Relocating to Staunton, question about opening a store (Charlottesville, Harrisonburg: for sale, apartments)

[blondon704]

My family and I will be moving with our 4 children to Staunton so my 2 sons can attend the school for the deaf. My wife and I visited the other day and fell in love with the town. I'm wanting to open an independent record store when we come up there and I'd like to know from the locals who live there if that's a good market? Is there any independent record stores in Staunton?? What's the music scene up there; rock, country, metal?? When I first open the store it will be mainly used vinyl and cd's. I'd like to specialize in hard rock, indie rock that kind of stuff however that may change due to what the people like in the town. I know with record stores closing down nationwide all the time it can be a tricky business to start that's why I'd like to get a general idea of if I'd be moving my family up there to quickly go broke or be able to put food on the table. Any advice or help will be greatly greatly appreciated.

[CAVA1990]

I would suggest adding band posters, tour tee shirts and other items that would appeal to that type of customer.

[emsman]

You may have seen Crossroads CD& tapes when you visited, that's the major record & CD store in the area. They have 4 or 5 stores around the Staunton/Waynesboro/Lexington area and specialize in used and hard to find stuff. They have had a rough go the past few years do to lower CD and record sales and have expanded to DVD's and a little sports stuff to survive.

I'm not sure how a small record store will do with operating costs nowadays, it will be tough. If your looking downtown you have extra costs w/ the downtown delevopment corporation. The have programs to help small business' downtown start up, check the City of Staunton website.

Welcome to the area, your boys will do fantastic at VSDB!!! Great school and resource for the deaf and bling community.

[ShadowBat]

I echo what has been said already, cd/record stores everywhere are experiencing hard times and I don't foresee it getting any better. However with vinyl becoming popular again, at least for now with the hipsters you might be able to swing it, but only if you network and advertise well out side of Staunton; to places like Harrisonburg, Charlottesville and beyond.

As for the music scene, it all goes here. There have been some local acts ranging from extreme metal to r&b to bluegrass. I'm originally from Staunton and hate country and am a fan of 90's hard rock/grunge and metal. Bands like Soundgarden, Alice in Chains, Nirvana, to My Dying Bride, Paradise Lost and Opeth etc. I have a 1,000 cd's so there's too many to list, but you get my point.

But in either case welcome to the area and if you do open up a shop, I'll do my best to come check it out!

[blondon704]

Thanks so much for the feed back, very informative. The insight definitely shines a light on what I've been debating. Sounds like the shops in Staunton are in the same boat as the one I manage now.

As far as neighborhoods go, what are some of the safest/nicest? We went through College Circle and saw alot for sale through there, they were nice houses, kind of close together though. Any nice subdivisions anyone can recommend for our next trip up?

[trends]

Your idea is terrible. It's a declining sector nationwide, a declining region generally, and an oversaturated market locally. No new business in this market in this location (and most others) is going to spend a day in the black. But the point is moot because no banker would consider this a venture appropriate to finance.

[blondon704]

Thanks trends, I know in my area and the store I run now it's steady but we've had to start other ventures to stay afloat. I've been to many other record stores in different states and some are doing great, and some are struggling terribly. I'm not familiar with VA, especially Staunton so that answers my question for that area, so I can put that to bed.

[emsman]

College Circle area is nice, just stay from the middle back. There are some low rent apartments on the South end near Augusta St. that seem to attract the police often. I like Green Spring Valley, it's behind Wendy's off Greenville Ave. (ritchie blvd, fisher circle, geoffery st. to help you search), it's well established w/ houses from the 70's to new construction available, they still have new lots up for sale. It's a short, straight drive to VSDB and close to everything.

The older houses off Coalter St.(e. beverly st., berkely st.) are beautiful also and right next door to VSDB.

[emsman]

Also, if your looking for work, I know there is a need for more sign language interperters(?) in the area. I work at the hospital and we never seem to have one when we need one. The police dept. also uses volunteers for that sort of thing. You could probably contract yourself out w/ local agencies if your fulent.

[blondon704]

Thanks emsman, our next trip up we will definitely have to scout that area. I know there's gonna be crime anywhere but the safer the better so that information is greatly appreciated!! The interpreter would be right up my wife's alley. I'll let her know about that. She's very fluent. Thanks again for the information!!