Hip neighborhood for a record shop in Sacramento? (good, advice)

[Slothers]

Originally Posted by wburg

Oh yeah--would your new shop carry any noise (harshnoise/power electronics/etc)?

For sure. We are out of Chicago currently. Moderator cut: URL removed We love Chicago and the music scene is great so we'd keep our shop here, but thought a second shop somewhere warmer could be nice too. Winters are the worst here!! Not sure if we'll for sure do it, but we are checking out some cities in the west to see what our options are. Thanks for all your help!

[wburg]

One reason to consider Sacramento for a second shop if you're interested in noise:

Sacramento is home to the Norcal Noisefest, NORCAL NOISEFEST , one of the longest-running experimental music festivals in north America, and a fairly active noise/experimental scene. We do a lot of co-op events with noise musicians in the Bay Area, Los Angeles and Portland/Eugene. Several Chicago noise musicians (including Blake Edwards/VERTONEN, and IS) have come out to play at the Noisefest. Lots of shows during the rest of the year too, at various sites.

There are several local record labels: I think you're familiar with S-S Records, but Weird Forest (Weird Forest Records) is also worth a look.

Took a look at your site: NO BUNNY, LITTLE CLAW and THE OHSEES all played here recently. I get to Chicago once in a while--I may have to go raid your noise/experimental section next time I'm out that way!

[LaoTzuMindFu]

Originally Posted by Slothers

Checking out a few cities for a possible record store location. Sacramento seems like it's in need of a good indie store with a fine collection of vinyl. Can anyone tell me about some areas of like minded retail (coffee shops, comic/bookstores, unique boutiques) that have a concentration of artist/musician types and students. An area with a lot of hip people on bikes would be great. Hope you can help!

Didnt you just post this in the Los Angeles Forum a while ago? Did you change your mind about LA?

[Slothers]

Thanks for your post on both feeds, wburg. It's nice to have someone who knows Chicago to ask Q's. Do you know much about the Davis area. Seems super bike-tastic and their college station is pretty amazing! It's probably a little smaller than where we'd like to end up, but it seems pretty cool. Do you think there's a pretty good scene there?

[Slothers]

Originally Posted by DaBeez

Didnt you just post this in the Los Angeles Forum a while ago? Did you change your mind about LA?

Yes I did. We are visiting several cities on the west coast to try to find the best spot for a shop. We already have a flight booked to LA. Super excited to check everything out!

[wburg]

Slothers: Davis is a college town in the traditional sense: if you've been to cities like Ann Arbor or Madison (or, to a lesser extent, Rockford) Davis is a lot like that. Much of the economy is based around the college.

The indie music scenes in Davis and Sacramento are very, very intertwined. Because Davis is so expensive, a lot of UCD students live in Sacramento, especially in midtown. A ton of people who go to shows in Davis also go to shows regularly in Sacramento, and vice versa. KDVS is a fairly powerful signal, it can be picked up all throughout the Sacramento region until one gets to about Roseville (and then only because Nevada City's KVMR at 89.5 starts to step on their signal--although KVMR is kind of an amazing public radio station in its own right.)

There are a few regular music venues in Davis, but a lot of their music scene is based on house shows. There are already a couple of record stores in downtown Davis, trying to break that market would be kind of tough.

[Slothers]

Awesome, that's good to know. We'll be heading out that way in February so guess we'll check out all of these fine suggestions. Thanks everyone!!

[edwardius]

Originally Posted by wburg

Another choice might be Oak Park. It's an older neighborhood to the southeast of the central city, with a long reputation for crime and poverty. Because the rents are cheap, a lot of people who value cheap rent over personal safety (like hipsters in their twenties) are moving in that direction. It's about as safe as midtown Sacramento was 15-20 years ago. Look around Broadway and 34th-36th, there are spots like the Sacramento Bike Kitchen and the Brickhouse Gallery, a new cafe opening, and a few other spots reviving the neighborhood. It's not without its challenges and risks, but rents are probably cheaper and you'd be ahead of the curve.

I know a little bit about Chicago--Midtown along the J/K/17th/21st corridor is a bit like Chicago along N. Clark and Belmont, albeit on a much smaller scale (I'd just about kill for a place like The Alley here in Sacramento!) Oak Park is more along the lines of the south side of Chicago: formerly really dangerous, more recently only moderately dangerous.

It seems like most of the retail in that area needs some sort of subsidy to make it in that part of Oak Park. The grocery store development at Stockton and Broadway is subsidized by the city. Both BofA and US Bank have to be in Oak Park because of the Community Reinvestment Act. Kevin Johnson's 40 acres is set up as a non-profit that is getting donations from other developers. The Bike Kitchen has a volunteer staff and the rent was originally donated by the Brickhouse.

The people who have haven't gotten subsidies mostly have failed. The pet shop owned by the Korean family died a quick death and the new age book shop owned by the lesbian couple didn't survive long either. There are some beauty shops that cater to African American women that seem to be hanging on, but there still doesn't seem to be a strong enough local cluster of businesses to sustain any of them yet without some sort of outside help.

[Slothers]

Yeah, we really couldn't be in a neighborhood without support from music lovers. I feel like a lot of people in Chicago are living in Pilsen because it's cheap, but I don't think our shop would be doing as well if it were there. It'd be nice to get into a neighborhood before the cost of living is too high, but not at the risk of going out of business. It's such a gamble!

[wburg]

In that case, I'd shoot for someplace in or near midtown. If you look at a map of Sacramento, you'll note there is a square central city "grid", roughly C Street to W Street, from the river to 29th Street. That's the general area where you want to look. The aforementioned J Street/21st Street corridor is where you want to start, and fan out from there.