Something Old, Nothing New: Oak Park Record Store Owners Talk Business

With the economy still sputtering and technology taking over, one of the most affected businesses — that of the local record store — has reinvented itself.

According to Nielsen Soundscan, digital album sales are up and physical album sales are down, with digital music accounting for about 40 percent of all music sales in 2009.

So how are local record shops staying afloat? They say it's out with the new and in with the old. 

Alan Heffelfinger, owner of Oak Park Records, 179 S. Oak Park Ave., said he has basically stopped dealing with new releases altogether, instead shifting the store's focus to used albums. 

"Over time, just the way record stores have taken a hit in the last couple years, less and less people are buying CDs," Heffelfinger said. "It costs a lot of money [to sell new CDs] and the profit just is not there." 

(Heffelfinger concedes there is a limited market for new vinyl. The Arcade Fire's latest release, The Suburbs, sold out almost as soon as he put it on the shelf, for example.)

Over at Val's Halla Records, 239 W. Harrison St., owner Val Camilletti has made a career of collecting and selling used and rare albums.

"Selling new product in CD format is brutally horrifying right now," Camilletti said. 

That is why her store's crates are packed with vintage 45s, LPs, CDs and cassettes, and always will be. 

The same holds true for Chris Miller, owner of Chicago Digital, 905 S. Oak Park Ave.

"There is no margin on new products, so you would never buy new," Miller, who has run his store since 1985, said. "There is no point to it."

As it stands, Oak Park's three remaining record stores continue to draw in customers,  though Heffelfinger said business at his shop isn't as brisk at it was even five years ago. 

And even though the store's local customers are vinyl savvy, sustaining a record store in the era of the digital download presents a challenge, owners said. 

"When we close our stores, that's it for music stores in Oak Park," Miller said. "There might continue to be a space for people who sell strictly used, but selling new, you'd be toast."