We had some really wonderful record stores in my hometown, back in the 70s.

Much of what I have, came from this store... when they closed.

I miss places like this.

I used to get Randy's Record Catalogue sent from the States in the late 60's / early 70's ..... always a good read .... 

Waxie Maxie's in DC after the arson attack that followed MLK's murder .... and in earlier times (1964) ....

 

Edited June 29, 20168 yr by Roburt

Sorry, I've strayed back into the 60's .... here's a 70's one .... 

A montage showing more bits ........... 

AND a few more bits ......... 

I (like many Brits) used to buy (by mail order) from Ray Avery's Rare Records in Glendale (LA). I had orders outstanding when his shop was hit by a big earthquake in 71.

I work with Master-Trak record company. The family owned business started a year before Atlantic Records.

We don't have earthquakes, but hurricanes ate their share of records, down here.

All those water damaged Camille Bob 45s are proof....

it doesn't matter if you "stray"

it is a forum. stray away!!

Another famous US store chain ... this time based in Boston ....

.... Skippy White also ran record labels & cut local artists in the studio .... 

... lots of the acts he got involved with had impressed him while playing live at the top local soul club  -- the Sugar Shack.

How times have changed......

I was in a record shop in the North East recently and pulled about 40-50 45s from the racks. None had prices on them. I asked how much they were, I don't know was the response. I will need to check on discogs can you come back in two hours.

How can anybody run a business like this?

 

 

It was common when Brits went into US record shops from the 80's onwards (perhaps even earlier) for the price to go up when you took 45's up to the desk to buy ... "Ohh, you're a Brit, those prices are out of date, I'll have to charge you more".

Even if you picked stuff from the cheap racks, you'd be quoted expensive prices in some shops there (they just assumed we knew something about each 45 that they didn't & up'ed the prices).

1 hour ago, Roburt said:

It was common when Brits went into US record shops from the 80's onwards (perhaps even earlier) for the price to go up when you took 45's up to the desk to buy ... "Ohh, you're a Brit, those prices are out of date, I'll have to charge you more".

Even if you picked stuff from the cheap racks, you'd be quoted expensive prices in some shops there (they just assumed we knew something about each 45 that they didn't & up'ed the prices).

The other "Brit. sanction", if you found multi copies, as I did once with Kiss My Love Goodbye and I'm So Happy Phillip Mitchell, was to only let you have one copy of each. The others were then squirreled behind the counter for subsequent "re-pricing" no doubt.

Edited July 8, 20168 yr by Kegsy

I can't add anything about record shops north of Watford, but here's something I wrote for a Brighton website back in 2008 which will hopefully be of interest to some.

 

https://www.mybrightonandhove.org.uk/category_id__1743.aspx?path=

1 hour ago, johndelve said:

I can't add anything about record shops north of Watford, but here's something I wrote for a Brighton website back in 2008 which will hopefully be of interest to some.

 

https://www.mybrightonandhove.org.uk/category_id__1743.aspx?path=

A great piece of work .... I may (at one time) have been able to write a similar piece on mid to late 60's record shops in Doncaster, Sheffield & Hull .... BUT ... the grey matter has gone dull and I'm sure if I tried such a task today, it would be full of mistakes.

.... HOWEVER .... the best places I can recall to get good 2nd hand 45's back then were ......

DONY: shops in the Copley Rd & E Laith Gate areas.

HULL: Beverly Rd, Holderness Rd, Princes Ave & Chanterlands Ave areas.

SHEFFIELD: Wicker area + in the southern suburbs, Abbeydale Rd.

More of course, but I can't recall them anymore. 

On ‎05‎/‎07‎/‎2016 at 15:01, Roburt said:

Another famous US store chain ... this time based in Boston ....

.... Skippy White also ran record labels & cut local artists in the studio .... 

... lots of the acts he got involved with had impressed him while playing live at the top local soul club  -- the Sugar Shack.

Was in Skippy White's back in Y2K. He's quite a character, and after some haggling we eventually got into the basement. Before we went in he said we had better not leave a mess but when we got in the place looked like a fecking bomb had hit it - records all over the place. However we did pull out lots of 45's with multiple copies...Ann Heywood on Hondo, Steve Mancha 'Friday Night', Barbara Middleton on TRC, DeVonns on King etc etc. all at $4 each. 25 count boxes all around the wall with various soul 45's.  There were plenty of copies of Frank Lynch..Young Girl on MY Records as Skippy produced it.

On 29/06/2016 at 07:53, Roburt said:

A montage showing more bits ........... 

John

Do you know any more about B.B. Records selling the Motown packs? I'd assume it was Bernie Binnick who was everywhere in Philly in the 60s and 70s. I think he was also involved with John LaMont at House of Sounds, also in Upper Darby. What year was the add from?

When I was visiting the US in the early/mid 70s, I don't recall shops hiking prices for Brits. They usually had racks or boxes with a single price tag, mostly between 25 cents and a dollar. I never paid more than a dollar each.There was one place in Florida that Ian Levine went to that tried to charge more but we walked out. Our best find was from a place in Miami that had back rooms full of Chicago labels. The other customers at this place were US collectors looking for RnR , Blues and Group discs. He charged a dollar each as long as you spent over 100$. If you made a mess you would get a foul mouthed tirade and firmly kicked out.

Rick

 

sometimes i wish i had a time machine, for real

6 minutes ago, Kris Holmes said:

sometimes i wish i had a time machine, for real

Kris

More useful would have been a crystal ball in the 70s and a huge wad of cash

Rick

Bernie Binnick had been involved with records since the early 60's. Back in the 60's, he was a major player @ Swan Records in Philly.

That ad above (& the ones that follow) all date between 1971 & 1976 when B.B.'s was a major player in cut-out records.

Assorted 45's --$5 or $6 per 100. Motown, soul, R&B, fill ya boots.

BB's & House of Sounds were based in the same area & HofS was notorious as the centre of a major record booting operation. LaMont pleaded guity to bootlegging records in 1978.

Edited July 10, 20168 yr by Roburt

On 7/8/2016 at 11:37, Roburt said:

A great piece of work .... I may (at one time) have been able to write a similar piece on mid to late 60's record shops in Doncaster, Sheffield & Hull .... BUT ... the grey matter has gone dull and I'm sure if I tried such a task today, it would be full of mistakes.

.... HOWEVER .... the best places I can recall to get good 2nd hand 45's back then were ......

HULL: Beverly Rd, Holderness Rd, Princes Ave & Chanterlands Ave areas.

In the Hull 2nd hand shops you always seemed to be able to pick up Euro issue soul 45's .... Hull being a port, skint sailors obviously sold some 45's to the local 2nd hand shops and so I came upon them back in the 60's / 70's. Stuff like Dee Dee Sharp 45's on German issue, Dutch Motowns & even some Scandinavian stuff as well.