Has DC seen its last indie record store?

[bellenseb]

Probably no city outside NY or Chicago (or LA or SF) could support an amazing, huge store like Amoeba, but midsized cities like Pittsburgh (Paul's) and Milwaukee (Atomic) have fine indie shops.
 
 Amoeba is almost better as a West Coast fantasy, since whenever I go I spend way too much.

[bellenseb]

Probably no city outside NY or Chicago (or LA or SF) could support an amazing, huge store like Amoeba, but midsized cities like Pittsburgh (Paul's) and Milwaukee (Atomic) have fine indie shops.
 
 Amoeba is almost better as a West Coast fantasy, since whenever I go I spend way too much.

[skonster]

So why is it that sound garden is so successful? It's always crowded on the weekends (which granted isn't exactly a scientific assessment) hell, even atomic books in hampden has some nifty stuff (small music selection, but still good stuff).  
 
 Baltimore may have a larger percentage of people with those sorts of music tastes but I can't see it being significant enough to make a difference.
 
 Does anyone know why exactly dccd closed?  lack of customers?  or lease issues?  idle time books was forced to move out of its old place because the owners upped the lease on them (and got a bigger, nicer space a block away). it seems like owning a small business on 18th street right now is a bit of a pain in the ass. maybe the dccd owners just felt it wasn't worth it?

[ratioci nation]

Originally posted by skonster:
 maybe the dccd owners just felt it wasn't worth it?

I think that may have been part of it.

[ggw]

Originally posted by skonster:
 maybe the dccd owners just felt it wasn't worth it?

I only visited DCCD a dozen times or so, but it always struck me as an unfriendly place.  If I asked a question, the response was usually preceded by a heavy sigh -- as in, "well, I suppose I could look it up and see if we have it.  But that causes me soooo much trouble."
 
 Olssons selection is much worse, but at least they pretend to be happy to have customers in their store.

[brennser]

If I asked a question, the response was usually preceded by a heavy sigh -- as in, "well, I suppose I could look it up and see if we have it. But that causes me soooo much trouble."
 

yeah I always found them to be elitist indie assholes - when I went in one day with my daughter I thought they were going to throw me out

[godsshoeshine]

Originally posted by bellenseb:
  Probably no city outside NY or Chicago (or LA or SF) could support an amazing, huge store like Amoeba, but midsized cities like Pittsburgh (Paul's) and Milwaukee (Atomic) have fine indie shops.

pittsburgh also has dave's, eide's, another place in the south side and one in the north hills that i can't remember the names of. all superior to anything i've seen in dc. and there isn't a scene there at all. both of the two best venues are closing

[bellenseb]

Which venues in Pittsburgh are closing? I lived there in 2000 when Milvale was condemned...
 Quiet Storm? Club Cafe? Laga?

[ratioci nation]

There were a couple people who were bad at DCCD but I never had a problem when the owner was working.

[Richard D Taylor]

It seems really hard to believe that D.C. doesn't have enough indie music fans to keep an big indie-friendly cd store running.  I suppose the closest thing we have is CDepot in College Park.  It would be great to have a place like CD Cellar (my favorite place to shop!) in D.C.  I think there's two of them now in Northern Virgina...

[godsshoeshine]

Originally posted by bellenseb:
  Which venues in Pittsburgh are closing? I lived there in 2000 when Milvale was condemned...
 Quiet Storm? Club Cafe? Laga?

laga and rosebud. metropol doesn't have shows anymore, either. i lived there most of my life until 2002. so many tours skipped pittsburgh, but so many of the good ones came to laga or rosebud. i want to say quiet storm is no more, but i'm not sure. there is a new place in milvale and the rex has been having (bad) shows.

[paige]

Originally posted by brennser:
   

If I asked a question, the response was usually preceded by a heavy sigh -- as in, "well, I suppose I could look it up and see if we have it. But that causes me soooo much trouble."
 

yeah I always found them to be elitist indie assholes - when I went in one day with my daughter I thought they were going to throw me out [/b]

yeah, as much as i liked (or wanted to like) DCCD, the extremely standoffish manner of nearly everyone that worked there was a total deterrent. it's like you had to have some special connection to an employee to be given a smile and friendly conversation. no wonder they went out of business?

[Charlie Nakatestes, Japanese Golfer]

They were all always extra nice to me.    
 
 Just kidding. Actually, I prefer stores with standoffish clerks.
 
 "Can I help you with something?"
 
 Actually, no, you can't. I know my alphabet, so I think I'll be able to figure things out myself, thanks.
 
   

Originally posted by i do not heart winter:
   

Originally posted by brennser:
     

If I asked a question, the response was usually preceded by a heavy sigh -- as in, "well, I suppose I could look it up and see if we have it. But that causes me soooo much trouble."
 

yeah I always found them to be elitist indie assholes - when I went in one day with my daughter I thought they were going to throw me out [/b]

yeah, as much as i liked (or wanted to like) DCCD, the extremely standoffish manner of nearly everyone that worked there was a total deterrent. it's like you had to have some special connection to an employee to be given a smile and friendly conversation. no wonder they went out of business? [/b]

[markie]

I thought DCCD staff were snots, also. they would always look disdainfully at customers CDs. They made buying CDs about as pleasurable as buying porn and preparation H.
 
 As for CDepot at College Park, it has some redeeming features, but on the face of it I think it is really horrible. There seems to be as much stuff in game exchange in a 10th of the real estate. Still, I guess it is the only CD store where I have seen the only ones on the shelves.

[redsock]

Ok, so DCCD is gone, the local stores suck...what are we gonna do about it? We can bitch and moan, or we can try to change things. No, I'm the first to admit, I don't have a clue as to where one starts. But you need money, and a business plan.
 
 I have a car, does that help?