Indie Store

[frontgirl]

Ходила брать интервью у менеджера/владельца (я так и не спросила, менеджер он или владелец) самого симпатичного, как мне кажется, местного независимого музыкального магазина. Очень милый товарищ. Полтора часа болтала с ним и с другими покупателями. Говорили о том, как маленьким магазинчикам тяжело в мире корпораций и mp3, о бесплатных концертах Willy Mason'а и о том, почему среди покупателей мало девушек.

В этот раз я не записывала разговор на диктофон, а сделала транскрипт на основе своих заметок.

Если кому-нибудь интересно, вот текст интервью, который пойдет в мой assignment. Некоторые вещи очевидны, некоторые не очень интересны, но важны для данной конкретной работы, но есть и любопытные моменты.



- Some questions can sound a bit stupid, but that is what I need for the assignment



- It’s alright



- Ok, so the first question is how would you describe your customer?



- It used to be a student, but I would say that in the last 5-6 years it has broadened. So now it’s someone who is 16-30 years old. Dominantly males. It is kind of tradition that record buying is a male thing. Maybe it is intimidating for women to go to stores where the most of customers are males. Anyways, that is how it is. But we also have older customers, 45-55 years old. Basically, it’s those who have money.



- Do you feel the impact of sharing, Internet-sales and music supermarkets on the industry?



- Yes, it’s getting hard for the records retailers and it’s not only Internet, there’re a lot of things. Naturally, our customers are people who buy music anyways. And some just feel they miss the physical form. But now they can listen to mp3s first and they still buy CD if they like it. It’s more about kids of 18-21. Yes, they buy less. But you see, there’s a great interest in live music, we sell more gig tickets than ever, which is supported by recent opening of new venues in Newcastle.



- You said that there’re some other things that make things tough, so what are they?



- First of all, that’s VAT, that gives online sellers an unfair competitive advantage on price and then supermarkets that can allow lower margins, discounts. It puts smaller shops into a hard position, as we cannot allow all that. And I think there is an income factor. People have to make all these payments, mortgages, so now they can spend less on CDs.



- It’s written on the Brit Awards web page that the last year has been a year of revival of British music scene and the most successful year for sales of British music in a decade, which is linked with such acts as Arctic Monkeys, Kaiser Chiefs, Snow Patrol. Do you feel it affected your business?



- Yes, I think it did. Probably, it’s even too much of music released. We receive about 100 of new releases every week, so it’s harder for business to sell and you see that we don’t have much space for storage. But it increases interest in music, new kids start playing and create bands and, as already said, we sell more tickets to gigs.



- Some sources write about renewed market for singles. Do you agree?



- CD singles are dead, maybe except for only some of new bands. 7-inch singles go strong. Probably the last three years have been some kind of retro revival. Kids keep on buying these singles. It’s quite an interesting sound, you know, the guitars, it’s kind of real indie sound.



- Do you have any shop as an example for benchmarking or what are the other record stores you like?



- Selectadisk in Nothingham, I really like this one. But you know there has been so many close downs recently. What else…Sister Ray is alright, Picadilly in Manchester, Rough Trade in London. There are conferences for independent record stores and I’ve been invited so I’ve met these guys, they are very nice. So, maybe Reveal in Derby. But you know, I’ve been told that there have been 20 closings in New Year-February period. Actually, even HMV is losing its share to Tesco.



- I’ve read that you plan opening a new web-page. So how is it going? What do you plan to place there?



- Yeah, but…we have already started selling online. We’ve been doing it maybe for a year. You see that we’re selling a lot of things so placing all of it online is a massive job. First we’ve started with classic rock, like 70-s stuff, giving advertising in specialised magazines. Now we plan do bring some new items like singles, for example, etc. But we can’t afford to sell everything online. We will place information to attract kids. As we do with the in-stores, we have a lot of in-stores.



- So how is it going? Do you sell a lot online?



- We do sell, we have a little catalogue online. But, of course, it has suffered due to competition, and the sales of rock suffered. So we are more focused on specialist things. [Telephone rings interrupting conversation. After a short talk Richard continues]. That was a mail order. Some customers, maybe some older people, who don’t trust credit cards, study database online and then order by mail.



- And how fast do you deliver?



- It depends. If we have the album here, so we send it on the day. Sometimes we need to order something from Holland or USA, so it can take up to two weeks. But no longer than 14 days.



- What do you think is the competitive advantage of small shops?



- Specialist knowledge. And I hope we are friendly. We can also recommend something. There are customers who ask for recommendations. We also have better access to information. For example, we can get information from a very good Dutch database. We have some rarities. Sometimes even HMV sends us customers. At it can sound weird, but sometimes it’s cheaper in our store. People expect that everything is cheaper in supermarkets like HMV or Virgin, but it’s not. Really, the new releases are usually cheaper there, but some old records – here.



- By the way, how do you hire staff? Any special requirements? I’ve heard about incredibly difficult music tests in some stores like Rounder Records, for example.



- No, no, no. We just ask for communicating skills, being friendly. Person does not need to know that much, just being ready for some research and willing to learn.



- Do you have a services like calling your customers, sending them notes about new releases, recommendations etc.



- Hmm, not exactly, but that is what we are trying to do with the web-page and My Space, placing information. For example, when tickets for gigs become available.



- I’ve read an interview with the owner of Avalanche in Edinburgh. He says that music browsers have disappeared. People no longer come just to browse. Do you agree?



- Hmm, maybe. I haven’t thought about it.



- Now I feel that I’m bringing you some bad and dark thoughts



- Oh no, I think it’s natural they disappear. People just browse online and come only to buy a certain record. It’s the question of time.



- There are a few more short questions left. First, do you have a large stock? For example, how many copies do you order?



- Yes and no. You see that we don’t have much space, but we do have lots of titles, to me even too much. And we have many copies. For example, we’ve had 100 copies of new Arctic Monkeys CD.



- How fast do you get new releases?



- Usually before they are out. We’ve got some today for the Monday. Sometimes they are late, but usually it’s Wednesday-Thursday-Friday. Actually, sometimes it’s quite sharp with storage and placing of them.



- And the last question. Do you sell a lot of vinyl records?



- Yes, we do, it’s DJ-things, hip-hop, some indie LPs. I think it accounts for approximately 15% of sales?



- Frankly, I expected a bigger number



- Well, in number of items maybe it’s about 25%, not more. But they are quite cheap, and 7-inch singles can cost even 99p, so financially it’s 15%.





А закончилось все тем, что я купила еще один диск - Solo Piano Гонзалеса. Давно искала, кстати.