Photo via Bru-n0 on Pixabay
Local record store Grooves Records has opened an online store. You might expect the addition of an online store to be a result of the pandemic. However the stores owner Troy Hutchison says that isn’t the case.
“It’s something we’d always wanted to do, but it takes a lot of work and expense. The pandemic really put our feet to the fire. And we’ve been working away on it since the summer pretty much since we got back to work after the first lockdown.”
According to Hutchison setting up an online store wasnt without it’s challenges.
“It turns out, we’re pretty big. As far as the number of individual items we have in the store. Most online selling platforms have a maximum number of items you can sell.” said Hutchison. “We have more records in the store than we’ve ever been able to properly count. You’d probably be in the neighborhood of maybe 80 to a hundred thousand. So it would be real tough to manage it all, bearing in mind we’re just a couple of people. Were not a huge Amazon-style team.”
Although the online store only sells new records. There is still a way to buy used records.
“There’s an online selling service called Discogs that we sell some of our used product on. We sort of save that for the real high-end expensive stuff. Most of our used product, we’re just gonna have to wait for the lockdown to ease and come on and shop through that in person.”
Records purchased through the online store can be delivered in three ways. They can be mailed through Canada Post or picked up curbside. Grooves also offers local delivery free of charge.
Today we're launching our new online shop! While we'll always be a community brick and mortar store at heart, times they are a changin' and we're doing what we gotta do in this pandemic era. Until you can dig in person, click here: https://t.co/PdRkO0OCcd
— GroovesRecordStore (@Grooves_Records) February 1, 2021
The online store has only been up for a week and so far Hutchison is pleased with it’s early success.
“We’ve been making steady sales from it. It’s a new world for us, so I didn’t really know what to expect. It’s doing as well as I hoped.” Said Troy. “It’s sort of the way the world is heading right. So we don’t want to get left behind. We want to keep up with the way of the world.”
Even with the online stores early success. To Hutchison it will be a small part of their overall business when the Province opens up again.
“I expect it to grow and then it should be a nice part of our business once we’re properly back open again. The fun of having a record store is seeing the customers and interacting in real life. That’s always going to be the goal of our store. It is nice to have something extra to get us through hard times like this.”
As it is for many stores, business at Grooves has been up and down.
“When we’re locked down, sales are brutal. On a good day, we’re doing maybe 10% of what we’d normally do. The new website is helping bring that number up.” Said Hutchison. “When we’re open. Even with all the regulations and capacity issues, we do pretty well. I like to think our customer base is pretty loyal and eager. They know that were taking COVID quite seriously and we take every precaution we can.”
Even with the ups and downs. Hutchison and his team have been able to keep a postive outlook.
“We appreciate the support of the community. It’s been been tough, and I know we’re not alone. We’re in a better position than a lot of stores and other businesses. Customers and even random people have been kind, saying positive things, it’s been really nice. And there’s been a lot of that through this and I just want to say thank you to London and the community. We appreciate your support, and I can’t wait to see you in the store soon.”
Hutchison is hopeful that the store will be able to re-open soon.
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