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Originally Posted by grigorip
Dont swear at me please.
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I'll use whatever language i like, boyo
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Originally Posted by grigorip
Fopp HMV and Virgin all have awful buying policies and hardly stock anything diverse or interesting.
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I'll concede that centralised buying has had an effect on the stock that we keep, but it's not as if no-one i work with is unaware of this. I agree that the selection isn't hugely diverse, but there is only so much shelf space available, which for commercial reasons (ie to keep the place open) has to be given over to things that will sell. Sadly, what sells tends to be on larger labels as they have the marketing budget to push their product, but that's a whole other debate.
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Originally Posted by grigorip
I have repeatedly asked for records in these shops and been told they will be available in a week or so. Ive left my details and walked away. In one experimental case I asked each record shop for a Swirlies record and was told that they would get it in for me and notify me if they couldn't. I went round each of the shops every friday after felt and asked if they had it in yet. They said no. I did this for 3 months. Eventually Fopp sent me a letter saying they couldn't get it in about 2 months after my enquiries stopped. The others did not despite saying that they would. I asked for it in Avalanche in Edinburgh and they got it in very quickly and notified me. Im sure Mono in Glasgow would be much the same. Ripping records in Edinburgh sent me a letter the next week after me asking telling me that I wouldnt be able to get the particular record through them but saying that they would be able to get me another record by that band if i so desired.
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I can't vouch for anyone else, but orders in Virgin are placed in store but the stock is sourced by the central warehouse - if they have it when we ask for it, then great, the customer gets it quickly. If they don't have it, then we have to wait on them getting it off the distributer. With the small distributers that can take time for a number of reasons. They may have a minimum order size before they dispatch anything (I know this was the case with Cargo a few years back when i tried to get Goldrush in Perth to order a record for me), or they may not have any stock themselves and have to wait on the label supplying them again. In your case, the Swirlies record obviously wasn't readily available to each of the 3 shops.
I know that Virgin are introducing a new customer order system where the item will be ordered in store, but sent direct from the warehouse to the customer, hopefully meaning the process becomes a lot quicker. At the same time, like other people have said, there's also the internet.
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Originally Posted by grigorip
You are right that there isnt the demand in Dundee. This is partly due to the awful policies of the chain stores in the first place.
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Alternatively, if the stores were to stock large numbers of obscure releases that didn't sell, they would soon choose to stop that policy when left with large numbers of unsold CDs, etc.
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Originally Posted by grigorip
Even if so the record stores are not caring for their customers and they don't try hard enough to be in contact with the smaller labels and distributors. They have a lot of money and surely they could employ one person whos job it was to find the smaller distributors. This would show that they cared about music and their customers.
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It is frustrating trying to get a small scale release stocked in the chains, trust me. All the same i don't agree with the statement that they don't try hard enough to be in contact with the smaller labels & distributers. I'm sure those companies try their hardest to get things stocked by the chains, but that decision rests with the head buyer at each company - oddly enough, the person whose job it is to deal with all the upcoming release.
I do think it's odd that the large chains often have more trouble sourcing releses from distributers than the independants do, but at the same time they can't sell stock they haven't received yet. This may be because most independant stores are still supplied directly by the local/regional reps for the distributers (though there are less out there than years before) while the chains have to go through the distributers warehouse. If Avalanche need a handful of CDs, it's not a hassle for the rep to drop them off with everything else as they tend to visit each shop on a very regular basis anyway.
Oh, and i work with plenty of people who love music and who are equally frustrated by the machinations of a large company. The fact that there's vinyl back in Virgin in Dundee at all is due to both the customers requesting it and the manager persuading the company to let us have it as part of our range.
Just a few points. In all honesty, i reckon people should by their records where they find them.