Not Your Father’s Record Shop
Vacation co-owner David Ritchie
Los Feliz newcomer Vacation Records distills the indie aesthetic – and hopes to capitalize on the rebirth of vinyl.
By Beige Luciano-Adams
Up-market, niche collectibles in a down market? Expensive music in the age of the free download? While it might seem surprising, as independent record shops continue to shutter across the country, a new kind of record store in Los Feliz is capitalizing on the renewed interest in an old favorite – and taking it a step further.
“There’s a different feeling you get from analog recordings,” says Peter Majors, summing up the ethos of the vinyl industry’s current renaissance.
Majors, an Amoeba Music veteran, is store manager and the buyer at Vacation Vinyl, the boutique record store that just opened on the still-sleepy stretch of Hollywood Boulevard between Vermont and Sunset. One of a slew of new shops that developers and retailers hope will benefit from abundant foot traffic in the neighborhood, Vacation deploys the sparse aesthetics of an upscale urban boutique to sell records – which, along with the accompanying Zeitgeist, are wrapped up neatly in plastic and ready for consumption.
“The idea,” says Majors, “is to make an aesthetically pleasing record store again, one that curates music sections for an audience in the neighborhood – and in Southern California.”
The store is co-owned by a group that includes owners of the Hydra Head record label, as well as the owners of the similarly groomed comic book boutique on Sunset, Secret Headquarters.
Vacation’s apparent focus on hard rock and heavy metal also extends to “everything in between,” says Majors, “spread out in hip-hop, electronica, and all kinds of roots music – including soul, jazz, blues…”
Records are arranged accordingly in shallow bins on rough wood tables, filled in with a few art books (punk and hardcore), fewer CDs, and a glass case displaying turntables and other paraphernalia.
High ceilings and modern lighting give the place a gallery feel – although, as yet, there is not so much as a photograph or poster on the dark walls. At the back of the store, there is a bar space framed by a chalkboard message telling customers that Vacation wants to buy their used vinyl. Squint, and you can just imagine the espresso machine. An inverted, righteous Starbucks?
Vacation’s minimalism, both in selection and decor – as well as the serious price tags attached to those hand-picked records – have been the subject of criticism from local reviewers in the early days of the store’s soft opening in late February. Critics from examiner.com also complained about the lack of used, and ostensibly, more affordable, vinyl.
But Vacation is working on a slow build-up, and the used vinyl, says Majors, is on it’s way.
After seven years as a used records buyer for Amoeba, Majors is putting an impressive rolodex to work for the new venture, but gradually building – “curating” – the stock in response to demand.
“I work with more than 30 different distributors, and I try to go directly to the labels. It’s such a new, fresh thing, we’re just trying to reach out to people who will be willing to handle direct business with us.”
Vacation is targeting a growing “collective of people who want that analogue sound,” according to Majors, who stresses that the retailer will be receptive to input from the community – and like Secret Headquarters, “break it down, but make it comfortable for shoppers.”
The growing demographic of aficionados, comprised of both the ipod generation and those who grew up listening to records, is one of the signs that the music industry is entering a post-digital phase. “CDs are dead,” says Majors, “and the digital format has gone to intangible forms – which is good, but completely different from what vinyl will offer the listener.”
Vinyl he says, is the one form that’s really growing in popularity, and showing promise, even in the downturn. “Labels are telling me that they’re pressing and shipping more vinyl, and that more retailers are interested in records.”
Citing the Recording Industry Association of America in a recent article about the trend, CNN Money reported an increase of 46 percent in vinyl sales over 2006. In a similar feature, Time Magazine reported a 15.4-percent increase in vinyl sales in 2007, while Rolling Stone recently reported an 89-percent increase in 2008.
Vacation manager/buyer Peter Majors.
And while vinyl records constitute a mere fraction of the percentage of total album sales, such figures are likely an inaccurate gauge of the trend, as they might exclude the small, independent shops where vinyl sells so well.
If it can successfully exploit the upward trend, Vacation’s “high-end indie” business model might be a viable niche strategy, even as mom-and-pop record stores across the country turn their lights out.
“We’re trying to do something special,” says Majors. “Maybe something people have just forgotten about.”
Vacation Vinyl • 4679 Hollywood Blvd • Los Angeles, CA 90027 • 323-666-2111 • www.vacationvinyl.com