14The Tar HeelMonday, August 18, 1986
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Collectors
By JULIA WHITE
Staff Writer
Old Dionne Warwick albums or
Barry Manilow hit singles of the 70s
that haven't been on the turntable for
a while may be worth something to
a used record store, even if they aren't
included on the party tapes of today.
Chapel Hill has a large amount of
stores that buy. sell and trade
recordings. Back Door Records is in
downtown Chapel Hill and Fair
Exchange and Nice Price Books and
Records are in Carrboro. All three
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Willow Creek Shopping Center
Mon.-Fri. 10-7, Sat. 10-6
967-3378
NEW BALANCE AVIA
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Also Spring and Summer Fashions at
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153 E. Franklin St.
Layaways Invited
cash in on
buy. and sell used albums, cassettes
and singles and the latter two also
deal in books.
Back Door is about the size of a
walk-in closet but is full from top
to bottom of new and used LPs.
Tucked in under the stairs next to
Second Foundation Books in the
NCNB Plaza on the Rosemary Street
side, the store is usually crowded with
browsing students and town
employees. The walls are covered
with various artists' pictures, discs
and miniatures of their posters.
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BOAST BROOKS NIKE
CHAPEL HILL
old LPs, salvage vintage tunes
Kevin Maroney says the store is
competitive with larger record store's
prices, with new albums priced at
about $6.50. He said the store often
holds sales, such as the current one
with all albums and cassettes $1 off.
Some albums run much higher, such
as classic Frank Zappa records that
have been out of print for 20 years.
Maroney says the biggest requests
come for the Grateful Dead (Univer
stity culties, no doubt), and also for
David Bowie and Led Zeppelin. He
recommends Bowie, as one of his
favorites.
Nice Price Books and Records has
a large selection of albums in addition
to its large book collection. The store
is fairly new, having opened in mid
December of last year. Owner Bob
Cromwell said business is going well,
though it is experiencing a summer
slump like most town businesses. He
expects business to pick up when the
ArtSchool moves into the plaza.
The main attraction here for him
was the large univeristy crowd. He
says the location is good because
there is a large parking lot and people
can drive up to the door with their
boxes of albums.
Cromwell says the store will buy
Chapel Hill
967-5335
any album brought in, even the less
desirable ones. Like all dealers, he
said that the condition of the record
was important for resale. He usually
examines the recordings and then
gives the customer a proposed pur
chasing price.
Cromwell says that part of the fun
of shopping a used store is finding
the collector's items. He says that
many people do not even know what
they have in the way of value. The
store carries everything from jazz to
funk to Christian recordings.
The only thing he is short on is
compact discs. He says people that
usually spend the outrageous price
for the discs are going to invest in
something they like and keep them.
He has a few CD's, and expects the
price to drop in the next few years
as compact disc players become more
common.
The first used record store in the
area was the Fair Exchange, located
in the same plaza as Nice Price. It
is fairly large and every inch of space
is filled with albums and books. The
store has a very relaxed atmosphere;
customers are able to open a credit
account if they can't find enough
albums to exchange for theirs. The
system works on a two-for-one
exchange program with the customer
able to get one album for every two
they bring in. Albums can be sold
for roughly 70- percent of the two-for-one
exchange rate.
Remember family
or friends with
Special Occasion,
Get Well or
Memorial cards. .
Support
March of Dimes
Put your stereo in an oak or walnut wood j
veneer rack or lowboy cabinet at 50 i
OFF, while supply lasts
SALES AND SERVICE
OF COMPONENT AUDIO EQUIPMENT
1502 Smith Level Road
2 mi. south of The Villages 967-1063
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Greg Hills, a Fair Exchange
employee, told of finding an Billie
Holliday album in the store worth
over $500. He says that the store
carries many current albums and that
as soon as a recording is available
to the public it is usually available
in the store. The walls are covered
in concert shots, post cards and
posters.
The Fair Exchange has probably
the largest reggae collection available
with most of the recordings coming
from the owner's private collection.
Artists such as Bob Marley, Mickey
Dread and Yellowman are repres
ented. There is also a large blues
section, with B.B. King, Duke Elling
ton and Dizzy Gillespie gracing the
shelves.
Dennis Gavin, the owner, says that
his policy is that the customer is
always right. He said that the hardest
rart of the business is getting good
records since people often want to
hold on to their quality albums. He'
said he was amazed that the custo
mers have such good eyes whe
never a good recording comes into
the store it is snatched up quickly.
Gavin said that working in the
store has made his tastes quite
eclectic. He recommends Bob Dylan
in he same sentence with Wagner,
Lester Young and the Dead
Kennedys. Rock represents at least
half the store's business. The store
does well in every category, and has
done very well with folk and acoustic
music.
Selling used albums is a good way
to make a little extra cash, and also
a good way to get some unusual or
fav orite records. Buy some Tangerine
Dream. Get that "Their Satanic
Majesty's Request" album by the
Stones that has that neat hologram
like picture of Mick and friends on
the front. Get an old Mylon LeFevere
LP and revisit youth, or revisit the
former generation's youth.
,
J