Wednesday, December 03, 2003

News
Reason to be cheerful #1 - Andre
Hello to all,
It is Christmas time again and for that reason allow me to sincerely wish all of you a happy holiday season and a reasonably pleasant new year.
It has been brought to my attention that the shop has changed over the last couple of years and that it may appear that lately not as many exciting and rare (read; expensive) records are turning up on the walls as often as they have in the past. Also that fewer and fewer new released cds and lps show up in the just in section as regularly as they had in the past. To this I can only reply; "For the time being."
As to the hard to find collectible vinyl, I must say that rare records are so-called for a reason: they are hard to find. Lately, we have been putting a larger number of items on E-bay for the reason that it insures a sale in a relatively short amount of time. I appreciate the argument that the e-bay "market" is inflated and from a retailers perspective that is a most compelling reason to sell in that forum. However, there are still good deals to be had and I would encourage you to at least check us out on e-bay (seller name: ATD100) because you never know what you might find. Of course we will continue to cover the walls with cool records (both new and used) as often as possible. Tim is constantly out in the field turning over rocks trying to find new stuff for the store (as well as going to yardsales, flea markets and individual sellers' basements and attics) and he shows no signs of slowing down.
As to the "new" releases, it is true that Mars Records sells fewer now than even a year ago. Not only do I take my job very seriously, I love what I do beyond words. The discovery of new music is as compelling to me today as it was when I was 12 years old. As the buyer for the store nothing would make me happier than to spend countless hours browsing distributors updates and websites and consequently spend thousands of dollars to bring the most interesting and hard to find new releases into the store. At the moment, it has proved a challenge to make the most out of the least. Often, I will wait on the latest release on Dischord, Schematic or Funky Delicacies because, for example, Le Tigre is coming to town and we need to restock on the back catalogue. And for this reason it may appear that the new release bin is filled cds that are two months old.
Over the years, anyone who has lived in this town can tell the story of a great find in any number of record stores that no longer exist. It is my goal to help to make sure that this place exists in the future, and perhaps that I can help someone I haven't even met find a record that will make his or her day. And for that I can be cheerful.