[bomp] sound exchange in austin, R.I.P.

[Joe Emery <jemery@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

this is a HUGE bummer.  anyone who has spent any time in austin will tell
you this place was a really great store.  sound exchange seriously changed
my life when i moved here in 1986.  i spent every penny i could afford at
that place when i was in school, got turned on to hundreds of great
records/bands, and these guys did more to promote local garage and punk rock
than just about anyone in austin.  they were nice enough to sponsor in-store
record/cd release parties for countless bands (including my old band death
valley).  Craig Koon is a really good guy -- a real idealist with a huge
heart-- it's a shame he wasn't able to buy the place.

joe

-----------------------------
http://www.austin360.com/statesman/editions/thursday/xlent_8.html
 
Say goodbye to Sound Exchange
By Joe Gross 

AMERICAN-STATESMAN 

Thursday, January 9, 2003

Punk's not dead, but Sound Exchange is.

After 22 years on the Drag, and amid some bad feelings, the shop long known
as UT's record store is shutting its doors no later than Jan. 31.

"The store is closing at the end of the month," acting manager Mark Grady
said Monday afternoon. Owner Mark Alman confirmed the closing on Tuesday.

"I can't believe it's really closing. That was the only place in town that
sold punk and hardcore," says Craig Stewart, co-owner of local label Emperor
Jones. "A lot of my friends worked there through the years. And, obviously,
Sound Exchange was far and away the best store Austin has ever had for used
vinyl." 

The original Sound Exchange was started by Alman in Houston in 1977. He
opened the Austin branch in 1980; it has remained at the 2100 Guadalupe
location ever since, building a reputation as one of the state's premier
punk rock outlets. In the mid-'90s, when punk became a commercial force
thanks to the likes of Green Day and Rancid, the store was reporting sales
of as much as a million dollars a year. It even showed up in Richard
Linklater's "Slacker" and the MTV series "Austin Stories."

Around 1996, as musical tastes shifted, "the kids who had been into punk and
garage rock began to move on to something else," says Craig Koon, who was
hired as a clerk in 1992 and became manager in 1998. Revenue started to
decline. 

Making matters more difficult, the store signed a new, more expensive lease
in 1998. Under the previous lease, the store was paying approximately $2,800
per month in rent, according to Koon. The new lease provided for regular
rent increases; by August of last year, it had reached $4,369 a month.

Between the decrease in student walk-in traffic, the lack of parking and the
rent hikes, Koon felt the business was suffering. "Either the rent needed to
be addressed or the store moved," he says.

Koon claims that Alman, who also owns Emeralds, the women's clothing and
gift store on Lamar Boulevard across from Whole Foods, discounted Koon's and
other employees' suggestions regarding the business. "Alman refused to heed
our advice," Koon says. "I did not wish to see the store die."

In 1999, Koon attempted to buy the business from Alman. Alman had recently
sold the Houston store to its managers, and Koon was hoping he would do the
same with the Austin location. "I approached him with the idea that I would
buy the store, he gave me a quote, and then I went to the bank with that
figure," Koon says. He could not secure a loan for that amount, so he made a
counter offer, which Alman turned down.

"He did make an offer, and I didn't accept the offer," says Alman.

Last summer, Koon sent Alman a letter discussing the store's options. "We
could move, he had to renegotiate the lease at a rate the store could
afford, or he could close the store," Koon says, describing the letter.

Koon found two locations that he thought would work. The first was the
former Treasured Tracks storefront on South Lamar. "It was already known as
a record store and had ample parking," Koon says. And the rent was close to
the $3,000 target he felt the store could afford.

He was also interested in the former Grateful Shed location, a block away
from 33 Degrees, the music store at 41st and Guadalupe that specializes in
hipster sub-genres such as psych rock, electronica and free jazz. "We
thought that spot was also excellent; our stores would complement each
other," Koon says. 

Alman disagrees with this characterization of events. "Discussions that
invited the entire staff's input regarding a possible move of the store did
not conclude with a strategy I was comfortable with," he says.

So the store kept going. Late last year, Koon told Tommy Clark, who works
for Chase Bank and is the property's de facto landlord, that Sound Exchange
could no longer afford the $4,369 rent. Clark told Koon that he would begin
looking for new tenants.

Then, last Friday, Koon called Clark to discuss the status of January's
rent. "Tommy told me that he'd received a certified letter from Alman
stating the store was closing at the end of January," Koon says. Alman had
not yet notified Koon or Grady. After a discussion with fellow employees,
Koon resigned that evening via voicemail. "Instead of being the terminal
illness of a friend with a dignified funeral, (the closing) became the fall
of Saigon, and I didn't want to have anything to do with that," Koon says.
He had hoped to finish out the current lease, which ends this summer, before
he and his wife leave Austin in June. "The current attitude at the store is,
'Gotta get on the copter.' "

Alman chose not to comment on the specifics of Koon's characterizations.
"Everyone has opinions. I'm truly respectful of Craig's thoughts and
feelings about his choice to resign," Alman says. "There's no right way, and
there's no wrong way to close a business. You want to talk to the people
involved and try to make the transition as easy as possible for them." Alman
would not elaborate on why he chose not to move or sell the store, stating
"my decision to close Sound Exchange is an intensely personal one."

It is unclear who will pick up the slack left by Sound Exchange. Between the
"dollar record room" in the rear of the store, the valuable collector
records that hang on the walls and the contents on the main floor, Sound
Exchange boasted the most eclectic used-record collection in Austin. "It
really pains me to see Sound Exchange close," says Waterloo Records owner
John Kunz. He is unsure what his response to the market vacancy will be.
"It's possible we may increase our used-record selection. But it's always
hard to tell. In the used market, you are dependent on what people sell
you." 

"To be honest, I'm not sure we will sell any more of any of our products
even after they're gone," says Bob Coleman, co-owner of 33 Degrees. "I'm
very sorry to see them close their doors. That store was one of the reasons
I moved to Austin."

jgross@statesman.com; 912-5926

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