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Surviving the Chain-Store Era
By Michael Pollock
Rainbow stays alive through vinyl, used market
In the early ‘90s, the record store business was booming. Despite format changes (vinyl to cassette, cassette to CD), thriving music scenes—notably indie rock and hip-hop—and a favorable economy helped independent shops like Rainbow Records flourish.
Within a few years, all that changed. By the mid-‘90s, giant chain stores like Borders and Best Buy began to push out smaller retail outlets that couldn’t compete against the chains’ low prices. Mom ‘n’ pop stores became a rarity.
Rainbow survived the box store scare, but barely. Six of its seven locations were forced to close. Only the Main Street store near the University of Delaware campus managed to stay in business, and it’s easy to see why. Huddled next to coffee shops and bars, it looks like it belongs in a college town. It’s outfitted wall-to-wall with promo posters that champion the established (David Bowie, The White Stripes) and the elite (Enon, Of Montreal). Albums by LCD Soundsystem and Outkast can be found on record here, and the self-titled debut by Clap Your Hands Say Yeah is always in stock.
Rainbow (now Rainbow Music & Books) has called 54 E. Main St. home since 1988. It has expanded and contracted, but it’s now finding success through proven channels like vinyl and used CDs.
Owner Chris Avino, 32, says the fascination with records is a symptom of musical snobbery. “There’s a mystique to it again,” he says. “It’s great for the cover art and the packaging, but it also sounds better.” The Blue Note jazz catalog is especially popular, Avino says, because many of the recordings aren’t available on CD. Used discs also are a hot commodity.
Avino got the idea to specialize in secondhand merchandise when he moved to Arizona several years ago and worked for a store called Bookmans. There he saw an entire industry built on pre-owned retail. “It’s unbelievable how much used stuff is out there,” he says. “It’s actually better for everybody. It costs the consumer less, and I make more physical money because I can keep a better margin on it.” Avino estimates 40 to 50 percent of the store’s sales are generated by used product.
Maryann Matera, 21, who’s worked at the store since 2003, says the digital age has actually spurred sales of used CDs. “I don’t think we’ve really been hurt by any of the technological advances in music. We’re actually using it to our advantage,” she says. “People are coming in and buying used CDs for their iPods.”
Avino writes off fears of record stores being replaced by hard drives. “The new format’s here—it’s called downloading,” he says. “But there’s always going to be someone who wants the hard product.”
Given that, Avino says the future of independent record shops isn’t in jeopardy—the competition is. “I think in 10 years the indie stores will still be around, because that’s where the music junkie-types go. The ones that are going to take the huge hit are the box stores,” he says. “Most of what they sell is top 40, and that’s the stuff that’s going to get pushed toward the downloading side. Those artists can sell one or two singles online instead of filling out a whole album.” As if on cue, Gang of Four’s Entertainment!, with its anti-capitalist rants, bleeds through the overhead speakers.
—Rainbow Music & Books is located at 54 E. Main St. in Newark. For more information, go to www.rainbow-online.com.
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