No Sympathy Here

Bill's Records is a North Dallas indie record store --- an institution if you will --- where I spent way too much money as a kid. It will soon be relocating to a smaller, cheaper and more out-of-the-way location. Part of the reason the business is downsizing is because it doesn't make as much money as it used to. Bill, the 62-year-old owner, lamented in an article in the local newspaper that in the age of the internet, people just don't visit his store. He's got three warehouses full of valuable records and music memorabilia, and he doesn't know what the future holds.

Well boo-hoo Bill.

First of all, I haven't bought anything from Bill since the day in 1991 when I went to his front counter with vinyl copy of Wire's "A Bell Is A Cup Before It's Struck." Bill long had a policy of not pricing any of his products. He seemingly asked what he thought you'd pay. In his gruff, cigarette voice, Bill picked up the album, looked at it, and issued a line that seemed well worn: "That record is out of print. That'll be 30 dollars."

30 dollars?

For starters, even in 1991, nobody had record players. Only music nerds like me owned record players. Vinyl records --- unless they were an original release Beatles album on the Apple label --- were worth nothing. Sure the vinyl was out of print, that's what happens to stuff that nobody buys. I told Bill as much, left the Wire album on the counter, and walked out. I didn't return to his shop until my buddy Rob started working there in the late 1990's. And even then, I never bought anything from Bill.

So Bill is all teary about his business drying up --- the internet took it all away. Sadly, if Bill had fully embraced the internet about 8 years ago like the rest of the modern world, he'd be making as much or more money than he did in 1991 when he was attempting to profiteer off music geeks like me. I guarantee that there is some kid right now in Osaka, Japan surfing the internet looking for a promotional Kiss Rock and Roll Over album poster that Bill probably has stuffed away in a corner somewhere. The Japanese kid would pay $300 for the poster, but that's money Bill likely will never see.

Oh but Bill does have a website. In fact he's had one for quite some time. I just visited it. Most of his site seems to be dedicated to his official man-crush, Ben Harper, with photos of Ben in Bill's store and gifts Ben has given Bill. Great. So I punch the online store link on his web page. Ooops. That line is currently broken. For crying out loud.

Give me Bill's three warehouses of stuff, a group of people to document and catalog the inventory, a decent website and a Paypal account, and I'd make Google dividends.