Visiting Ann Arbor

Nim Chimpsky · October-3rd-2007, 03:50 AM

I'm going to be in Ann Arbor next week for a couple of days. I'm hoping I'll have an afternoon off to mooch around the shops. Does anyone know any good places, especially second-hand CD stores.

Cheers

Gerardo A · October-3rd-2007, 11:37 AM

I remember reading about a used CD store where the Wolf Eyes dudes used to work, but I can't find any info now on Google. Maybe someone else remembers about it.

Gerardo A · October-3rd-2007, 11:44 AM

I think it's this one: http://www.encorerecordings.com/

Jon Abbey · October-3rd-2007, 11:45 AM

Will Benton of Formed Records is in Ann Arbor now, you might want to e-mail him and ask directly.

Chris D · October-3rd-2007, 11:49 AM

I haven't been to Ann Arbor for a few years, but Schoolkids Records on State Street was a great store, at least at one time. P.J's and Wazoo were in the same general area, and they were pretty good, too. Underground Sounds had some nice things.

Where's Nagel?

Chris D · October-3rd-2007, 11:56 AM

Gerardo linked to Encore Recordings. That's on the same street as Underground Sounds, if I remember right.

clinthopson · October-3rd-2007, 12:03 PM

Our daughter went to U of M Medical school for a couple of years.

The only place that stuck in my mind was Zingerman's deli.

Hot Ptah · October-3rd-2007, 12:20 PM

I lived in Ann Arbor from 1978 to 1981 and did my part to keep the record stores in business. About two years ago, I exchanged emails with an Ann Arbor resident who sold some great jazz CDs to me through ebay. He said that the music stores had changed since 1981, and were in a state of flux, with some good ones about to close.

We really need a very current report. However, one good thing about Ann Arbor. The downtown area near campus is small, and if you find one good music store, someone inside will direct you to the other ones, which will be close by.

Hill Auditorium in Ann Arbor was the site of many fantastic jazz concerts when I was there. A group of my friends still refers to it as "The House of Ra."

bostontricky · October-3rd-2007, 01:02 PM

Where's Underground Sounds, Chris?

Encore's the place, it was practically stacked to the ceiling with discs when I was in two years ago, I suspect much hasn't changed. I had meant to get to Wazoo, but ran out of time.

Shaman Drum, nearby on State Street, is where I fulfill my poetry fix whenever I'm in town. I think at least part of the store was part of the original Borders bookstore, which then doubled, tripled and quadrupled in size before taking over Jacobsen's department store.

And you must eat at Zingerman's Delicatessen at least once.

Chris D · October-3rd-2007, 01:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bostontricky

Where's Underground Sounds, Chris?

It was on Liberty Street, 200 block. I don't know whether it's still around.

Monte Smith · October-3rd-2007, 02:12 PM

There's a bookstore in Ann Arbor, I think it's called Borders.

Nim Chimpsky · October-11th-2007, 12:12 PM

Thanks for all your recommendations. I've just got back - the whole trip was very rushed but I did manage to get to Zingerman's Deli, Encore Recordings and 2 Borders! And phew that heat was a killer - the hottest weather I've experienced all year.

Monte Smith · October-11th-2007, 05:39 PM

What's Borders like in Ann Arbor? That's corporate HQ, y'know. That's where the first store was.

Nim Chimpsky · October-11th-2007, 06:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Monte Smith

What's Borders like in Ann Arbor? That's corporate HQ, y'know. That's where the first store was.

It's not something they appear to be celebrating. I can now reliably say that the 2 Borders stores I've been into in Britain look exactly the same as the 2 I've been in the States. The covers of the Haruki Murakami novels was the biggest difference.

Al in NYC · October-11th-2007, 07:30 PM

The original Border's, on State St. near the Michigan Theater, was a beautiful place. Spent a lot of time there whenever I could manage to get out to AA in the old days. They had a lot of stuff you wouldn't see anywhere else in Michigan. It's a real shame what happened to that place and the chain that grew from it.

Monte Smith · October-11th-2007, 08:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nim Chimpsky

It's not something they appear to be celebrating. I can now reliably say that the 2 Borders stores I've been into in Britain look exactly the same as the 2 I've been in the States. The covers of the Haruki Murakami novels was the biggest difference.

I was at the Borders on or near Charing Cross Road, right near Foyles. It looked like every other Borders I have ever been in. Except, you're right--different covers, different colophons.

I like Borders. My friends, and I am one of them, who have toiled at independent bookstores loathe the influence of this chain. But I am sorry. There are more books and better books vended at Borders than there ever were in the salad days of the independents. And that is all that matters. More books.

Enforcer · October-11th-2007, 09:41 PM

Sorry I got here so late.

When I was in AA back in the 80s, Borders was a huge deal. It was three floors, which floored us (ha!). There were no other bookstores like it back then, so it was big fun.

Zingerman's is one of my favorite food places anywhere. Great Reubens.

bostontricky · October-11th-2007, 10:44 PM

As far as Monte goes, that's because there were no independent booksellers (in the salad days of independents) quite like Borders, which the exception of a couple places in New York City (probably), Cody's in Berkeley, I know I'm missing others. But if your tastes go far or (rather) deep enough, neither the current incarnations Borders nor Barnes & Noble will do, as they seemingly have the same selection from store to store. If it's the only game in town, it'll do; if there's a great indie bookstore in town (as there is in Ann Arbor), I'll go into a Barnes & Noble to take a dump.

The flagship Borders isn't even in its original location. I'm trying to remember if they originally expanded up from their original storefront, or next door first. I think the death knell for its independent status came when they put the fucking escalator in.

Monte Smith · October-12th-2007, 08:14 AM

I think you're right, BT. The salad days for the independents weren't particularly salady, unless you were in the right place. There were great swaths of the American landscape unserviced by The Strand or Powell's. Northern Virginia, when I started reading seriously, was a purgatory of Crown stores ("if you paid full price, you didn't buy it at Crown") and Walden Books. Or at the end of a bus ride Olsson's, where I worked for a few years. Borders came in in the early 90s and didn't honestly have anything more than the idea of healthy independent bookstores to kill. The reality was that they came in and established a market.

walto · October-12th-2007, 09:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Monte Smith

I like Borders. My friends, and I am one of them, who have toiled at independent bookstores loathe the influence of this chain. But I am sorry. There are more books and better books vended at Borders than there ever were in the salad days of the independents. And that is all that matters. More books.

That was the moral of a Tom Hanks/Meg Ryan movie, wasn't it?

Hot Ptah · October-12th-2007, 11:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Monte Smith

I think you're right, BT. The salad days for the independents weren't particularly salady, unless you were in the right place. There were great swaths of the American landscape unserviced by The Strand or Powell's. Northern Virginia, when I started reading seriously, was a purgatory of Crown stores ("if you paid full price, you didn't buy it at Crown") and Walden Books. Or at the end of a bus ride Olsson's, where I worked for a few years. Borders came in in the early 90s and didn't honestly have anything more than the idea of healthy independent bookstores to kill. The reality was that they came in and established a market.

Same thing in Kansas City. There were no good, or even barely acceptable, retail bookstores until Borders opened its first store around 1990. There were a few tiny independent bookstores, but they did not have much selection at all.

Before moving to Kansas City in 1982, we had been used to large college towns and having access to a variety of good bookstores. We were shocked when we moved here that a city of almost 2 million people had no comprehensive, good bookstore. When Borders opened its first store it was like a dream come true, what we had been used to before moving to Kansas City.

Nim Chimpsky · October-12th-2007, 12:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hot Ptah

Before moving to Kansas City in 1982, we had been used to large college towns and having access to a variety of good bookstores.

Isn't Kansas City a 'large college town'?

Hot Ptah · October-12th-2007, 12:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nim Chimpsky

Isn't Kansas City a 'large college town'?

No. There is no large university here. The University of Missouri-Kansas City is a commuter school of about 10,000 students. That is the largest university. There is no large university cultural influence in Kansas City.

The University of Kansas and University of Missouri are in separate cities, each a significant distance away.