Record Store Day '10

Wooden Nickel owner Bob Roets could - and probably should - be a bitter man, given the soulless pillaging his industry has been on the losing end of over the last 10 years. But that couldn’t be further from the truth. In fact, when I recently spoke with Roets about his plans for this year’s Record Store Day he was downright chipper, even explaining to me that his stores were up 12 percent last year. Up! But more on that later; let’s rewind. 

“When I was a kid I was fascinated by turntables. So when I got a paper route at age 12 I saved up and bought my first turntable. Then I started listening to Casey Kasem’s ‘American Top 40’ and began studying charts to see what was popular,” Roets, always well spoken about the business of music, told me. “Then, when I got in high school and college, I started getting interested in the retail side. I started working at a record store when I was 18 and that’s pretty much what I’ve done since.”

While in high school Roets became a serious vinyl collector, a hobby aided by a radio program he found himself involved in at a young age.

“They had a thing at a radio station called ‘High School Highlights’ that I was involved in. I did a little bit of DJ work and other things and got paid in vinyl,” he told me. “I’d go home with a stack of promotional vinyl. By the time I was a sophomore in college I had over 2,000 LPs to my name, and most of them I didn’t pay anything for. Then, once I started working in record stores I started buying everything, adding to my collection.”

Roets was hooked. A go-getter by nature, he soon enough opened his own store. Competitors - both local and national - came and went over the years, all along Roets continued, building Wooden Nickel into a proper chain. He held strong during the rise of big box stores like Best Buy and national record store chains like Musicland.

“In a digital age where record stores are losing their identity, I thought Record Store Day was an interesting idea. It’s giving us indie stores more of a national identity,” Roets explained when asked about his thoughts on the national event. “I’ve been getting a lot of attention, even nationally. I think it’s because of the YouTube videos I do. So I do think Record Store Day is a really good thing because it gets us a lot of media coverage and attention - and anything focused on independent retail is a good thing.

“A cool thing going on in independent music retail, aside from the resurgence of vinyl, is that the big box stores are abandoning catalog titles really quickly and shrinking their music sections. They’re sticking with big hits and new releases. So fortunately there is still indie retail in Fort Wayne with Wooden Nickel, who can still offer big selections of CDs and vinyl,” he told me when asked about his competitors, all of whom are either shrinking or closing shop.

“I’m actually expanding,” he told me. “Just last fall I added five bins at the Clinton store. So we’re expanding at all stores, meanwhile noticing this contraction at the big box stores. So that will keep us vital in the community for years to come.”

In addition to Record Store Day, Roets has found other ways to keep his stores pumping during this digital age. You could say that he and his family have taken a hands on approach.

“I used to have five stores running at the same time and I had a store manager at each location. I took care of the ordering and paperwork and bookwork and advertising. When things started getting really tough four or five years ago we had to close a couple of stores. Then, at the Clinton store, our base store, our manager got a new job. So I decided to run the store myself and save some money,” he told me, going on to explain that his son Chris now runs the Time Corners store and his wife Cindy fills in shifts here and there at various stores.

“I get a lot of good feedback from them and, as a family business, we’re able to really focus on the customer now. And, for me, since I’m working in the stores more, I’m able to have a much better feel for what the customers want. I’m closer to my customers and my son and wife give me feedback on an almost daily basis. So working with my family more has really helped. Even my son Andy comes and works at the stores when he’s on college break. We’re all very music minded and have a lot of knowledge, so it’s going really great.”

Roets had much to say about the retail end of the music industry, never once seeming disappointed or angry with the download movement. Many times his explanations found their way back to Record Store Day, an annual national event he’s taken part in from the get-go.

“This will be our third year doing this. Looking back to the first, we didn’t really know if it’d be a one-time thing or not,” he said. “So when it was a success we decided to expand it with more bands. We expanded the prizes and gave away more things. We offered a 10 percent discount last year, our second year, and I even made a documentary about Record Store Day. You might say we grew on what we’d done before and made changes based on what we’d learned. And of course we’re doing things even a lot bigger than we did last year.”

Much bigger, even. And differently, too.

“We have 13 bands scheduled to play this year, which is twice as many as last year. But we’re doing things a bit differently this year. If you look at the list of special Record Store Day releases, you’ll notice that about 80 percent of it is vinyl. Vinyl sales were up over 30 percent last year, so Record Store Day is really focusing on vinyl now, issuing a ton of limited edition titles. Them Crooked Vultures, Elvis Presley, Elvis Costello and lots more. I was amazed when I saw the list of vinyl coming out. So, seeing as how our North Anthony store is our vinyl showplace and our Time Corners store is focusing more on vinyl, I figured we’d highlight those two stores, focusing on the Anthony store.”

This year’s live music kicks off at 11 a.m. at the Anthony store with Wooden Satellites. Nine bands will follow, playing all through the day, ending at 10 p.m. with Zephaniah. Additionally, three bands will play at the Time Corners store beginning at 3 p.m. with Rick Kemery and concluding around 7 p.m. with Riverbottom Nitemare Band. (See ad on page XX for complete live music details.)

“It’ll be much more of a production than it’s been in the past. Our prizes are also expanding. We’re not only doing the USB turntable like last year, but we’re also giving away one of the Beatles CD remaster box sets, a Tom Petty live anthology box set and a limited edition Woodstock lithograph. So we have four really valuable prizes this year,” he explained, going on to say that, this year, customers can enter all day and need not be present for the drawing, as they’ll be calling the winners on the following Monday.

“We also gave out some 10-percent-off handbills in advance, so we think that will get some people into the store. And we’re doing 500 goodie bags this year. Last year we did 435, so we’re hoping 500 will cover everyone this year - but you never know. Once they’re gone, they’re gone. They’ll have some good stuff in them. Some will even have full length vinyl and Cds - stickers and lots more.”

The major highlight of the day for many customers has become the huge amount of very limited edition releases labels offer for Record Store Day. Roets, a veteran music buyer, knows this and has been planning his strategy for weeks.

“Last year I only ordered through our main supplier. So, for this year, I’m doubling up my order by ordering from two different suppliers. A lot of the pieces are extremely limited, so I’m worried that we won’t get everything that we’re hoping to get,” he explained when I asked him about the much discussed collectors element of the yearly event.

“Take the Elvis Costello 7”, for example. I ordered six from each supplier, hoping that I get three or four total, you know. We don’t really know what all will come in, but since the quantities for a lot of this stuff is only 500 or so worldwide, we don’t expect to get everything that we order, but we certainly try to get it all.

“I’m getting several people asking about the limited edition releases already. I’m getting calls about all kinds of things that I wouldn’t have expected people would be into, so we’re getting what we can. There’s a Jimi Hendrix piece that I think will do very well, as well as a Rolling Stones 7” import and some Sonic Youth pieces. I’ve had a lot of people ask me about the Pantera vinyl releases and Modest Mouse’s Moon and Antarctica reissue.”

And so much more. You can download a complete list of this year’s special releases at www.recordstoreday.com. And while Wooden Nickel surely won’t be getting everything on the very deep list, they will have quite a bit. Keep in mind, of course, that everything released on Record Store Day becomes instantly collectible, due to the across-the-board low production quantities.

As it goes, our conversation found it’s way back to the true topic at hand: the struggling music industry. Roets remained positive, passing up every opportunity I gave him to vent.

“CD sales were down 15 percent nationally last year and we were up 12 percent total. I think that has a lot to do with vinyl. We’ve brought in so much new vinyl - especially at Time Corners,” he explained excitedly. “So that’s been key for us. Everything seems to be coming out in vinyl now; I couldn’t say that even a year ago. Downloading is still going up but I’ve noticed that it’s leveling off. I know that iTunes is charging more and people are more interested in vinyl now.”

Other things seem to be going right for Roets, the ever-savvy business man, too.

“Some good things are happening with the labels as well. Universal, for example, has dropped their list prices on a huge number of titles. So we’re able to sell a lot more product at the $10 level. And we’ve found that, with our clientele, that $10 ceiling is about as high as they want to go for most of their Cds,” he told me. “So that, along with used CD sales being so dominate in our stores, has kind of defined where we’re going with our stores. We’re doing as much at the $10 level as we can. We have the Pavement hits right now for $9.99; no way could that have happened a year ago. And we’re getting all kinds of things like that, so we can market at that level now because the costs are going down. And I’ve also been able to talk most of the local musicians to stay under the $10 mark, which has helped them quite a bit.”

As the times change, so does Wooden Nickel, and all of us music lovers are the better for it. Be sure to get out and show your appreciation and support on Record Store Day.

Written by G. William Locke