End of the Independent Record Store

There's this record store, right around the corner from my office, that seems to be going out of business. They haven't actually announced this yet, but starting in December, they had 25% off everything, then 30%, then 40%, then 50%. The people who worked there didn't really know what was going on, or wouldn't say, at any rate, but it seemed pretty obvious.

But then they went back to 25% for a few weeks, which made me think that maybe they'd raised enough cash with the fire sale to keep things going. But then, yesterday, I saw the "50% off" sign back up in the window, and I stopped by after work.

(It's only fair at this point to mention that I've spent more money there in the past three months than in the previous ten years. I feel like a vulture with headphones.)

Anyway, I picked up a few things (surprisingly, they'd gotten in more inventory, since the last time I looked), and when I checked out, the bill came out to a few bucks less than I had thought it would. I asked, as the girl behind the counter handed me my credit card slip, "Is it even more than 50% off?" Yes--she told me it's now 60% off.

So I reckon it's not going to be much longer now.

It makes me a little sad, the death of the independent record store (they're closing all over the country, it seems, thanks to big chain stores, internet retailers, and, especially, downloading). But at 60% off, I may still have to pick the bones of this one a little cleaner.