Something Old, Nothing New: Oak Park Record Store Owners Talk Business
Digital downloading has taken over. How are Oak Park's record stores surviving?
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 …
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