[Thomas W. Bethe]

Around this area we were very lucky in that there were a number of small "mom and pop" record stores. They were full of hard to find CDs and the staff was very knowledgeable and friendly. They would even recommend new CDs based on what you had been buying in the past. Then Borders came in. They dropped their prices so low that the "mom and pop" stores could not compete. They also had an in store place where you could eat and you could browse the latest books while you were there. With in a year of Borders coming in almost all the "mom and pop" record stores closed up. Not too much after that the chain music stores closed up shop. It was not even a week after the last "mom and pop" store closed up Borders added about three to four dollars to all of their CD prices. Borders had enough money to sell their CDs at cost until they closed down all their competition and then raised them to MORE than the "mom and pop" stores were charging.

Now if you go to Borders the CD area looks like a vast wasteland and the CD bins are being used to house YOGA and Pilate's equipment for sale. The DVD area is growing and is basically taking over the whole CD area. The staff at the Borders store locally is NOT knowledgeable and if it is not really popular music have NO IDEA WHAT YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT.

One of my favorite local record stores was My Generation. They had a very knowledgeable staff and would special order CDs for you. They also had a lot of CDs that you could not find anywhere else including CDs of local bands. The guy who owned the store was NOT a good businessman but one heck of a good source of knowledge about the recording industry and about particular CDs and their availability. He lasted for a couple of years AB (after Borders) and then just could not compete any more and went under. It was a sad day when they closed their doors.