Does Newbury Comics have a decent online service? >From: "josh chasin" >Reply-To: audities@smoe.org >To: >Subject: Re: HMV in NYC, R.I.P.? >Date: Wed, 13 Oct 2004 12:56:46 -0400 > >I've made this point before, so I'll keep it short, but I think the record >business is the only business that caters to the light consumer. Your HMVs >and Towers are geared to the people who buy 0-5 CDs a year. I used to love >browsing in record stores; now when I buy CDs I almost always do so online, >from someplace that will have the inventory to meet the shopping list of my >heavy purchaser needs. Like Not Lame. Even like Stewart's Newbury Comics; >haven't been in one in ages, but they carry the Instant Live CDs that Clear >Channel produces at their online store. I still like browsing the cool >indie stores of course, but there are fewer and fewer of them. > >----- Original Message ----- >From: "Stewart Mason" >To: >Sent: Tuesday, October 12, 2004 4:04 PM >Subject: Re: HMV in NYC, R.I.P.? > > > > > > Christopher wrote: > > > I'm not one to sob for any chain that charges upwards of $19 as > > > their > > > standard CD price, but it *is* a passing of an era, no longer to be > > > able to > > > count on a brick-and-mortar with huge (i.e. wide *and* deep) > > > selection for > > > those days when you know what you want and don't want to wait for > > > your > > > favorite internet retailer to ship it to you. And of course, a > > > not-inconsequential side-effect, the art of browsing is nearly dead > > > now too. > > > > Well, of course a huge part of the problem in both HMV and Tower is > > that I would know what I wanted, but THEY didn't -- both chains had > > fairly limited selections when it came to indie-label and import > > items. And, as you say, they also wanted me to pay full list price. > > > > > > Maybe I'm naïve (okay, I'm definitely naïve), but I have to wonder, > > > did it > > > have to be this way? Might there not have been a way for HMV to do > > > what the > > > other chains can't seem to, put together a staff who are excited > > > about the > > > product they're selling, to provide customers a real service? > > > > In other words, to act like -- and yes, I'm going to talk about them > > again -- Newbury Comics. Again, it's a small chain -- although there > > are now more Newbury Comics stores than there are HMVs in the US, and > > at something like 22 locations, I bet there's more than there are > > Virgin Megastores too -- but they're a chain that knows who their > > customers are and what their customers want, and they're not out to > > completely hose us, either. Newbury Comics knows that if I come in on > > release day to buy, say, SMILE and they have it for something like > > $11.88, that's money that I have left in my pocket that I might be > > willing to spend on, say, the new Snow Patrol album for $7.99 and the > > new Bevis Frond for their regular list price of $14.99. Because I > > think I'm getting a bargain, I end up spending MORE money and buying > > more albums than I would have if I'd spent $18.99 on the same Brian > > Wilson album at HMV! Simple retail logic, something that most stores > > don't have anymore. > > > > And if the art of browsing is dead, then nobody's told the folks at > > Newbury Comics. Hell, I can be in there for hours. > > > > It can be done. It's just that only one company (that I know of) is > > doing it. > > > > S > > > > > _________________________________________________________________ Don’t just search. Find. Check out the new MSN Search! http://search.msn.click-url.com/go/onm00200636ave/direct/01/