Wednesday, March 05, 2008

Triple Fuck the Rev

Man, I am so pissed off at Record Revolution in DeKalb.
About a month ago I started to put together the Spring '08 WILT mix. Right now most of my music collection is packed up in a series of boxes, so I'm only using my "new" CDs that I've purchased in the last six months. It's a pretty good mix, but I decided that it could use a few more sources, so I went through a couple the 7DA boxes and cherry-picked about 25 used CDs to trade in for some new stuff. All the discs were in excellent condition (mostly unplayed promos), and were all in-demand titles that should sell pretty quickly (emo-core, pop-punk, indie-rock, etc.). I made a point to pick out the ones that I thought that I could get the most in trade for.
A few weeks ago I stopped by the Rev on Saturday - They had up a sign that they had closed early. Fuck. No big deal - I'll just head back tomorrow.
The next day I was there right when they opened - First one in. Bobo greeted me with "We don't buy discs on Sunday."
I just turned straight around and walked out befuddled.
WHAT THE FUCK?!?!
I know that the bread and butter of record stores are used CDs - You buy 'em (on average) for 2 or 3 bucks a disc, and sell 'em for 7 or 8 dollars. Used CDs are 200% profit. On new CDs and vinyl you're lucky to break even with over-head. To not buy good used CDs at any given opportunity is fucking insane.
I cruised around with the box of CDs in the back of my Jeep for another week and was driving past the Rev on Friday when I decided to give it one last shot. The kid behind the counter told me that only the owner can buy CDs and that If I wanted to sell back my CDs that I would have to make an appointment.
Fuck that. I was just trying to support the local scene, and kept getting jerked around. I hadn't shopped there since 1996, and can't imagine any reason for doing so ever again. I'm amazed that they are still in business - Give it a couple of years. They're fucking doomed, and as soon as they go tits-up I'll be right there to do a celebratory jig in front of the vacant storefront.

Anyway, I'm heading up to Reckless Records in Chicago this afternoon to trade in my box 'o' discs for some new stuff (I sure do hope that I don't need an appointment to sell used CDs there). So the new WILT should be ready sometime in the next week or so. If you want to complain about the delay, feel free to call up Record Rev at (815) 756-6242.
Bastards.

3 comments:

Chris B. said...

Easy tiger. It's true that Cerny does have to be there to approve any buying of CDs (more specifically, writing of checks). In fairness, they actually pay pretty well for used stuff. All you have to do is call ahead to be certain you'll get paid.

Also, I've heard rumors that your wishes will come true this year (before you even posted this stuff). I normally wouldn't care except for the plight of Bobbo. I can't imagine anything good happening once there's no Rev for him to run.

edP said...

Why didn't you stay closer to home and go to Kiss the Sky Records? They've got their shit together.

DC Liar said...

I was up in Chicago for the Pogues show with Santi.