One year ago, if you were looking for a classical record in the Chicago area, you either dropped in at one of Rose Records` 10 outlets or took your chances at the neighborhood record store.
Today, the number of record stores eagerly pursuing the classical record buyer has increased several fold. In fact, the competition has been so intense that many of the highbrow stores have ventured into radio blitzes, splashy promotions, contest giveaways, in-store enticements and other forms of market warfare.
Skeptical? Consider the evidence:
– In May of 1986, Dallas-based Sound Warehouse launched a frontal assault on the Chicago area by opening the first of 10 stores, each with a richly stocked classical department.
– In September of 1986, Highland Park-based Ravinia Classical Music opened as one of the slickest classical operations around, offering an ample collection; an ambience you would more likely expect at a Gold Coast boutique; and a blitz of radio ads, contests, celebrity appearances and similarly bold promotions.
– In October of 1986, Rose Records-not to be outdone-bought out the Laury`s Records chain (picking up Laury`s four stores in the Loop, Evanston, Niles and Deerfield), and extended its Chicago-area total to 14, (5 in the city, 2 in Evanston, and others in Deerfield, Niles, Schaumburg, Vernon Hills, Downers Grove, Naperville and Madison, Wis.).
In addition, by the end of this year, Sound Warehouse will have opened
”a few more stores,” including one in Arlington Heights, according to its president, Terry Worrell; Rose Records will have opened ”a couple more suburban operations,” according to its general manager, Jim Rose.
And California-based Tower Records-which has 50 stores across the United States, Europe and Japan-is planning to jump into the fray at a time still to be determined.
Although each organization obviously has its own reasons for engaging in store wars, all cite a single factor that has shaken up the classical record scene in Chicago-and around the nation.
”The compact disc has been far and away the single most important element in all this incredible activity,” says Jim Rose, whose competition has multiplied severalfold in recent months.
”People who already were buying LPs are rebuilding their collections on CD; record collectors who had become disillusioned with collecting have become excited again about the new product; and people who couldn`t have cared less about collecting records a few years ago-especially classical records-have gotten hooked.”
No sooner did the new audience for compact discs develop (the number of pop and classical CD releases more than doubled from 1985 to 1986, according to the Recording Industry Association of America) than record retailers-national and local, chains and independents-leaped in to satisfy the demand. The result has been a sudden burst of activity among record stores, each fiercely attempting to stand out from the pack with high-profile promotions, in-store accouterments and various marketing gimmicks.
Surely the boldest-at least in terms of swiftness and breadth of attack-has been Sound Warehouse, which went public in May of 1985 (after 13 years as a privately held company), then set about engineering its Chicago campaign.
”We went public because we wanted to expand, and that`s exactly what we`ve done in Chicago,” says Sound Warehouse president Worrell, whose company had revenues of $150 million in the last fiscal year. ”Of course, we were well aware that Rose Records had a long-standing and excellent reputation in Chicago.
”But, ultimately, we felt that the Chicago area was not covered as well as it deserved to be covered.”
Thus between October and December alone, Sound Warehouse opened five stores in this area (to date, Sound Warehouse is represented with three stores in the city, and others in Downers Grove, Lombard, Schaumburg, Buffalo Grove, Niles, Evanston and Norridge). Half of the stores have a separate room devoted to classical records and hooked into its own sound system, so that customers can browse to the strains of Mozart rather than Motley Crue.
And the newest, biggest Sound Warehouse-a five-story building on North Rush Street in which the top floor deals exclusively in classical music-has revived an institution long forgotten by record stores and long lamented by consumers: the listening area, in which consumers can sample a record before purchasing it.
”It`s just another way to lure people into coming to our store,” says Steve LoRusso, Chicago-area manager for Sound Warehouse. ”We`ve built up a collection of compact discs that listeners are welcome to sample before deciding whether to purchase them.” And if our stock in any other CD is sufficient, we`ll even crack open one of those for auditions.”
It`s no surprise that Rose Records declines to comment on precisely how the sudden advent of Sound Warehouse has affected business, yet Jim Rose acknowledges that he has wasted no time in launching a counterattack.
”One of the primary reasons we bought the Laury`s Records chain was simply because of Sound Warehouse,” says Rose. ”We figured the Laury`s chain gave us a swift, easy way to pick up a large constituency, and we were right.”
Rose, like all the privately owned record retailers in Chicago, will not release any figures about the financial scope of his company and how much its footing changed as a result of the Laury`s buy-out. But he grants that ”we have had to take several measures to respond to places like Sound Warehouse.
”We`re in the process of putting our entire operation on computer, we`ve set up a central warehouse to serve all of our stores more efficiently.
”Most important, however, we`ve got the hometown advantage. Over the years, we`ve built up a huge staff of clerks who are sophisticated record collectors and know the repertoire inside and out. It is not easy to find people like that, and I am very skeptical that any outsiders can move in and immediately find enough help of that quality to fill a dozen stores.
”And remember, Chicagoans have been going to Rose stores since the `30s. To many customers, the outsiders are simply unknown commodities.”
Perhaps, but it`s intriguing to consider how quickly an unknown commodity can become a family friend. Consider Ravinia Classical Music, which opened all of 10 months ago as a partnership between Susan and Janie Harrison, sisters- in-law who decided-”on a lark,” says Susan-to go into the record business.
Thanks to a distinctly uninhibited approach to promotions (such as a contest in which customers picked the 55 ”greatest” symphonic pieces in hopes of winning a CD player and 55 CDs), in-store appearances by musical
”celebrities” (such as Chicago Symphony principal horn player Dale Clevenger) and a heavy dose of radio ads, Ravinia Classical Music has become a force in Chicago far beyond its single storefront might suggest.
”We weren`t trying to be crass or commercial with any of those promotions-we were just trying to have a little fun,” says Susan Harrison, a Chicago options trader at the Chicago Board of Options (Janie Harrison is a former cancer researcher who left academia to pursue the current venture).
The Harrisons decline to even hint at financial aspects of their enterprise, but they concede that some of their record prices are a shade higher than those of competitors.
”To some people, the atmosphere here is worth the extra price,” says Janie Harrison. ”It`s like the difference between shopping at Neiman-Marcus or T.J. Maxx-you get what you pay for.”
Indeed, Ravinia Classical Music could probably sell jewelry or designer evening gowns, judging by its sleek interior. The wall-to-wall carpeting, 6-foot video screen (for showing opera videos and the like), art works and sculpture have been meticulously chosen. The formula has worked so well that the Harrisons are considering opening up a clone in Hinsdale.
Balance the tony ambience of Ravinia Classical Music against the department-store breadth of Sound Warehouse and the long-time familiarity of Rose Records, and you have nearly all you could ask of a competitive classical record scene. Except, perhaps, for an appearance by Tower Records, which will likely shake up the local scene still more.
”Believe me, we`re going to do it,” says Stan Goman, Tower Records senior vice-president for retail. ”We don`t have a site yet, though we know exactly which area we want to move into. Of course, I can`t reveal that at this point.”
But the Chicago market is ripe for our kind of store.” No doubt, for Tower Records, a privately held company, has accrued a well-deserved reputation for passing along values on its CDs and LPs.
Obviously, the consumer benefits from all this competition. And apparently the retailers aren`t doing too badly either.
”How good is the record business in Chicago?” says one retailer who asks for anonymity. ”I wouldn`t even give you a hint, because if I did, there would be nine national chains here, instead of just two.”
