Idea for saving ROAD Records (5 Viewers)

[Bold Lump]

How about a space for a regular/permanent record, cd, poster, t-shirt zine market. A loose collection of semi-independant stalls who can pool resources to cover rent and perhaps purchasing. It'll still require some co-operation of sorts to prevent overlap and canniballisation, but the rewards will hopefully be there for the talented and hardworking.

 

[sweetoblivion]

That's totally something worth looking into La La! THere are Seomra Spraoi members on here, aren't there? Or people who could chat to them about it? IF nothing else, they might have some good advice.

 

[La La]

That's totally something worth looking into La La! THere are Seomra Spraoi members on here, aren't there? Or people who could chat to them about it? IF nothing else, they might have some good advice.

yes. i also live with one but the lucky sod is off travelling and will be back end of the month. i'll deffo mention it then.

(does anyone know if Bad Books is still in operation?)

 

[Squiggle]

The reason it closed was because of the landlord wanted to kick them out and the collective were unable to find a suitable replacement. As far as I know, at least.

If things stay as they are the attitude of landlords should change significantly. I can see a situation when they will be happy to just have someone occupying buildings and making sure that they're not vandalised or squatted.

 

[Anthony]

House parties / book and record fairs. The future.

 

[sweetoblivion]

La la - brilliant
I like Voidoid's idea too.

 

[BonsaiSuperstar]

get Sentinel to own one side of the place.

 

[Cryptid]

I admire the sentiment of the co-op idea, but I think you're talking about introducing a new supplier into a market with already weak demand. Is this a good idea? Would it be best to support the existing shops and try to stimulate demand somehow in that direction? Also, correct me if I'm wrong but most people here are musicians and not retailers. I think if that's where one's talent lies, one should work in that direction (music). A recording co-op of some sort would interest me, though that could suffer from the curse of tym too.

 

[old]

Aye, agreed. Why not just make sure to shop in City Discs or Freebird or Plugd (which is fantastic) and try to keep them around?

 

[sweetoblivion]

I admire the sentiment of the co-op idea, but I think you're talking about introducing a new supplier into a market with already weak demand. Is this a good idea? Would it be best to support the existing shops and try to stimulate demand somehow in that direction? Also, correct me if I'm wrong but most people here are musicians and not retailers. I think if that's where one's talent lies, one should work in that direction (music). A recording co-op of some sort would interest me, though that could suffer from the curse of tym too.

it depends really on whether you're trying to be a 'proper' record shop only, or a specialist shop, or a shop for records/zines/other items created independently/ etc.

Also I'm sure there are plenty of people here whose talents don't just lie in one area. And a lot of us aren't musicians, and plenty have business or managerial experience (I do).

 

[Pantone247]

Aye, agreed. Why not just make sure to shop in City Discs or Freebird or Plugd (which is fantastic) and try to keep them around?

ask one, or all of them, for a bit of shelf space

give them a % on everything they sell

small records and zines are available, and shops get business

 

[old]

Those shops sell indie releases and zines anyway though?

 

[lympog]

i think it's a wonderful idea, but - forgive me - unrealistic. the sad fact is simply that there is less money about and sales are getting lower and lower every year

what may seem like barely manageable debts now could spiral out of control with two/three years and the store could end up losing so much money so quickly that any notion of a co-op would fall apart

sorry

 

[Lolo]

If things stay as they are the attitude of landlords should change significantly. I can see a situation when they will be happy to just have someone occupying buildings and making sure that they're not vandalised or squatted.

I noticed last time I was back in Dublin that Smile Records on Georges St is still standing empty, despite the fact that the rising rent was a major factor in Gary closing it....

 

[old]

I noticed last time I was back in Dublin that Smile Records on Georges St is still standing empty, despite the fact that the rising rent was a major factor in Gary closing it....

Take that, scabby landlord!

 

[Goodbye]

Road is closing for a reason and no amount of enthusiasm will save it because you will be competing with the very reason Road is closing.

 

[Pantone247]

Those shops sell indie releases and zines anyway though?

oh... then what's the problem again?

I noticed last time I was back in Dublin that Smile Records on Georges St is still standing empty, despite the fact that the rising rent was a major factor in Gary closing it....

good old Smile, it had a closing down sale that was so good it kept the place open for an extra six weeks... remember him saying if he'd only done business like that normally (and had kept the second hand prices reasonable *cough*) he would have been grand

 

[Pantone247]

Road is closing for a reason and no amount of enthusiasm will save it because you will be competing with the very reason Road is closing.

so you're saying the glass is half empty?

 

[Goodbye]

Of course

 

[sweetoblivion]

This may not work out n any shape or form at all, but there's nothing wrong with talking about it.
Who knows, another idea might spring out of all these discussions.
If anything it's nice to see some positivity and exchange of ideas.