MaineMan said:
...I would think a record store would be, too (as indicated by the kids). If the person who owned the record store was too lame / dumb to cater to the kids, then they won't be in business long, because we all know kids buy at least 50x more CD's than adults. And if so, then what has the town lost?
Are you sure? Music downloading has seriously eroded conventional music sales, and over time is expected to become the prefered means of acquiring music. Even in the short term, can you expect music sales to be enough to support a store? Run some quick (unresearched) numbers. Lets assume that every person in your community of 10,000 purchased 8 CD's every year. This is undoubtedly high, but let's be generous. Sales of 80,000 CD's at an average price of $12 will lead to a total sale potential of $960,000. Assume that your music store captured a 40% share, or $384,000 in gross sales. If the mark-up on each CD was in the 30-40% range, you would be left with $134,000. Now pay your bills:
Taxes - $50,000 (property, income, payroll)
Rent - $15,000 (2400 sq ft @ $6 / sq ft)
Utilities - $12,000 (gas, electric, water, sewer, tele)
Employees - $12,000 (part-time)
Misc. Business Costs - $18,000 (advertising, insurance, security, accounting, loss, fixtures, etc.)
The net is about $27,000, and this really is being optimistic. What does the town have to lose if the business goes belly-up? Nothing. How about the person who owns the business? S/he has a lot on the line. The reason that your merchants are not listening is because of the risk involved for what is perceived to be very little return.
I work in a college town of 14,000 people, with 6,500 people between 18 and 24 years old and 43,000 people within ten miles of the downtown. We can't support a music store. Wal-Mart has a music section.
My point is not to be too critical of your merchants. They are in business for a reason, and probably have some good skills to be able to stay in business. Be realistic in what you are looking for. Perhaps one or two may adjust their product mix to add a few more items. If you want to explore it further, is there a Small Business Development Center or other business planning resource you could bounce these ideas off?