty loyal to me.

I do have one gripe and agree with one aspect. I think they
should limit the amount of different titles to a maximum of
150 and have more copies. Instead of 1250 have 2500,
instead of 5000 make 10,000 and so on. If they get too
crazy, the limitlessness of the releases have little
meaning. This year they released over 300.

For me, I can't wait for Black Friday RSD and for RSD 2014.

I was not able to go this year because of trying to cut my expenses in today's uncertain economic climate. Didn't get the same bonus I have gotten over the past few years, and have more household expenses I am trying to deal with. We cut our Direct TV last week. Buying less at the grocery. And so on. I will say having gone the past two years, I saw a lot of guys up front first in line who were probably running out to FleaBay to put the limited release LPs up for sale, like the scalpers who buy up all the good tickets to live shows. That turns me off. I think it is good for the industry to get the buzz out about vinyl, but let's all be honest, this is a marketing effort designed to sell product at much higher list prices. Limited supply creates demand. Econ 101.

Swanny...I agree with everything you said, except the assumption that the guys in the front of the line were flipping the items on Ebay. You don't know that for a fact.

While I don't approve of that either and really don't like Ebay that well, I was able to find the four titles that my store didn't get on Ebay for exactly the same amount as in the store and a couple were even less money, (even with shipping) because I didn't have to pay sales tax. So not all sellers on Ebay are jackholes.

Most people don't know that the dealers do not know what they will receive for RSD. They put in their orders and don't know what they get until they open the boxes. I know quite a few record store owners and most say that they only get a 50%-60% fill for RSD.

This is no different than wine collectors or art collectors or rare car collectors or really most any other type of collector. Limited supply DOES create demand.

I much looked to score a copy of Dave Matthews live lp set, but.....
http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_odkw=Rsd&_ipg=200&_sop=16&_osacat=176985&_from=R40&_trksid=m570.l1313&_nkw=Rsd&_sacat=176985
And several of these very limited pressings emerged on eBay days prior to Saturday's RSD.
The local vendor did restrict purchases of limited release lps to one per customer. Yet, with the low number of pressings the resaleable value may be turning the event into a scalper's treasure trove.

MoFi, Sour Grapes? I am sorry but standing in line is preferable to you than roaming freely and listening to local bands play? (what they had done in previous years) A business knowing that their biggest business day of the year and doing nothing about their single check out point? How do you know what I was miffed about? Your diatribe about me not getting there early for my personal gratification is pure crap. I had no specific purchase in mind, just wanted to browse around and if a release interested me, I would pick one up. You and I are concerned about totally different experiences. No "woe is me".

Surprise, Surprise! MoFi, you are not the only loyal record store buyer on this site. I imagine many are loyal customers to one shop or another on this site besides you and I. Yes, I regularly go to local record shops and some are better than others.

Stores in my area may be different than the stores in your area. Oh, but I am sure you know every store in existence.

I was not able to attend the other local stores because of the time I spent there was much more than I had anticipated. According to some of my buddies, the other stores handled the crowds well. I know most of these establishments are small business, but shouldn't they be more attuned to their customers's needs?
The point is that for a once a year event you need to put your best foot forward.