Though I'm not a Sloop resident myself, I wanted to solicit your support for my friend who's planning a triumphant return home from a few years in the Bay Area to open a record store in your area.
H+ Records will be a vinyl-only record store and community arts space in the South Loop, and is seeking startup donations to get off the ground. Donations can be made at the following website, and on behalf of my friend Pat, I would really appreciate it if you could promote what would certainly be a welcome addition to the neighborhood.
http://www.indiegogo.com/H-Plus-Records
Well we've actually already posted about H+ records back in October of last year, but like the idea so much we decided we would help some more. If you want some solid retail, step up and help a brother out!
(Hat tip: MS!)
24 comments:
Why would someone invest in a business whose owner's best idea for fundraising is to ask strangers on the internet for donations?
We're using every avenue of fund-raising available and have already secured the majority needed to open. With this site I'm giving people an opportunity to buy into the store and get, what I consider, a good deal. Even if you don't contribute, I hope to see you in store sometime soon.
Really? Honestly, really?
I'd like to open up a shop in the south loop too. Anyone want to just give me some money?
What a joke.
Hello, the 1970's called and they want their business idea back! There is no way I would invest in/donate to this type of business. Its like investing in black and white TV's. Please do not do it, we do not want to see yet another business come into the south loop and fail, which this one surely will. Sorry, but 99.99999% of people download their music now.
That's nice and all but who would agree to donate to basically an anonymous group? No proof they're going to be able to open a store, no location, no names given, are they for profit or something else? They need to clear this up before asking for donations otherwise it's a recipe for disaster.
I want to open a coffee shop in Printers Row...anyone want to donate for that cause??
Last time I was asked to "help a brutha out," it ended with my iphone being snatched from my wife's hands on the Red Line. This digital pan-handling for $$ is offensive. Is this the same group of people that wanted us to give them $$ to open a coffee shop in the privately-owned school @ 16th and State?
There are hundreds of ways to get some money, but donations?! How about a fundraiser PARTY or donate now as an INVESTOR and receive some payment down the road with %5 interest? Also, you should contact the 2nd Ward for TIF money.
Apparently my other comment got lost in the internet. We're using every avenue of fund-raising available with the majority of the capital coming from traditional sources, personal savings and business loans. I would not have used the term "donation" as this isn't a charity but a for-profit business. This was set-up to give the community an opportunity to help the business succeed and over the long-run, get a pretty good deal. Even if you don't contribute, hope to see you in the store soon.
Sorry for all these negative nancies Hydrogen Plus Records. The sloopin community just loves to hate. I'm very excited for a record store to open in the south loop. Best of luck!
Thanks, appreciate the support, in honesty, I don't disagree with what anybody said, asking people to blindly give money to a stranger on the internet isn't a good business plan. I wasn't intending on promoting that site outside of friends and family to the internet-anonymous until I actually had an address to point to, which should be fairly soon. I know I wouldn't give money to a random person on the internet unless I could see something more tangible than an idea. Hopefully people can keep the site in mind, check it out in a month, and when they see sufficient progress, contribute and feel that they are getting something of value in return.
Please, less hating! The guys simply say that if you donate 25-100$ to kickstart the store, you will get 5-20% discount on everything. The vinyl community is certainly alive and this is a cute way of getting a neighbourhood to feel a bit involved for roughly the price of a dinner.
I guess wanting DONATIONS to start a business selling buggy whips is their way of admitting is a nonsensical idea. Morons. This the kind of trash the sloop is attracting?
I'd suggest some form of "donation matching" approach . . . you know, something like "for every $10 you contribute up front, you get $12.50 in store credit".
That gives you startup capital, drives people to your store to spend more and moves old stuff on the shelves so you can get new stuff.
HPlus - No worries. There are only a few hundred people that come to this site and about 100 that actually post comments (some that do not live here). As we said back in October, we are really looking forward to this store as it will also be an art hot spot as well. The guy that mentioned that everyone downloads has no idea about the music business. There are so many music production sites in the South Loop area, that people will def be stopping by and if you have live music there once in awhile, it will be a great new concept.
@Anon 2/26 5:34pm
Records are very much alive and appreciated, but it's a narrow niche.
@HydrogenPlusrecords
Your idea sounds more like a hobby. Also asking people to invest before your "site" is ready and before the whole mechanism is thought through is premature and, considering the majority see little value in the product, likely futile.
For the poster wanting to open a coffee shop... Good new one is opening around 1500 s State on the west side of the street. Check it out.
Reggie's sells records, no?
Newsflash to those who think records are a dying format ... which they were, but no longer. Vinyl is actually the fastest growing music format in 2010 - USA Today article from this past week - http://usat.ly/huHhR0
As someone who has collected records in the past, I welcome the new business in the South Loop and hope it succeeds; best of luck on all fronts. Don't let the anon haters on this site interfere with your goals.
I wish the business the best of luck as well. It's original businesses like this that will give the neighborhood the personality it needs to attract more residents.
From the website:
"While CD sales of plummeted, an interesting ripple has occurred, vinyl sales have risen significantly (by 33% last year alone). The reason for this is that the music consumer still wants to touch and feel an album, but now has their ease of use demands fulfilled in a different form"
Are you sure it wasn't 33 1/3%? I mean, as long as you are making up all of this, at least have a little fun with it.
I'll send my donation in the mail. Do you accept checks?
Going to look through my records to see if I can give you something pricey to put on the wall.
Looking forward to the shop. The posts here point out yet again that headz ain't ready.
@anon at 9:31 PM .... Those numbers are not made up. From the USA Today story: "According to recent Nielsen SoundScan numbers, vinyl was the fastest-growing musical format in 2010, with 2.8 million units sold, the format's best year since SoundScan began tracking sales in 1991."
Unless you aren't interested in letting facts get in the way of your snark.
Actually the 33% is from 2009; for 2010, when overall music sales were in the tank, vinyl still rose. Overall album sales dropped 12.8%, while CD sales dropped 20%.
From Billboard in January 2011: "The year-end SoundScan numbers, released today, have a lot of minus signs. But one big exception is vinyl sales: While the numbers aren't massive, they still rose 14% from 2009 to 2010, according to the Nielsen Company and Billboard's 2010 Music Industry Report. In 2009, 2.5 million vinyl albums were sold; in 2010, that number rose to 2.8 million and cracked the Nielsen SoundScan sales record."
The vinyl total sales may not be large, but they are growing.
@anon 10:26 AM
Welcome to the Sloop.
Are you arguing that in this economy a stunning double-digit growth industry, based on an obsolete technology, is somehow escaping investors' and entrepreneurs' notice?
Fast growth over the short term on a pathetic base does not make for a compelling investment story.
Let's say your numbers are real. 2.8 million units multiplied by, say, 20% is 560,000 units. (an unsustainable rate, even if accurate, but let's ignore that for now.) That's one half million units of growth across the whole country, and realistically one should believe that the bulk of that growth would be represented by existing stores and perhaps large direct bulk buyers of some kind (e.g. do any radio stations, or music-related companies buy a large percentage of records from sources other than local stores?) How much of that market could a new store with a single location in the South Loop hope to capture? Do you think sales would be enough to cover rent, taxes, employee salaries, and also have a profit left over? How would that compare to the prospect of opening a business that most Sloopers would actually frequent--maybe a bakery or some other kind of store that would complement the very welcome Panozzo's?
Perhaps someone with a lifelong passion, great knowledge, and some good contacts could make a small business selling records, maybe something similar to Reckless Records or Reggie's (oh yeah, that's right--established competitors, how inconvenient). It is doubtful that someone like that would ask for donations anonymously online, so this person is either a charlatan or a fool. Either way, he deserves mockery.
Try setting down USA today and picking up an actual newspaper. Or perhaps you yourself could develop some snark and a grasp of basic arithmetic. You might be astonished at how far that could take you.
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