Article On Home Of The Hits Closing.

The Buffalo News ran an article about Home Of The Hits closing in the December 5th edition of the paper. Read on.

-Larry

Home of the Hits can’t compete in age of music downloading.

24-year-old business will be closing its doors.

By JONATHAN D. EPSTEIN
News Business Reporter
12/5/2006

Home of the Hits, a longtime alternative music store on Elmwood Avenue, is closing its doors in the coming weeks, a victim of the electronic age of music downloading.

Owner Jennifer Preston said the 24-year-old business isn’t making enough money anymore to stay open, and she’s grown “kind of tired of the haul” of running it.

She said the store at 1105 Elmwood Ave. had been able to compete well for years against brick-and-mortar competitors, even Best Buy and Wal-Mart Stores, but “the record business has become so difficult in the last four or five years.”

“It’s really been a banging-your-head-against-the-wall kind of experience lately,” said the 48-year-old owner. “We still have a lot of customers and do a good business, but with the price of everything going up, it’s not enough to make ends meet anymore.”

She said the store could even compete against Internet sales, since buyers still had to wait for delivery. But with the ability to download songs directly from the Internet, high school- and college-age customers just weren’t coming into the store anymore.

“They don’t buy things anymore,” she said. “They actually laugh at the idea of buying a CD. “Why would you pay for music?’ ”

Music also has to compete with many other entertainment choices, such as games, gadgets and even text-messaging, she added. And libraries, with their collections available for free, have become another competitor.

Preston is now having a going-out-of-business sale, offering 10 percent off her inventory of about 6,000 items, including records, new and used CDs, T-shirts, and DVDs. She said the discount would likely increase next week, but wouldn’t get too high because she can still return many items to pay off her suppliers.

“I’ve got a lot to get rid of,” she said.

Home of the Hits is the latest retailer in the area of Elmwood near Forest to experience change, citing local business conditions. Don Apparel, a nearby vintage clothing store, closed a month ago, and Mondo Video moved to Main Street with its niche of alternative and specialty films.

Preston said one problem for her customers has been the lack of adequate parking, and the risk of getting a $30 parking ticket, which turns a $15 CD into a $45 purchase. “People don’t want to go to the trouble of driving and parking, especially on Elmwood,” she said. “Whether they consciously do it or not, it’s always in the back of their mind. I truly think that this is an issue. It certainly doesn’t help.”

Retailers and residents in the area have also complained that a combined hotel and retail complex planned for the corner of Elmwood and Forest avenues would harm the neighborhood, uprooting some businesses. They even filed a lawsuit last summer seeking to stop the Elmwood Village Hotel project.

Both Don Apparel and Mondo Video would have been dislodged by the hotel. But Preston said that had nothing to do with her decision, and the hotel plan has since stumbled because of deed restrictions that were discovered on the property.

Preston started Home of the Hits in 1982, after working for several years at a nearby business, Play It Again Sam, that was founded in 1976. She bought the owners out and moved it three doors down to its current location.

Business grew and peaked at about $500,000 in annual sales and four employees in the mid-90s, when “everything was happening in music.” But it’s been “working its way down since then,” she said. Sales are now down 40 percent, and she has only two employees, besides herself.

She hopes to close the business by the end of the year, although she doesn’t think it’s feasible. She’ll then try to sell the building, although she’s also open to selling the entire business if “a person with younger energy” could “do something with it.”

In the meantime, Preston said she’s not sure of her future plans, but said she enjoys retail and customer service. “Business is fun, and people, too. I can’t help but help people when I’m in other stores,” she said.