Kimley’s Reviews > Record Store Days: From Vinyl to Digital and Back Again > Status Update

I hear ya, Kimley. When I was younger I worked in an independent record store for years, and it was my favorite job ever.

Right!!! Too bad the pay was crap and oh yeah, they don't exist anymore... Damn!

So far this book is a real love letter to record stores of yore. It's a fun read but definitely only for us music geek types.

We're going to have to meet at some point. I have a feeling we would be totally BFFs!

The pay was such crap...when I got paid. If we wanted anything from the store we had to write it in a book and it was deducted from our pay. My rate was something like $4.25 an hour, but I bought so much product I would hardly get paid. Of course I didn't mind.

I am still friends with my former manager to this day. We used to go to lots of shows when I lived in Boston. Ah, nostalgia.

I would love to meet you one day. I think we'd totally hit it off!

Michelle, what's the name of the store where you worked? Maybe it's in this book!

I'm still friends with my old manager too (the writer of this book in fact!) I'm seeing him next weekend along with a bunch of the ol' record store gang when he does a book signing. I'm actually still really good friends with several of the people I worked with back then. Record stores just attract a good crowd!

It was called Inner Light Records (the owner was a huge Beatles fan) and it was in Manchester, NH. It was so small that I can't imagine it would be referenced in the book, but that would be so surreal if it was.

Well, I don't see it in the index. Sounds like it was a fun store.

Bummer. It was so much fun. We were a small group with hardly any turnover. I used to grab anything that came in with the 4AD label. Strawberries (did you have those?) were our main competition.

I have got to read this book. I'm adding it to my 'to read' shelf now.

Ooh, yeah, 4AD and Factory were almost always worth a listen! Not to mention well-designed covers.

Don't think we had any Strawberries in SoCal.

Did someone say 4AD...?

I bought everything I could find put out by them. I remember the import 4AD CDs sold for (gulp) $25 each around here...

So true - the imports were always more expensive. The 4AD covers were the best.

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Don't even get me started on some of the customers we had. One guy used to buy the large cardboard stand-ups. If we'd get a new one he'd come in about once a week asking when the owner would be ready to sell it. We used to joke that he had a bunch of them around his dinner table at home. "Tanya, please pass the potatoes."

Oh boy, I've got tons of good customer stories... Being in West L.A. we also got an interesting mix of famous people so I've got some good stories there too. We'll have to get together for drinks and swap stories at some point.

And then there was the time a guy who I was helping to find a Whispers record then pulled a sawed off shot gun on Tosh and robbed the store. Good times!

Holy.Crap. Our store was boring compared to that. I have to ask: Where did he hide the shot gun? Trench coat?

Since we were in Manchester, NH, no one famous ever came to the store. Well, Skid Row did an in-store appearance, but that was about it. Irritating people, by the way.

If I am ever in the Los Angeles area or you are in the San Francisco area, we will have to meet and swap stories.