[78-L] Shopping in places other than record stores^

[Michael Biel]

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Re: [78-L] Shopping in places other than record stores^
From: "Steven C. Barr" <stevenc at interlinks.net>
====
> Cutouts/remainders, that was the treasure; back then there were many
> more general merchandise stores, discount and otherwise and most all of
> them carried some kind of records.

Of course what I discussed a few days ago in this thread were
"Supermarket" records that were NEW, and were not distributed to record
stores and were not listed in Schwann.  Cutouts are another aspect, and
in the mid 60s I worked for a One-Stop Rack-Jobber record distributor. 
We sold all sorts of cut-outs and remainders, as well as new in-print
records.  We had a warehouse of a million cut-outs and I spent my lunch
hours and coffee breaks rummaging thru the aisles that were way in the
back.  A couple of weeks ago at the Archive record sale in NYC I came
across a record with our price sticker on it -- 99 cents.  It was a
dollar now.  

I regularly stopped by Woolworth when I lived in Evanston Ill in 68-72,
and got a wealth of stuff there.  Little by little I got all but four of
the Bing's Hollywood set there.  In January 1970 Decca cut out over half
of their LP catalog, leaving me with a list of at least 50 records I was
looking for.  When visiting Birmingham Ala around 1972 I came across a
downtown department store which had a GAZILLION of those Deccas at three
for a dollar.  I got about half of my want list right there.  When I
moved to Columbia Missouri in 1972 there were two new shopping centers
at the edge of town across the highway from each other.  One had a
K-Mart and the other had a Woolco and both had large cut-out bins and a
steady customer.  

But there were also record stores which had great cutouts.

On my first trip to Budapest Hungary in 1988 I came across a great
record store that had Hungarian and Soviet cut-outs.  Drilled and
cut-corner albums!  In-print stuff was only about 75 cents, but this
stuff was a dime to a quarter.  There also were a lot of very early
Soviet LPs from the 50s, usually a dime.  (The Forint was exchanging the
dollar at 50 cents that year, so these records were 5 or 10 forints, new
ones about 150 forints.)  I filled two suitcases with records on that
trip!

In the early 60s in NYC The Record Hunter on 5th Avenue had some very
high class cut-outs.  The Capitol of the World imported Odeon
paste-overs were remaindered there.   When they opened up the enlarged
store they had an 88 cents sale and next to the stairs leading to the
new balcony, they had a wall of dealer stock 10-inch RCA Victor LPs.  At
least three copies of every record.  There was a gold stripe painted
along the spines.  This was around 1963 and I was still in high school
so was only able to afford about ten dollars worth.  I could have spent
a hundred.  But where the hell had these records been sitting since
1956?????????  

Around that time Sam Goody opened an annex store for cut-outs across the
street from the main store on W 49th Street, and it was always my first
stop on every trip I made into NYC.  And when I moved to Evanston in 68
I discoverd the second floor of Rose Records was all cut-outs and
remainders.  It was my first stop every trip I made to the Loop the next
four years, and any time I passed thru Chicago.  

Mike Biel   mbiel at mbiel.com 

 A store called Arlan's (the best of
> them all in this town for discounted records) had a good share of the
> Riverside catalog, 3/$1.00 plus hundreds more titles on Atlantic, Sphere
> Sound, Epic, etc. Cleanhead with Cannonball, T-Bone Walker, Big Joe
> Turner, Mose Allison, Jr. Mance, etc. Their cutouts section was larger
> than most record stores were, and records were just a small part of what
> they carried. Fabulous music at prices my lunch money could afford.
> ==========
> We have in the UK what I call "rock 'n' roll" stores whose proprietors
> think they know about jazz. The LP (never 78s) stuff they carry is the
> blandest you can imagine (Brubeck, Oscar Peterson, British Trad on
> labels like Marble Arch, Pye Golden Guinea, etc). If they carry anything
> that looks half-interesting, it usually means that it's the right label,
> but the wrong artist or the right artist, but the wrong label!
>
The Canadian "Dollarama" chain regularly features CD's that I suspect
are "cut-outs"...along with classical-music CD's which are sourced from
"One wots not?!"

Great music, but I have NO freaking idea from what it is/was copied...?!
I'll leave the details of the classical reissues to those whose
interests 
lie
in that direction...?!

Steven C. Barr 

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