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I own a successful indie record shop in Chicago and am thinking of either relocating the shop or opening a second branch in a warmer city. Can anyone point me in the direction of a hip (or up-and-coming) city with a healthy art/music scene. I'm looking for possibly a west coast city that's close (or within an hour's drive) of beaches or nice lakes and outdoor activities. I'd LOVE a bike friendly city with nice architecture, but it isn't a must. I like San Francisco, but there's already a ton of GREAT shops in all the perfect neighborhoods. We sell a lot of punk rock, psych rock, avant garde and experimental music and hardly any top 40 so it'd need to be in an area with good support for independents. I really like Chicago for the biking and architecture, but I HATE winter (6 months here!!) and there's a serious lack of greenery.
My first though is that you should open it in a place with an up and coming art scene. If you go to a place already saturated in the arts, then youre just another record shop, not THE record shop. Now I'm not too fond of Albuquerque, but that would actually be a good place. We are always looking for unique little record shops, but only ever find Hastings Entertainment stores. The only shop I know of is Natural Sound. The local music venues like the Launch Pad and the Sunshine Theatre are usually more than willing to advertise new shows at such a place an a new indi record store, giving both places more exposure. Of course, no beaches though. From what I hear, Denton TX might be a good place as well.
We've thought of expansion and LOVE Chicago, but if we decide to move we'd have to figure out if we'd keep the shop here (which we're leaning towards) and have employees take over. I'm not sure we would want to keep an eye on more than one shop if we end up being out of state. I've never been to San Deigo. Is there a strong art/music scene there. Any particular neighborhoods? I've always thought of it as a military port city. Thanks for your help!
I would recomend selling your business in Chicago and move to a warmer region that you can afford that could support another record store. Just curious but what is an indie record shop ? I never heard that term before.
Portland, Oregon has a mild winter and people can ride there bikes all over. Pacific Ocean, Waterfalls, Rivers and more are all within driving distance.
Last edited by JerichoHW; 07-29-2008 at 04:20 PM..
I was just in Savannah and found (much to my chagrin) that there was not an actual record shop in the entire city. Maybe I missed it, but I looked pretty hard. You would sure corner the market. The city is flat and mostly compact, so it would be bike friendly in that way. The beach is fifteen miles out of the city. Some of the greatest architecture around.
Houston, Atlanta or Charleston SC would be great choices.
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