Barry’s customer: Hi, do you have the song “I Just Called to Say I Love You”? It’s for my daughter’s birthday.
Barry: Yeah, we have it.
Barry’s customer: Great, great, can I have it?
Barry: No, no, you can’t.
Barry’s customer: Why not?
Barry: Well, it’s sentimental, tacky crap. Do we look like the kind of store that sells “I Just Called to Say I Love You”? Go to the mall.
In the movie High Fidelity, Jack Black’s character, Barry, is a record-store clerk who’s not shy about dispensing his personal opinions. To put it another way, you’re not going to find Barry if you shop for music on iTunes.
Mike Barnes, owner of Aboveground Records in Edgartown, will never be confused with Barry. You’d be hard-pressed to find a nicer guy. But what Mike and Barry have in common is their passion and deep knowledge of music, and ultimately it’s the reason that stores like Aboveground are able to survive, and in some cases even thrive in today’s digital age.
“We’re not appealing to the casual fan,” explains Mike, “but rather to the collector – someone who has to own something tangible. People like to come in here and dig around; they like the thrill of the hunt. Plus they like the human interaction. That’s what makes us different from buying online.”
But personal service is not the only advantage of shopping at Aboveground; Mike works hard to compete on price as well. “It’s very hard for me to match the prices for new CDs being offered online,” he explains. “In some cases they sell for cheaper than what I can buy them for, so one way we compete is by offering used CDs and albums. I try to sell used for half of what it would cost online.”
Mike has also seen vinyl make a big resurgence. “Right now about half of my stock is records. Some customers like the sound – it’s warmer – but the big thing is, I can sell used records for a lot less than CDs.”
Similarly, the video store Island Entertainment in Vineyard Haven faces strong online competition from the likes of Netflix and Amazon, and sees the human interface and expertise as a way to set itself apart.
Owner Anne Evasick remembers the day actor Gabriel Byrne showed up at the store: “He came in with a list of pretty obscure movies he wanted. I went up and down the aisles and pulled every movie for him, and when he had a sack of movies, he looked at me and said, ‘I’ve never seen anyone do that before without a computer.’ He said that we were the best video store in the world.”
Store manager Jamie Alley is a walking Internet Movie Database. “I got a call one night from a woman in New Jersey,” Jamie recalls. “She was trying to settle a dinner bet and she wanted to know what the World War II Alan Ladd movie was where his table manners gave away that he was a spy....I told her it was O.S.S.”
A no-brainer for Jamie.
Not only do Anne and Jamie know about esoteric movie details, chances are the store has what you’re looking for – with around 25,000 titles, including many classics and foreign art films, shelves with “Staff Favorites,” and featured seasonal collections.
Anne explains that Island Entertainment, unlike Aboveground, doesn’t sell a lot of merchandise, with the exception of Jaws. “During the summer,” she explains, “we might as well just change the name of the store to Jaws. We sell a lot of copies and can’t keep the rentals on the shelf.”
Which brings up the Vineyard Factor. Both stores acknowledge that being located on Martha’s Vineyard can be an advantage. “We’re lucky to live in a place where there’s a literate film population,” explains Anne. “Summer people are also more likely to rent films.”
Mike agrees: “Visitors don’t always bring their computers and their music so they come here to buy. They also tend to have a little more money.”
But the big thing that allows both Aboveground Records and Island Entertainment to successfully compete against growing online competition comes down to one word: passion. Or as Barry says: “I never thought I’d say this, but can I go work now?”
