07.11.07 -- MUSIC MILLENNIUMThe sad word came today that Music Millennium has decided to close their Northwest store after being in that neighborhood for 30 years. Truth be told we have encouraged Terry to do this for years. Portland is not that big of a town and many of us have figured out that it is not a good thing to compete with yourself. I remember John Kunz always saying that Waterloo would never open a real second location for that reason.
As record store owners drink wine and the evening progresses, we always get around to talking about our numbers. I can remember many jaws dropping when Terry would disclose what his rent was at that Northwest location. It always happens that when a neighborhood gets hot, the mom and pop stores are the first to go. Well, unless you are Terry and you never give up and worry about your employees first and foremost.
Of course the phone calls have already started from reporters talking about the end of indie retail. It is too hard to explain to them that earX-tacy, Twist and Shout, Record Exchange, Record Archive, and many more strong brands had two stores competing against each other at one time and made the same decision Terry made. Every one of them are happier for the decision because it allowed them to hyper focus on having one great store. We are hoping Terry finds that same comfort.
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Because most of you were at the beach last week, we did not publish our chart. I should mention that Ryan Adams had one of the strongest weeks at indie retail that we have seen in quite a while. Congrats to the folks at Lost Highway, SAM, and UMVD for all of their hard work. What a great record.
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Thanks for all of the kind words about my Bonnaroo pictures. I put up some others yesterday that were casual shots that you might enjoy:
Bonnaroo Pictures #1
Bonnaroo Pictures #2
