Scratch Records limits hours; HMV set to close downtown Vancouver store
It’s inarguable at this point that brick-and-mortar music shops have been suffering for years, but the fall has been particularly harsh on Vancouver with the announcement of Scratch Records’ truncated store schedule.
Scratch will be open only on Saturdays and during the occasional event at the neighbouring Interurban Gallery. The store will be liquidating stock as part of its new Blammo Saturdays promotion, which promises bargain-basement prices on all existing merchandise.
“I’m sitting on tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of CDs and records that have accumulated over the years, and having these Saturday sales is one way of sharing some of the stuff that we’ve accumulated and blowing it out,” owner Keith Parry told the Straight.
Adding insult to injury, movies and music retailer HMV has announced it’ll be shutting its downtown Vancouver location in January. On the plus side, physical-media junkies are about to have a heyday because of the sales, but at what cost?
Comments
3 Comments
Therzo38
Nov 10, 2011 at 12:05pm
This is too bad, all around. I've lived through several Scratch Records location changes, and the current one is the worst. It's a cesspool of gross where they are right now. No part of me, on my days off, wants to go that store anymore, so I don't. I think that's the main reason they're having trouble, and not the consumer switch to digital. Why do some people want to celebrate the addicted (and often thugged out asshole) lifestyle of the DTES?
Andy1232
Nov 19, 2011 at 9:34am
For me, Scratch's problem is all about its location. I've been a regular since the beginning, but since they've moved into that shithole they now call home I spend my monies elsewhere. I give them less than a year. What a drag to see the best record store this town has ever known go down the drain. Come on Keith move your damn store.
jimmyp
Dec 6, 2011 at 11:41pm
I used to go to scratch a few times a month before they moved to their current address. I tried to find the new location but got some bum directions and wasn't able to get there. I didn't have the motivation to track down new scratch and then I left the country mid-February and haven't been back yet. (That is, back to Canada and by extension Scratch Records as well.)