Pa&eA6_____________________________________________
^urtlanÙ © b serü er_________________________ March 7, 2007
Record Retailer
Takes a Last Stand
con tin u ed
fro m Front
decade ago. when retailers like Best
Buy. W al-M art and T arget began
selling CD s so cheaply that they
d id n 't turn a profit, but brought
custom ers into the store for higher
priced items.
A Beyonce fan could head to a
“big box" store for her new C D to
save a few dollars.
“ W e saw a decrease in business
but we m anaged," C urrier said.
"Then dow nloading cam e along.”
T he y o u n g est g en e ratio n o f
music fans are grow ing up w ith CD
burners and MP3 players. C om ­
pared with consum ers 4 0 years ago,
they are much more accustom ed to
ow ning ju st the song itself, leaving
room for other technological pur­
suits.
“ M usic is still a big part o f
people’s lives, but not in the way it
used to be,” C urrier said. “ In the
past, the younger generation were
a part o f record retail stores, but
they quit going because o f the many
other things in their lives, com put­
ers, text m essaging, video gam es.
Not only are we com peting with
ways to distribute m usic, but with
how people spend their tim e."
So M usic M illennium has found
a way to cater to both old and new
school custom ers. T he eastside
store, a split-level and cavernous
building, still attracts loyal custom ­
ers w ho hunch over the bins, flip­
ping through thousands o f titles.
But to the left and right o f them are
hundreds o f non-music ite m s-retro
candy, stickers, incense, w allets
and toys. Lots o f toys.
"L ifestyle item s” is what th ey ’re
called in the business, toys d e­
signed for older kids and adults.
T he store has alw ays stocked such
items, but they are beginning to
play a larger role in the inventory.
"W e have these weird little key
chains that are m ade by a fam ily in
Thai land," said store buyer Carolyn
Christ. "A nd we have action figure
com ing soon. Tofu the Z om bie.”
T he cutesy tofu doll has a chunk
o f the health food in his head, which
keeps him from eating people. Per­
fectly w eird and perfectly suitable
for M usic M illennium ’s custom er
base.
“ A nd you c a n ’t d o w n lo ad a
w eird toy,” noted Christ.
She said in the year sh e 's been a
buyer they’ve tripled their volum e,
and rearranged enough tim es that
the floor space dedicated to lifestyle
item s has tripled as well. The nov­
elty aspect attracts people w ho have
com e in for music, but often return
to buy the sour cream and onion-
flavored Crick-ettes (they real ly are
bugs).
But toys, candy and edible in­
sects only account for only about
5 percent o f total sales.
“I d o n ’t think it’s going to be
crucial,” she said, “people will al­
w ays be loyal to the store, but we
need som ething to keep the other
people com ing in too.”
D on V an C leav e, p resid e n t o f
the C oalition o f In d ep en d en t M u­
sic S tores, (o f w hich M usic M il­
lennium is a m em b er) said m any
m em ber reta ile rs in the co a litio n
photo by S ean O ’C onnor /T he
P ortland O bserver
Albums still fill the racks at the independent Music Millennium store on East Burnside, but other products increasingly take more
shelf space, filling a void by fewer customers.
are d iv e rsify in g th e ir in v en to ry
but the m usic rem ain s the cen tral
fo cu s.
“ W e’re am azed with an unbe­
lievable uptake in vinyl," Van Cleave
said. “I have stores reporting that
as m uch as 20 percent o f their sales
w ere vinyl. A lot o f kids want that
bigger artw ork.”
It is th is type o f cu sto m e r -
lo y a lists to th e c o m m o d ity o f
m usic - that keep the in d e p en ­
d en ts aliv e. W hen it co m es to it.
th ey are p u rists w h o a r e n 't p e r­
su ad ed by the in stan t g ra tific a ­
tion te ch n o lo g y offers.
“I d o n ’t dow nload,” said east
side M usic M illennium em ployee
Tony Lopez. “It’s kind o f cool but
it defeats the purpose o f the record
h u n t.”
M usic ju n k ie em ployees make
friends with shoppers, w ho often
shop there for life.
iri’i JIorHanb (Obseruer Established 19.70
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" I ’ll get to know regulars on a first
name basis,” Lopez said. “W e’re
sharing music, not just selling it to
them.”
As long as there are regulars there
will probably always be a place for
stores like Music Millennium. It is
only a matter o f how they will oper­
ate.
Scott Kuzma, ow ner o f the inde­
pendent Portland store Everyday
Music, said his store keeps a steady
clientele o f serious music fans.
“ But their average age is getting
older and older,” he said. “I'm sure
w e'll disappear in the future.”
Currier, who has considered a simi­
lar scenario many times, already has
his Plan B.
“ I always thought this would make
a great restaurant,” he said. “ I’d still
call it Music Millennium and we could
reminiscence about the days when
there were albums and C D s.”
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photo by R aymond R endi . eman /T he P ortland O bserver
Northeast Portland business owner Katie McNamara puts a
multicultural look on her Nice Cubes frozen organic baby food
products.
has a personality apart from any
con tin u ed
fro m Front
racial stereotype. She adds, "I don't
based nonprofit C om m ercial Alert see sassy as a negative w ord at all;
says. "H ow ever as much as we've it's a w ord for som eone with a lot o f
w anted to, we have not done much flavor to their character."
W anting to adopt a child from a
on com panies that use race to sell
country with local ties, M elda went
their products."
N ic e C u b e s o w n e r K a tie to Ethiopia under the guidance o f
M cN am ara contends that it is not A lem G ebrehiw ot, w ho ow ns the
race, but aesthetic considerations Q ueen ofSheba restaurant on MLK.
"People m ay asso ciate sassy
that help sell her baby food prod­
w ith som ething they shouldn't, so
ucts.
"Honestly, some o f the skin tones they may not have selected the
o f the babies w ent with the colors right term, "Gebrehiwot says.
He em phasizes the im portance
on the box; this little girl had som e
sass to her, so she had to go with o f Nice C ube's dedication to local
and organic principles as opposed
the Sassy Squash."
T he g irl's w hite m o th er, Kerri to Fred M eyer.
"W e co n su m e Fred M ey er's
M elda o f north P o rtlan d , met
M cN am ara thro u g h a C raig slist products when we don't have any
p o stin g that so u g h t baby m o d ­ choice," he says.
At the sam e tim e, he argues that
els.
M elda agrees that her adoptive a blatant use o f "m inority pictures
daughter from Ethiopia. M cscret, is using the com m unity."
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