Another record store closes, and that's unfortunately not a
headline anymore in today's business world. Prolific online sales and free
music file-sharing practices, along with ubiquitous portable music players that
don't require hard copies of the music, have served to make the standard record
store model obsolete. What store can afford all of the costs of overhead and
still expect to profit? Rent, insurance, labor, etc. are no match for the
inexpensive website that offers quick downloads in the convenience of home. So,
like many others before it, Easy Street Records' Queen Anne branch in Seattle
is shutting down after 18 January 2013. They are not, however, shutting down
for the typical reasons.
After what was described as a very successful 2012 for them,
a year when they were "named King County Small Business of the Year and
Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn proclaimed Dec. 20 Easy Street Records Day,"*
they are closing. They are closing not because of poor sales but because
the landlord, Diamond Parking Service, has accepted an offer from Chase Bank of
several times the rent Easy Street currently pays. On the surface this seems
like a sensible business decision on the part of the landlord, and it's hard to
argue with that. It would be difficult to turn down that kind of money, and I'm
sure Diamond Parking Service is a business like any other--operated with the
express intention of generating profit, possibly even for stockholders. Easy
Street occupies an admittedly valuable location at the corner of Mercer and
First that is bustling with lots of pedestrian traffic. However, by Diamond
Parking choosing Chase over Easy Street they are not only putting profit first,
they are putting a multinational corporation over a local business. Diamond
Parking is also a locally-based, family-owned business that has made a
conscious decision to squeeze out another local, thriving business that is a
key part of a busy area.
This is a process that is destroying neighborhoods and
business districts nationwide, a process that robs these areas of their
"heart and soul," erasing local flavor and hurting local business people.
According to Easy Street owner Matt Vaughan, "There's a commercial
real-estate boom happening here in Seattle and for guys like myself it becomes
too difficult to consider being in locations like the one I have here."*
As every local aspect of a region disappears, it is not merely a “sign of the
times,” a simple hallmark of inevitable change. It is the very eradication of
personality and humanity in favor of the kind of corporate (and, indeed,
personal) greed that is ruining many aspects of life in America. It’s the
reason so many cities and towns look nearly identical to one another now. If
people and local governments continue to allow this to happen, we’re doomed in
more than personal ways like losing a favorite record store.
Easy Street Records' Queen Anne location, to me, picks up
where the demise of Tower and the demise of many smaller, independent stores
left off. They have the relative size to handle an enormous variety of music,
decent back catalogue, and a record collection to complement their cd stock, as
well as an impressive magazine selection and other merchandise. The store has a
casual, colorful atmosphere where one can browse through the store while
listening to the latest frequently new and exciting something-or-other. They
also have a brilliant art staff that helps give it the classic,
cluttered/beautiful record store feel. They are a successful business beating
the odds against which the survival of all records stores are stacked. And
Diamond Parking has sold them out, and has sold Seattle out. Now what are you
going to do about it?
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