Ear-X-Tacy - Louisville, KY
Most of us have fond memories of great brick&mortar stores, either still alive and kicking or shuttered long ago. This thread will be for them.
With MP3s becoming increasingly prevalent in our music buying habits, it's not hard to see the connection between the rise in digital stores and the decline of brick&mortar music stores. This is an opportunity to put the spotlight on your favorite music stores. They could use the hype for fuel, and if the store has already gone under, it'll be a chance to honor their memory.
I'll go first.
My first one is a new one to my life. Ear-x-Tacy in Louisville, KY has been in the Highlands for decades. My wife grew up down the street from it and has nothing but great memories of the place. It's the first music store I hit in Louisville.
Ear-x-Tacy has been a huge supporter of the local music scene. They have shows at their store, as well as a large section devoted just to local music. Their two story location has more genres than I can keep track of. Their jazz section isn't huge, but it also has more than just the latest RVGs. There have been plenty of times I was browsing the shelves and found something that made me sit back in surprise that they had it in stock. It's no Jazz Record Mart, but they have nothing to be embarrassed about.
The store is huge. It's two stories, located in the Highlands neighborhood, which is a great section of Louisville to hang out in. Lots of nifty things to do and eat and drink. I just learned that they're moving out of their present location and just down the street to a smaller space, which I assume, costs less. There were reports they were on the verge of going under, but the resulting press brought the customers out of the woodwork and the increased sales gave them the ability to go on. Between holiday and birthday gift certificates and sales credits, I've been helping the cause.
I try to stop in whenever I'm in Louisville (about once a month). On a recent visit, I stopped in to use some of my gift certificates and to spend some cash on top of that. I had a list of about ten different bands/musicians/albums I was looking for. Like I said, the place is huge and filled with tons of different genres (for instance, I found my John Zorn under Noise/Experimental). One of the employees asked if he could help me. I told him I had a list and only about fifteen minutes before my wife began to suspect that I had taken a "detour" from the grocery store where I was supposed to be running an errand. The employee took the list from me, checked the stock status on his computer, then walked me from section to section to track the albums down. Ten minutes later, I had four albums in hand and one on order. The owner, a very nice guy, came over and apologized that he didn't have more in stock; he had been cleaned out by the wave of sales by people reacting to the news that their music store was in danger of going under. Very cool.
Here's some pictures of the store...
And here's their website. They have an online store as well.
http://www.earx-tacy.com/home.htm
I've got plenty more to talk about. So should you.
With MP3s becoming increasingly prevalent in our music buying habits, it's not hard to see the connection between the rise in digital stores and the decline of brick&mortar music stores. This is an opportunity to put the spotlight on your favorite music stores. They could use the hype for fuel, and if the store has already gone under, it'll be a chance to honor their memory.
I'll go first.
My first one is a new one to my life. Ear-x-Tacy in Louisville, KY has been in the Highlands for decades. My wife grew up down the street from it and has nothing but great memories of the place. It's the first music store I hit in Louisville.
Ear-x-Tacy has been a huge supporter of the local music scene. They have shows at their store, as well as a large section devoted just to local music. Their two story location has more genres than I can keep track of. Their jazz section isn't huge, but it also has more than just the latest RVGs. There have been plenty of times I was browsing the shelves and found something that made me sit back in surprise that they had it in stock. It's no Jazz Record Mart, but they have nothing to be embarrassed about.
The store is huge. It's two stories, located in the Highlands neighborhood, which is a great section of Louisville to hang out in. Lots of nifty things to do and eat and drink. I just learned that they're moving out of their present location and just down the street to a smaller space, which I assume, costs less. There were reports they were on the verge of going under, but the resulting press brought the customers out of the woodwork and the increased sales gave them the ability to go on. Between holiday and birthday gift certificates and sales credits, I've been helping the cause.
I try to stop in whenever I'm in Louisville (about once a month). On a recent visit, I stopped in to use some of my gift certificates and to spend some cash on top of that. I had a list of about ten different bands/musicians/albums I was looking for. Like I said, the place is huge and filled with tons of different genres (for instance, I found my John Zorn under Noise/Experimental). One of the employees asked if he could help me. I told him I had a list and only about fifteen minutes before my wife began to suspect that I had taken a "detour" from the grocery store where I was supposed to be running an errand. The employee took the list from me, checked the stock status on his computer, then walked me from section to section to track the albums down. Ten minutes later, I had four albums in hand and one on order. The owner, a very nice guy, came over and apologized that he didn't have more in stock; he had been cleaned out by the wave of sales by people reacting to the news that their music store was in danger of going under. Very cool.
Here's some pictures of the store...
And here's their website. They have an online store as well.
http://www.earx-tacy.com/home.htm
I've got plenty more to talk about. So should you.
Comments
Paul, T&S's owner is another big supporter of the local music scene and the Denver community.
I've just discovered they have moved to a new location on E. Colfax. Looks like a nice new building, I hope that means that all the independents in Denver are doing well.
There was another whose name I can't remember on South... Pearl I believe it was - you didn't go there if you had cat allergies, they ruled the place.
Actually that may have been the first home of Twist & Shout.
I have many fond memories of "Paradox" formerly "The Moosehead" and the owners Bill and Bernie in my hometown in Illinois. It was the first real record shop I spent my hard earned dollars in back in the late 60's and early 70's. My precious vinyl sold for around $5 & $6 for the most part.
Before then I got my records at a 5 & 10 - Woolworths. Bought the Beatles new releases there for about $3.98.
Those were the days.
I actually started a thread here about Jerry's...
http://www.emusers.net/forum/comments.php?DiscussionID=827&page=1#Item_3
I lived on two different occasions within a block of Wax Trax, both times on Washington between 13th and 12th.
The original Wax Trax Twist&Shout was on South Pearl I believe, I want to say somewhere between, say Alameda to the south and maybe 4th to the north, but it's difficult to remember. The opened their Alameda store and their Auraria campus stores not too long after I moved to Denver (early 90s). And besides, having the Wax Trax block, Jerry's, and another small used joint right by Pearl & 12th (name totally forgotten) and another forgotten one over near like 7th & Corona, there wasn't much need for me to head down to the south Broadway Twist & Shout... I didn't have any money left to spend there after hitting the other stores.
EDIT: Accidentally typed Wax Trax, meant to type Twist & Shout.
I saw your thread.
Made me feel a little nostalgic for Denver and got me to thinkin'.
Yeah, Wax Trax at the South Pearl location seems to ring a bell.
I've also forgotten several others around Denver and the 'burbs that I used to check out at times - of course now most of them are gone.
Also used to hit up a bunch of mostly used stores in Chicago - don't remember the name of the place on the near north side but it was the store they used to film "High Fidelity"... and another nearby where the owner told me that the film crew told him they wanted to use his store for the movie and then he never heard from them again.
This was years after the fact and he was still pissed!
Even a lot of those places are gone now.
Too bad and doesn't bode well for my retirement dream of running a used store with lots of vinyl.
I don't know which store they used for High Fidelity. I know they did some shots around Wicker Park (and Reckless Records).
Ah, a quick trip to the Chicago Film site states that the High Fidelity record store does not exist, they used an empty storefront at Milwaukee & Honore, which is right by the above mentioned Reckless.
I found that movie irritatingly whiny. One of those rare times that a movie made me not want to sit down and get some writing done. To their credit, however, they did shoot a scene at my favorite (and rarely used) bridge, which crosses over the river by the East Bank Club on Kinzie. Some of the coolest condos right there on the river just to the south of the bridge. I've always wanted to get a tour of those condos. Well, no, I've always wanted to have one of those condos (or more) sold to me at a dollar a piece; I'd settle for a tour of them.
Man, it looks and feels like winter here, and all I want to do is go to Reckless and get some music then head over to Pequod's for pizza or Joong Boo Market for a steaming bowl of stew and a side of kimchee. And then, if I wasn't headed into a food coma, go to a bar with plenty of christmas lights strung up, decent music, and a comfy bar stool.
I like my Kentucky hometown, but sometimes, guh.
Twitter account gone. No mention of troubles in Friday's Facebook post Friday. Today's Facebook post:
You can follow community concerns at https://www.facebook.com/earxtacyrecords. I hope the possibility of closing is speculation, not fact.
Craig
O'o'
In Search of the Miraculous
Femina
Alhambra Love Songs
Book of Angels: Lucifer
Goddess: Music for Ancient Days
Is that it? I feel like I may be missing one.
Not counting a couple used (and forgotten) cds I got there in the beginning, the first proper new cd I got off their shelves was Bill Frisell's "All Hat", a very pleasant surprise seeing it there. Not an easy to find cd back then, and I scooped it up right away.
I'll miss that place.
We ran into people people throughout the day complaining that Ear-X-Tacy wasn't actually having a sale, that everything was normally priced, though the used stuff may have been marked down a bit. Those people need to STFU, and they should have stayed the hell out of the way of me and my friends. Look, I get it... to a point. I was looking forward to finding a few deals, but the main reason I wanted to go was to have one last opportunity to browse the aisles of a favorite music store, one wrapped up in happy memories of being introduced to my new family (the in-laws) and this great new town (Louisville). I would've been happy to go in there and pay $15 for a new John Zorn and maybe find something on sale in the World/Latin/Brazil section. I just wanted one more time in the store. Instead, I can't get inside, in part, because some ungrateful bastards are complaining that the merchandise hasn't been reduced for them. Fucking vultures.
Ear-X-Tacy has done more for the Louisville music scene than any of those friggin' whiners, and I'm little irked that the whiners who got inside made it so I couldn't.
I hope the Ear-X-Tacy guys made a ton of cash. They deserve it; everyone who works there or has an ownership stake.
Thank you, Ear-X-Tacy. I had a great time, and I'll always have great memories of the store, the employees, and the music.
Cheers.
Stopped by toward end of afternoon bike ride...what a day. Not the usual thing in Chicago on March 15.
Y'know, I've never been in Reckless's new Broadway store. I've been to their old one about 1,000,000,000,000 times that was a couple blocks north, right by the Lakeshore Theater, but we had moved to Kentucky by the time they moved a few blocks south on Broadway. It looks fantastic.
And dearly beloved lakefront. I was just longingly staring at pictures of Olive Park the other day.
There are CDs along the wall on the right, and some videos and other merch displayed elsewhere. Otherwise, the store is easily two-thirds vinyl, new and used.
But I'd sit at that computer, espn on mute, and just spend an entire night, 9pm - 4am, listening and listening and listening and making my list. So fun. So much music discovery.
I'm a block away from Laurie's as I write this, and even more dangerously, from Ravenswood Books.
You should see the new Old Town School building...the neighborhood is really clippping along, not that it wasn't already.
Floor to ceiling, literally. I'm sure you've seen it, it's the place with the "Dancing Dick Tracys" in the window.
They have some time recently added an online store that is powered by a third part where you can basically order any book or Cd and have it shipped to you, just like Amazon. It's powered by "DirectToU Inc."
So, your starter for ten: if I go on their website to see if they have a CD, and order it from their virtual store (I just did this to give it a try), and DirectToYou Inc ship it to me, did I support my local store? In what sense? Was this a virtuous act of consumption?
From an "ethics" standpoint, definitely yes. They've gotta be making some type of profit in the transaction or they wouldn't be doing it. If they get sales this way, that's good for them.
My wife is vegan now (I'm close). Living as we do away from a major metro area (and the vegan options that come with it), her choices for "convenience foods" are limited. Burger King does a veggie burger (basically a Morningstar Farms product), and places like Wendy's do their burger, just without the meat and cheese. My wife read online (I think the PETA website) that vegans are highly encouraged to purchase these veggie products from places like BK and Wendy's even though the companies are responsible for the slaughter of so many animals each year, because by buying those veggie products, it tells the corporations that there are markets for veggie products and, thus, they'll take the veggie/vegan demographic more seriously. That's why if you order the various veggie/vegan products at most major fast food joints, you'd learn that the registers/POS systems actually have a button programmed for the veggie products... enough people were buying them that the company's modified their point-of-sale systems to account for the veggie/vegan segment.
So, where I'm going with all of this, is I think it's good to support the online segment of your local music & book stores, because it tells these shops that there is a segment of the buying public out there who will use the online service, and thus give not just these companies the confidence to continue the service, but also other local music & book shops the confidence to start their own, because they've seen models of success, that local shops can enter the online market.
That's a good thing.
Cheers.
scenario (a): they essentially changed the old process, in which I would go in, ask for a CD, they would offer to order it, and then they would send to a distributor who would send it to them and I would go back days later to get it, for a streamlined version in which the distributor sends it to me and Schulers still gets a similar cut;
or scenario (b) in which DirectToU Inc takes a larger cut for enabling the online vending and Schulers settles for less in the interests of survival than they would have got if I had gone in and ordered the CD there.