Sandy Bitman & Josiah Wess - Park Ave CDs (Orlando, FL)
event: RSD Drop 2 - 2021
date: Saturday, July 17th 2021
location: Park Ave CDs, 2916 Corrine Dr, Orlando, Fl, 32803
sales reporting: MRC
event marketing: social media, pacd newsletter, local media, app
facebook event page: https://www.facebook.com/events/193842295832903/
instagram: https://www.instagram.com/parkavecds
twitter: https://twitter.com/ParkAveCDs
pacd newsletter/guide : https://conta.cc/3z8h106
charitable contributions: A Gift For Teaching: $875 donated; Second Harvest Food Bank of CFL: Over 350lbs of food donated.
attached: screenshots, photos of events
overall sales:
-RSD Drop 2: up 45% over any of the RSD Drops 2020.
-Sell through: 73%
-Sunday: up 50% over any of the Sundays after the RSD Drops 2020.
thumbs up and thumbs down:
up: Our crew!
up: The RSD crew for the coordination and execution.
up: Our customers and supporters.
up: Two Drops rock!
down: Again, smaller pressings leaving fans disappointed.
down: Last minute shipping from the onestops.
titles we wish we had more of: Foo Fighters, Slightly Stoopid, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Hall & Oates, Aliens, The Rolling Stones, Czarface, Weird Al Yankovic, From First To Last, The Matrix, Ocean’s Eleven, The Gorillaz, Sammy Hagar, Richard Pryor, Bush, Gun Club, Shintaro Sakamoto, Evanescence
titles we thought would have done better: Hawkwind, Cat Stevens/Harold & Maude, Candi Staton, JXDN, PVRIS, Love, Future, Bob Dylan, Rory Gallagher
summary:
Hello again!
Hope everyone had a nice weekend :)
PACDs is happy to announce that we followed up last month’s event with another successful RSD Drop! This was by far the most well run Drop we’ve ever had during the “Drops-era” and such a great way to top off RSD 2021! Learning from past mistakes and customer critiques along the way, we were able to refine our process and create a more efficient and less chaotic experience for everyone involved. We utilized the same raffle/appointment system for early access time slots like we have for past Drops, but this time we gave ourselves more of a head start in the morning to accommodate the often heavier early morning lists. This change along with stock layout adjustments and being more thorough in our messaging to customers, we were able to avoid most of the speed bumps we encountered during the last Drop. As a result of these systematic improvements, our RSD line never numbered more than 60+ people throughout the day and most customers waited in line an average of 5 to 10mins once they arrived for their assigned shopping time. Many customers made a point during the day to thank us for this being their best RSD experience thus far, and not just because they got everything on their list, but rather the overall short wait times and efficiency of the entire event. Folks knew when to show up, where to park, where to check-in, how to pick up their records, what the process is if we ran out of something on their list, etc. Also, Florida weather this time around was kind to us for the most part…lots of humidity, but no rain!
As always, we were surprised by which titles sold out early and which titles were hardly touched — all of which have been included in our wrap-up below. Foo Fighters, Eternal Sunshine, Hall & Oates, Aliens, From First To Last, Slightly Stoopid, Czarface, The Rolling Stones, The Matrix, Ocean’s Eleven, The Gorillaz and Weird Al were the some of the hottest titles of the day and some of the first titles we ran out of early on Saturday. Pearl Jam, Beastie Boys, St. Vincent, CSNY, Miles Davis, Bill Evans, Amy Winehouse, Lamb of God and The Cure also did really well for us and have continued to sell both in-store and online throughout the weekend. Overall though, we were very happy with the turnout and how smoothly everything ran the entire day. Definitely not as big of a day as the last Drop, but that was expected due to some bumped titles and a smaller list.
Our RSD Drop 2 shopping time slot reservations were booked from 8am-1pm for over 375+ people, and then at 1pm we opened the doors to the general public and began taking walk-up RSD shoppers. We saw a slight drop-off around 12:20-12:30pm due to some last minute appointment cancelations, but that was expected with it being a little later in the day as well as the anticipated fallout due to a good number of RSD titles being bumped or removed from the list. Same as last time, once we hit 1pm and we opened the valve on our capacity in-store, we really got a big rush and boost during the early afternoon hours. We maintained a decent line outside (60+ people) for about an hour or so! Customers who showed up for the first few time slots received FREE RSD tote bags full of goodies courtesy of Record Store Day, Warner Records, Atlantic Records, Vagrant Records, Summer of Soul, In The Heights and more! Also want to thank Warner Records again for providing the Mystery Pack for our giveaway!
This Drop we stuck with tradition and held our food drive for our local food bank, Second Harvest of CFL, as well as a PACDs t-shirt charity drive for the local organization, A Gift For Teaching. The organization is Central Florida’s primary provider for free school supplies to teachers, for students who need them most. We’ve worked with them in the past and we really thought they could use the help so close to the new school year. Together we were able to raise $875 for the A Gift For Teaching and over 350lbs of food for Second Harvest!
Overall it was blast! With everything running that much smoother it made it so much more enjoyable for both our customers and staff. Finding much success with our assigned shopping time system, it might be difficult for us to go back to our old pre-pandemic ways with the giant lines wrapping around the plaza. The customers love it, our neighbors love it, and it’s created a more seamless and stress free experience for everyone involved. Shorter wait times we found also keeps customer disappointment levels lower. Folks have been more understanding of us running out of a release when they only waited 10mins in line as opposed to the several hours they may have waited in years past. Something to definitely think about for next year. Oh, and we LOVE the two Drops idea, just maybe a month further apart :)
Lastly, thank you everyone for everything you’ve done to help us and all of indie retail this year! What a wild ride it has been up to this point, and we can’t wait to see what next year will bring.
Stay safe out there, and as always, keep dancing Orlando!
Cheers!
- Josiah, Sandy & the entire PACDs crew!
top selling titles:
1. Foo Fighters - Hail Satin
2. Pearl Jam - Alive (12”)
3. Beastie Boys - Aglio E Olio
4. St. Vincent - Piggy
5. CSNY - Deja Vu Alternatives
5. Miles Davis - Champions
6. Amy Winehouse - Remixes
7. The Cure - Wild Mood Swings (PD)
7. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind - Soundtrack
8. Hall & Oates - Voices
8. The Allman Brothers - Final Note
8. Aliens - Soundtrack
9. The Ramones - Triple J Live @Wireless...
9. The Rolling Stones - Hot Rocks 50th Anniversary Ed.
10. Queen & Adam Lambert - Live Around The World
10. Karen O - Under Pressure
10. Lamb of God - As The Palaces Burn
11. Donna Summer - Bad Girls
11. Bill Evans - Behind the Dikes
11. Ocean’s Eleven - Soundtrack
12. Czarface - Czar Noir
13. From First To Last - Dear Diary...
14. Vitamin String.. - Performs MCR
14. Sisters Of Mercy - BBC Sessions
15. Aretha Franklin - Oh Me Oh My: Live...
15. Evanescence - Open Door
15. Pearl Jam - Alive (Cassette)
16. Slightly Stoopid - Live @Robertos’s...
16. Matt Bellamy - Cryrosleep (PD)
16. KMD - Mr. Hood (30th Anniversary)
17. Bastille - Vs. Other People’s...
17. John Prine - Stay Independent: Oh Boy...
18. The Matrix: Complete… - Soundtrack
19. Cat Stevens - Harold & Maude (Orange)
19. Dr. John - Sun Moon & Herbs
19. Denzel Curry & Robert Glasper - Live From Leimert Park
19. PVRIS - Use Me (Deluxe)
19. PARTYNEXTDOOR - S/T Box Set
20. John Prine - Live @The Other End
20. Lou Reed - Set The Twilight Reeling
20. Fleet Foxes - Can I Believe You
20. Lindsey Stirling - Lose You Now
20. Weird Al Yankovic - Beat On The Brat
20. Sinead O’Connor - Live In Rotterdam
Quinn Bishop - Cactus Music (Houston, TX)
Hello all,
Here's our wrap-up for RSD 2021 which we consider a huge success. We are so pleased to be able to report that we have taken great strides towards normalcy with each Drop event which peaked with '21D2. We hope to continue that trend and that other shops felt the same effect.
We continued our tickets for line reservations which began with the first drop of 2020. Customers seem to like it and it keeps anxiety to a minimum as record fans have a sense of when to arrive, what their place in line will be and tempered expectations for opportunities to purchase coveted items. We opened at our usual time which is 10am and had an enthusiastic crowd which was more in keeping with our Black Friday line with only 300 or so people through the line by noon. We usually experience afternoon traffic and sales that almost equal the morning hours as customers who visited other stores search for items that they missed. We felt that D2 greatly benefitted from key titles being moved from D1 to D2 and the high profile Foo Fighters announcement that had even the most casual music fans talking. Without these factors, D2 would have been a lesser event as D1 seemed stacked.
Sales were explosive. When accounting for all drops within a year, our RSD2021 sales were up 20% over 2019 and 27% over 2020. The majority of growth was not in RSD product sales which have been consistent, but in the sale of catalog and other lines. This is due to customers making their way back into stores with pent-up demand and feeling more comfortable shopping RSD is the perfect catalyst for these sales.
Our ability to sell products online mid-afternoon of RSD releases is transformative for our store. This is a win for our store and helped us to pile on sales while selling off titles that did not move as quickly as anticipated. This is a win for record fans who buy online because they do not live near a sanctioned store and keeps them from having to pay inflated prices. It allows internet pricing to be in line with stores during the time when these products are the most in demand. It puts records in the hands of fans who want them at fair prices. It is a win for RSD as an entity as it aids in sell-through and results in fewer markdowns of branded products, which no one wants to see. It is a LOSE for flippers who take advantage of music lovers throughout the hours and days immediately following the launch of RSD. It sidelines them and their activities for a couple of crucial days. If there is any doubt, one needed only to look at the pre-loaded windows of RSD products on Discogs before 1pm Eastern time. Most titles were selling for 2-3 times msrp before stores could sell. The market was immediately normalized after stores could make inventory available. At Cactus, we have seen fewer of these trolls stacked at the front of our lines since this policy has been in place. Cactus loves this policy and hopes that it will become standard RSD practice.
AEC was our provider for major distributor RSD products and they did an excellent job. The communication was terrific and our stock arrived in plenty of time, if not very early. We were allocated out of several titles which seemed to be readily available at other stores including the Willie Nelson live piece which was kind of a big deal. We are not certain what happened with these items. Our allocations of major label products were widespread for both drops, which has never happened before. This is obviously the result of the increased demand which we are all seeing from our customers coupled with products being built with expectations due to the pandemic. The new allocation system was certainly a factor.
Customer feedback:
- Our customers love the multiple drops which allow them to space out their purchases.
- Customer remorse over the lack of 7"s.
- The 12" singles priced $20+ and single LPs near $35-$40 are perceived as a cash grab by regular record buyers, especially when they come from the majors. The $25 price increase of a common record that offers no new music and the inclusion of a couple of modest "collectible" paper goods was a particularly unpopular item.
- Customers loved the classic soundtracks.
RSD 2021 ranking:
1. Foo Fighters 45
2. Eternal Sunshine Soundtrack 32
3. Harold & Maude Soundtrack (Cat Stevens) 28
4. Pearl Jam - 28
5. Miles Davis - 23
6. Aretha Franklin - 20
7. CSNY - 16
8. Allman Bros - 16
9. Amy Winehouse - 14
10. Beastie Boys - 11
11. Aliens Soundtrack - 11
12. Ramones - 10
13. The Cure - 10
14. Kings X - Tapehead -10
15. King's X - Manic Moonlight - 9
16. KMD - 9
17. Rolling Stones - Hot Rocks - 8
18. Sisters of Mercy - 8
19. Weird Al Yankovic - 7
20. Czarface - 7
21. Evanescence - 7
22. Queen with Adam Lambert - 7
23. Future - 7
24. Donna Summer - 7
25. From First to Last - 7
