The Battle of Cincinnati Record Stores, Part 2

You have to feel sorry for the beleagured record stores of Cincinnati, Ohio. First we had our friend Shinedaddy, a record collector who buys and sells classic rock LPs on Internet forums, bashing the local record stores by saying all they have are "piles of junk." Now we have a corporate entity, Walgreen's, trying to take out a city block by building a new store. The problem is that this new drug store will force out a couple of businesses that have been there for many years, including the beloved music store Everybody's Records.

Fortunately, the vinyl-loving people of Cincinnati have banded together to prevent this from happening. A new Facebook page has been created, titled "Save the Gas Light Cafe and Everybody's Records," and you can show your support by "liking" it here. The creators of the page have been organizing their effort through press releases and by asking local residents to write the Cincinnati city council members.

Along with Everybody's, The Gas Light Cafe is also set for demolition if Walgreen's buys the property. Several zoning changes would have to be made for this to occur, but we all know what deep pockets and an army of real estate attorneys can do when they're properly motivated. Now I'm reluctant to demonize Walgreen's in the sammer manner as Walmart, for example, especially since a new Walgreen's is going up just down the street from me and I'm an Ambassador of the Chamber of Commerce and welcome this particular addition to our community. But the new Walgreen's in Kyle is being built on an empty street corner, and they've even paid for the new traffic light at the aforementioned intersection. If they were knocking down the only record store in Kyle to do it, however, I'd be against it.

Perhaps Walgreen's just has to realize that taking over city blocks and forcing out mom-and-pop stores is not the way we should do business in this day and age. As a small business owner and a lover of all things vinyl, I'm doing my part to raise awareness of Everybody's Records as well as the Gas Light Cafe. So please "like" the Facebook page and show your support any way you can!