Ear X-tacy is not closing, at least not yet. John Timmons, owner of Louisville's Ear X-tacy record store, stood behind a bouquet of microphones at the Ear X-Tacy press conference he called for with red, glossy eyes and two boxes of tissues in his hand. He threw one out to the audience and kept the other for himself. No one seemed to know what he was going to say but it couldn't be good.
"I don't want to close the store,"
Timmons recognized, though, that the store is no longer his, but "the people who built it and support it", namely its employees and customers, and said he will do anything he can to keep it open as long as we want it. He is trying to renegotiate his lease in order to stay in the same location. He recognizes that he might have to relocate but does not want to move the store from Bardstown Road, despite offers for reduced and free rent at other locations. He is also taking into consideration any constructive ideas to improve business.
Ear X-Tacy Press Release:
What the conference amounted to was a wakeup call for the Louisville community to support local businesses. "I just decided to put a face on what's happening here in Louisville," Timmons said. He left the responsibility to his customers to keep the businesses they value afloat by patronizing them with their business instead of box stores and online outlets. He admits that the economy is hitting everyone hard but thinks the only way to improve this is for people to get a little more loose with spending money at local businesses.
Besides the slump in the economy pushing to shut their door, Ear X-tacy also must compete with the box stores that can sell music at or below cost, and iTunes, which sells individual tracks for 99 cents apiece. Timmons has tried to keep up with the changing market, building an online presence for Ear X-tacy that sells tracks that "are better quality than iTunes." He does admit that he can't compete with Steve Jobs and describes the online music store as a money pit.
Timmons did not wholly demonize iTunes or the large department stores. "I think iTunes is great," he said in the question and answer portion of the press conference. He blames illegal downloading online, instead, as the biggest hit to his business. Taking a straw poll in a high school class he was speaking to, Timmons discovered that only two in thirty went to a record store to buy music, and only two in thirty actually paid for the music that they listen to.
Of the press conference, which drew more people than expected, Timmons said that he was "humbled, honored, and a little embarassed." He made it clear that he didn't want a bailout, but he did need customers. He thanked the media for showing up to get this message out.
Community support also looks promising. Beyond the offers for free or reduced rent and a crowd at the press conference beyond his expectations, he has received numerous emails and phone calls of concern and support, and unbeknownst to him Becca Barhorst, a UK student, created a facebook page called "Save Ear X-tacy" which went from 1,500 to 19,000 followers in only a couple days.
A steady stream of customers lined up to buy merchandise after the press conference, and a similar response could be expected within the coming week from the community at large. Although promising, this reactionary support won't save Ear X-tacy. It will take consistent support of customers buying from Ear X-tacy to keep the doors open. Timmons said, "Short-term, I need your support; long-term, I need your support."
He went on to quantify the kind of support needed, "Off the top of my head, if every one of the 19,000 people on the 'Save Ear X-tacy' facebook page came in here and spent a dollar a day for a month this store could live for a few more years."
Ear X-tacy has been in business since 1985 and in its current location for fifteen years. Timmons has been in the music business for 37 years, originally moving to Louisville to work at Karma records. He said, "All I wanted was to be the kid behind the counter selling records."
Since then he has done more than that. Ear X-tacy has been a longtime staple of Bardstown Road, drawing customers from all sides of Louisville and beyond to buy hard-to-find and popular albums on vinyl and compact disc. They have supported local music by hosting live shows and recording fifty-four albums by local artists. Aside from local artists, Ear X-tacy has welcomed national acts, such as Foo Fighters, John Mayer, and, Louisville's own My Morning Jacket. The store sells other music related items, DVD's, and MP3's on their website, but the core of their business is still CD's and LP's. There is something about a tangible piece of art," Timmons said.
Timmons believes that Louisville's rich music scene will continue regardless of the stores success or failure. "The talent pool is still there," he said. But what it will be missing is the synergy that occurs between the radio stations, the record store, and the live performance of music the gives depth to the scene.
In the new age of large corporate box stores and copy machine specialty shops plasticizing the face of seemingly every city worldwide, local businesses like Ear X-tacy give us a little hope for local culture, community, and individual accomplishment. With two months left on their lease, this unique Louisville business might not be around much longer. If we want to keep Louisville weird, we are going to have to spend a little money, and we are going to have to spend it at the places that make Louisville home to us.
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Can we keep Louisville weird? Ear X-tacy owner calls for customer support of local businesses. Ear X-tacy is not...
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Cool as you can see I added the video to the page here but added a link aback to your site. Great site by the way do you all have a music area on there? I couldn't find it.
Quoting robeysan:
It wasn't really working that well, did you guys fix this yet?
Ian Girdley wrote this piece, he is a local writer an is very passionate about his work.
I checked through the piece but I could't find the mistakes you were talking about. Thanks for reading my apologies for the grammar errors.
http://www.manualredeye.com/2010/02/12/ear-x-tacy-closing/
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