Originally Posted by
Boogiedown
Speaking of JET magazine, during the early eighties , 1980 -83, I worked at Portals To Music, a mom and pop record store that operated out of the Stonestown Mall in SF. One of the original independents that emerged out of the 1950's , Mrs. Gold herself used to come in regularly and stand at the back of the store and stare out at the activities. Behind the main counter we still had the slotted cubbies to keep our back inventory, each label in its alphabetical place, each album title in order by its order # !!! Vinyl ruled, cassettes were but a small part of the store.
We had a good reputation for certain things , classical , Hawaiian--- of all curious things , and we had a thorough inventory of 45s of which I managed. Each week I tabulated and posted our [[ authentic) Top 20 , from which people studied the board and requested from the 45 cubbies behind the listing. We stocked the oldies in bins that could be shopped through, and new 45s, including those not yet on the top 20, were stocked behind the counter to be asked for. It did not take long to observe what was breaking hot as people asked for titles. Sometimes it was more a regional hit , for instance for a couple of weeks WHIP IT by Devo was #1 for us, but nationally it did not break the Top 10. I remember moving it down into the oldies section as it dropped in sales and the kids shopping were so indignant. "WHIP IT is not old!!" They protested. "Yes it is , I answered , "...it's off the chart! " lol !
That's how it was though. You had to be on top of it. When a song was hot, we tried to calculate and not run out , but once a song got old, it turned to ice. [[This was always a problem: when a 45 was peaking , availability was often times null. You don't know how frustrating it was when every other buying customer is asking for BILLIE JEAN, and your refill order of 100 copies [[ which would have to be an especially huge record for such a number) comes back zeroed out . The record companies were playing the same calculating game I was , how many copies to press that would sell, and not become dead overstock ...I wonder how many sales were lost because of this . A LOT!!
I had to decide , quickly, either return what hadn't sold in its limited time allowing for full credit , or delegate a title as an oldie. WHIP IT sticks out because I had a good number of them as I was expecting more weeks of climbing popularity, but surprisingly, despite what it was doing for us, it was peaking nationally without becoming a top ten monster. I decided to keep them as I felt it might be a record hard to come by and it was still so popular locally. That batch of 50 or so funneled out as an oldie until they were gone. I bet we were the last local source to have it.
Once the printing stopped , customers couldn't get the record typically even by special order, that was the end of it , until a title got reissued by the label on an oldies pressing...if it did. That was another reason to decide to keep the more popular ones in stock. I think WHIP IT was the record that taught me to utilize our oldies section this way, it became a regular practice for the big ones.
So where was I , oh yes JET magazine. Even as a single record store , not part of a big buying chain, we had some clout with the record labels. For one thing , we're talking San Francisco , a major market for music in every sense. Marketing was very big there . The reps loved to come to our store to do displays because we had huge floor to ceiling glass display windows, [[ you could climb inside and walk in them). Perfect for pitching the new Donna on Geffin LP, or new acts like Stray Cats in grand style. Virtually every label had reps in SF and often even a display staff that worked the circuit. WEA in fact had a guy , Izzy, whose soul job was to go around and certify WEA displays, documenting them with a camera he always had around his neck.
We liked it, our windows changed constantly.
And these labels were appreciative. Keeping the reps happy translated into thank yous ....their visits complete with promos under their arms , and tickets to concerts....
Which was also part of the benefit of having sales reports. This gave us clout. We didn't report directly to Billboard , the exclusive top prize, but we reported to secondaries who called us weekly on behalf of tracking companies that then reported their findings to the trades like Billboard.
It predated me , I inherited it, but somehow we got a call each week from JET magazine. Kind of odd because we weren't in the heart of SF, in the main action, we were out in the avenues. Our 45 clientele was largely from SFSU located next door, the mall shoppers, and we especially catered to the catholic school students that poured in after school.
Reporting WHIP IT as our #1 to JET raised nary an eyebrow as I recall. I know it didn't translate into a placement in their Top 10. lol!
Besides the credence the reporting to JET gave us, another benefit was, we got an issue of the magazine mailed to the store each week.
Fun stuff.
