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Post by Dr W.F.T Blundershart III on Dec 31, 2020 6:45:03 GMT
I see Flying Nun opened their own store "Flying Out" which looks to be located about 20 metres off K rd.  Fahhhking eye-watering prices in NZ though, jesus, $50 records are considered "on sale". The same pressings of $50 records you can buy on discogs for $15 or $20. Doesnt everyone just cut out the middleman and fucken buy the things online instead? |
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Post by fuckface on Dec 31, 2020 7:04:35 GMT
yeah, fuck that place and its $50 records
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Post by Dr W.F.T Blundershart III on Nov 26, 2021 4:59:10 GMT
after casually crushing my dreams of opening a part-time record shop a couple of years ago, Camp Leader offhandedly mentioned the idea again last night. Which of course set my brain on fire once again and led to me lying awake half the night. talk me off the edge cunts. the place is still vacant. it is stupidly small. 30,000 yen a month with 8,000 "hallway lighting charge" (?) that I reckon could be negotiable. Its on the 3rd floor of a basically empty building right on a massivly busy road where every cunt parked at the lights will be able to see the fucker. actual pics I took. view from front door:    my harebrained idea was work like a dog at my current reg jobs Wed, Thu and Fri then open Sat-Tues. Plus uni hols more opening hours. |
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Post by Ladyfingers on Nov 26, 2021 7:26:59 GMT
Offer Japanese discs at a reasonable price with reasonable shipping on Discogs and you might do okay. Every bloody non-Japanese reseller on there is charging $75 for something I can see going for $12 on Amazon Japan.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Nov 26, 2021 8:13:33 GMT
...........give a go chief.........get it out of your system......you could hit a gold mine there..........or not sell a damn thing.........you won't know until you try it.
...........good luck!
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Post by Dr W.F.T Blundershart III on Nov 26, 2021 9:21:33 GMT
Offer Japanese discs at a reasonable price with reasonable shipping on Discogs and you might do okay. I've been doing that on discogs for 10 years but its dead as shit. My theory is the site is fucked4life now too. The unholy clusterfuck of Brexit rogering up distribution, insane shipping prices, even more insane european VAT rates (30% ffs) and discogs own idiotic shipping template rendering most of the site's items in the "greys" for large swathes of the world = it7s all ground to a halt. Yeah sounds like this "Kupiku" guy. 0bin.net/paste/4-K1HxAe#OJo67i6qGf1SnXSd3J8RtZ6psNWV-rK7Qt1sN35W3wnDropshipper from hell. Big Business Cunt funding his swiss chalet one $75 cd at a time. And he doesn't sell inside Japan. LOLL. Presumably because he knows some disgruntled customers will find his place and beat the fucking shit out of him for being such a pond scum cunt |
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Post by Dr W.F.T Blundershart III on Nov 26, 2021 9:28:01 GMT
...........give a go chief.........get it out of your system......you could hit a gold mine there..........or not sell a damn thing.........you won't know until you try it. ...........good luck! Solid advice, squire. Yeah, I know how stupid it is. I've done it before. When there's no customers (most of the fucken time) it's a boring as shit retail gig. "Get it out of your system" is right. I probably wouldnt sell a damn thing....... but would be the master of my domain. A place I actually want to go to.I want something to look forward to in my dogshit life. Not just work my braindeadening skullfuck simpleton jobs then come home and watch garbage on Netflix and wait to die. |
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Post by Dr W.F.T Blundershart III on Nov 27, 2021 0:13:35 GMT
pros:- escape wife
- crank tunes
- dick around
- be my own boss
- yak with punters
- have a place for my old git pals to hang out
- avoid real work
- buy unwanted records off punters dirt cheap
- have something to look forward to every day
I learnt a lot from my last time round rogering everything up. Mainly that you need at least 10K items before you even start
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Post by Dr W.F.T Blundershart III on Nov 27, 2021 0:25:43 GMT
more rando thoughts:
- I wouldnt even consider it if the rent was say, 50 or 60,000 yen a month. But 30,000? I can make that in a day at one of my other jobs. It's basically just a peaceful field-of-dreams place to go.
- Most J-realtors dont even consider renting to non-Japanese. It was a miracle they showed me that place pictured above. Gaijin = flight risk.
- I thought about a collective of sorts but with pissheads divvying up the meagre profits and sussing out who contributed what stock amidst a fog of lager it could all turn to custard real quick
- From experience, you know who comes in to these places? The mentally ill. They stay for HOURS to chat and storekeeps are generally too polite to tell them to FUCK OFF. They cannot read the air and never buy anything
- CD's? They are insanely cheap wholesale these days (US$6, and lower) but I dont know how in demand different genres are with Japanese punters. 1st gen emo is still weirdly huge over here. Mineral, Boy's Life, Promise Ring etc. Outside Japan cd's are pretty much just shiny coasters?
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Post by Ladyfingers on Nov 27, 2021 5:32:26 GMT
I buy everything on CD to rip it. CDs of unusual records are far, far pricier than vinyl copies.
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Post by Dr W.F.T Blundershart III on Nov 27, 2021 5:36:11 GMT
I buy everything on CD to rip it. Is this common amongst you youngsters? I wonder if everyone does it... |
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Post by Ladyfingers on Nov 27, 2021 5:59:19 GMT
No, most people just nick digital copies from SoulSeek. I happen to like older discs because they haven't been over-compressed like modern re-releases, and most digital downloads are just the latest, shit-sounding master.
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nikkeisindex
in the market for yet another kaftan
Posts: 377 
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Post by nikkeisindex on Nov 27, 2021 16:31:44 GMT
Here are some thoughts that may or may not be of any insight.
I think your Sat - Tues plan is not crazy. When I worked in a store in the US ages ago we made pretty much any significant amount of money on weekends. If you're a Disk Union in a hot location you may get that mid-week day traffic but those small neighborhood shops usually seemed dead. If you could get Friday evening in the mix you'd probably be open at all the key times.
Marking up new inventory does not seem like a sustainable business model. You make $2 or maybe $5 bucks off a release? You have to do some serious turnover for that to work. So to me the secret of a store is sourcing old stuff cheap and flipping for a serious % mark-up. (I'm guessing you're well aware...)
Lastly it is a lot of physical work. Someone's gotta move and sort and price and box and unbox all the shit, and I found myself on my feet 90%+ of the day which even as a young guy, did add up.
Still fun to think about. If you could get to a point where your 1/2 week scheme was starting to turn a profit it seems feasible to re-asses and do it full time, which would be amazing.
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Post by Dr W.F.T Blundershart III on Nov 27, 2021 23:02:49 GMT
Here are some thoughts that may or may not be of any insight. I think your Sat - Tues plan is not crazy. When I worked in a store in the US ages ago we made pretty much any significant amount of money on weekends. If you're a Disk Union in a hot location you may get that mid-week day traffic but those small neighborhood shops usually seemed dead. If you could get Friday evening in the mix you'd probably be open at all the key times. Marking up new inventory does not seem like a sustainable business model. You make $2 or maybe $5 bucks off a release? You have to do some serious turnover for that to work. So to me the secret of a store is sourcing old stuff cheap and flipping for a serious % mark-up. (I'm guessing you're well aware...) Nope, NO money to be made at all from stocking new records when so many of them cost US$20+ wholesale. But because I'm an idiot I still do wholesale orders anyway. Who knows, could be a point of difference as every other store in town is a 70's classic rock museum that doesnt stock anything made after 1998 negs: - cloistering myself away in virtual solitary confinement in that little bedsit room for hours and it's never going to be more than a hobby that will likely cost me money. - Camp Leader. When she doesnt like something, or feels she's losing control of her dominance, her go-to move is simply to start crying. To make herself the victim. That's what she did last time I started down this path a couple of years ago. I immediately said ffs, just forget about the whole thing if its that terrible for you. And that was the last we ever mentioned it. - iHomo 10k in stock is required to start. I'm barely at 3K. Could be years before I accrue that many records, if ever. - requires a non-immediate family guarantor. And I'm fucked if I know who that is. I think there's some sort of independent company that does it? Probably for an exorbitant fee - my shit Japanese. Enough to muddle by but not enough to have a specific conversation about the finer points of contractual arsefucking - Brick and mortar? LOL. We have Amazon now, moran. - Rona has arsefucked the economy and non-essential spending? - Rona is not going away. The variants multiply over the years. **REMAIN INDOORS**
- my hifi noise if some poor cunt moves into the next room of the Chinese bedsit hovel building - in Japan the customer is always right. Irate punters bringing in returns due to a smeg of dirt and having a shout at me. I don't think insurance will cover me for kicking some scammy fuck down 3 flights of stairs. - the language leech conundrum. "Why pay 10,000 yen an hour at the local language school? I'll just go practice with dingus whitey in that stupid tiny record shop. It's not like he can walk away from my conversation! Plus he'll have to be polite to me cos he'll think I might buy something! LOL! Like fuck I will!"tl/dr I've always been 80% against this idea. Skeptical. I might be an airy-headed dreamy cunt with zero common sense but I aint no risk taker. Not enough of a big earning high flyer for that malarkie |
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Post by Dr W.F.T Blundershart III on Nov 27, 2021 23:05:23 GMT
This is crucial info thanks iHomo. Fridays (and Thurs) I could potentially open from, say, 5-8.
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nikkeisindex
in the market for yet another kaftan
Posts: 377
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Post by nikkeisindex on Nov 28, 2021 0:36:03 GMT
All good points, especially about language.
And Rona. Fuck I felt like we had good chances of getting over for a visit but as time ticks I can't see Japan going into a foreigner free-for-all next spring and I also can't quarantine for 10 days...
My version of this was probably less ambitious but maybe more practical - I always thought if I wanted to stay I'd try to open a school. I mean I'm sure anyone who has taught has done the math if you book a few 5 person classes for 3000 an hr, that's a pretty sweet 3 hr day. My last AEON manager was pretty dope so I always had her tagged as someone I'd try to get to go in on it for the Japaneseness and practicality.
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sukebegg
Whacked it raw to Schindler's List
熟女の力
Posts: 857
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Post by sukebegg on Nov 28, 2021 9:32:45 GMT
My good friend Nass Ramone in Hiroshima just celebrated 15 years of his tiny DUMB Records in Hiroshima. He serves good food and booze, with half the space used for eating and drinking, plus acoustic shows, so I don't think he makes much from the smattering of records and CDs - Mostly pop-punk and adjacent. He's well-ensconced in the local and national punk scene, with a long-running band and label.
But being a bar, it also means not closing at 10 PM on Saturday night but rather passing out on the floor at 4 am...
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sukebegg
Whacked it raw to Schindler's List
熟女の力
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Post by sukebegg on Nov 28, 2021 9:35:25 GMT
All good points, especially about language. And Rona. Fuck I felt like we had good chances of getting over for a visit but as time ticks I can't see Japan going into a foreigner free-for-all next spring and I also can't quarantine for 10 days... OT I think they bumped quarantine for the fully vaxed to three days but hey here comes a Greek letter I have never heard of...See what winter brings, but I am hoping best-case scenario to be able to get in on my "expired" spousal visa in June... |
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Post by Dr W.F.T Blundershart III on Nov 28, 2021 10:28:52 GMT
My version of this was probably less ambitious but maybe more practical - I always thought if I wanted to stay I'd try to open a school. I mean I'm sure anyone who has taught has done the math if you book a few 5 person classes for 3000 an hr, that's a pretty sweet 3 hr day. Woah, 3,000 yen each so 15,000 yen an hour? 3x a day so 45,000 yen for the day? That would be a hell of a gig. |
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sukebegg
Whacked it raw to Schindler's List
熟女の力
Posts: 857
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Post by sukebegg on Nov 28, 2021 12:02:19 GMT
My version of this was probably less ambitious but maybe more practical - I always thought if I wanted to stay I'd try to open a school. I mean I'm sure anyone who has taught has done the math if you book a few 5 person classes for 3000 an hr, that's a pretty sweet 3 hr day. Woah, 3,000 yen each so 15,000 yen an hour? 3x a day so 45,000 yen for the day? That would be a hell of a gig. How do you feel about putting on a smock?   I never made more than ichi-man a ceremony (who would be happy getting married by this serial killer!?), which is about an hour's work with rehearsal, but I knew a dude getting enough so that it was his prime gig in the early naughties. 30 to 60+ man/month and only weekends and holidays...But I imagine them fat dayz be long gone, and I would sweat through it every fucking time. I'll add some stuff in that other thread... |
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Post by Dr W.F.T Blundershart III on Nov 28, 2021 12:03:51 GMT
Jesus, who am I kidding, I've only got barely 2,000 records these days.
10,000 to start a shop?
If I somehow buy 10 a week thats 500 a year.
16 years to get to 8,000 more records.
LOL.
MoRaN.
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Post by Dr W.F.T Blundershart III on Nov 28, 2021 12:12:18 GMT
Woah, 3,000 yen each so 15,000 yen an hour? 3x a day so 45,000 yen for the day? That would be a hell of a gig. How do you feel about putting on a smock? (who would be happy getting married by this serial killer!?) He looks like he'd do a mean exorcism. Now that I think about some of my uni co-workers with lots of classes could be racking up the dough if they werent all 60 years old paying for ex-wives and also their kindergarten aged sprogs c/o their new wives. DUMB. Could feasibly have schedules with 1st and 2nd period classes, at 11,000 yen a class, and knock off for the day at fucking lunchtime with 22,000 yen in the pocket. 440,000 yen a month and you never work past 12pm? Fahk that would be sweet. |
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nikkeisindex
in the market for yet another kaftan
Posts: 377
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Post by nikkeisindex on Nov 28, 2021 17:05:45 GMT
OT I think they bumped quarantine for the fully vaxed to three days but hey here comes a Greek letter I have never heard of...See what winter brings, but I am hoping best-case scenario to be able to get in on my "expired" spousal visa in June... PS I am gay I don't think so, anyway US Embassy page says 1) you cannot come at all 2) even if you can it's 10 days and unlikely to change soon. jp.usembassy.gov/covid-19-information/Priest picture is fucking sweet. Woah, 3,000 yen each so 15,000 yen an hour? 3x a day so 45,000 yen for the day? That would be a hell of a gig. PS I am gay I don't think this is that outrageous. I taught 7(?) classes a day like this at AEON and I'm very confident the students were paying more. To be fair, AEON provided the assistance of finding the students and providing that comfortable Japanese barrier before being let loose with the wild gaijin sensei. But I think 3(+) a day at lower prices is not unrealistic, especially if you could provide that same layer of Japanese customer service. Which of course you'd pay for, along with rent, advertising, etc. Still, long term, I think it would pay off nicely. |
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Post by Dr W.F.T Blundershart III on Nov 29, 2021 0:12:27 GMT
Woah, 3,000 yen each so 15,000 yen an hour? 3x a day so 45,000 yen for the day? That would be a hell of a gig. PS I am gay4lifeIhomo I don't think this is that outrageous. I taught 7(?) classes a day like this at AEON and I'm very confident the students were paying more. To be fair, AEON provided the assistance of finding the students and providing that comfortable Japanese barrier before being let loose with the wild gaijin sensei. But I think 3(+) a day at lower prices is not unrealistic, especially if you could provide that same layer of Japanese customer service. Which of course you'd pay for, along with rent, advertising, etc. Still, long term, I think it would pay off nicely. Yeah, you're right, every gaijin in Japan has daydreamed the sums. "If I could just find 5 people for a group lesson, they pay 2,000 yen an hour each..." It's not outrageous. Have to wonder how often it happens though. 10k an hour was the standard private lesson rate at my eikaiwa. I remember 1 guy came in, an absolute mummy's boy incel sham of a man, aged about 40, unemployable, never left home, just a thick, dull, dull, dull, plankton sample of a man. Anyway, he was going to America for a week. His first time off the rock, first time ever away from mummy's apron strings and they fuckign got ME to teach him a MASSIVE batch of private lessons. Every fuckign day for about a month. Just excruciating. Drills, repeat, say after me. I hope he got mugged and raped on his first day in Jesusland. Did his mummy pay 10,000 a lesson every day for a whole fuckign month? FFS. |
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nikkeisindex
in the market for yet another kaftan
Posts: 377
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Post by nikkeisindex on Nov 29, 2021 16:42:43 GMT
One of the last good places I worked was this quirky old lady who was the only person I ever worked for who would pay me the same rate regardless of whether or not the students showed up, and let me go home if they didn't. She dead now but I remember her fondly. I showed up when I didn't have any lessons and rather than say "Hey dipshit get out of here" she just let me wander around the 3 already-filled cubicles, occasionally smirking and sing-songing "Something strange..."
I had this one private lesson, I guess they were all private lessons there, but this guy was... so sad and painful. As you said just BLAND. I mean like 40, balding, pudgy (I'm not trying to be mean on physical appearance, I'm just saying it didn't help with the rest of his vibe), lived at home with his parents, and just was like pulling teeth. What did you do this week? Worked. How did you celebrate New Year's? I had one small cup of sake with my parents. Jesus Christ dude. I hope that he took advantage of the country's numerous prostitution opportunities and didn't serial murder women as his actual real hobby.
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Post by Dr W.F.T Blundershart III on Nov 29, 2021 22:07:17 GMT
I had this one private lesson, I guess they were all private lessons there, but this guy was... so sad and painful. As you said just BLAND. I mean like 40, balding, pudgy (I'm not trying to be mean on physical appearance, I'm just saying it didn't help with the rest of his vibe), lived at home with his parents, and just was like pulling teeth. What did you do this week? Worked. How did you celebrate New Year's? I had one small cup of sake with my parents. Jesus Christ dude. I hope that he took advantage of the country's numerous prostitution opportunities and didn't serial murder women as his actual real hobby. The rent-a-friend crowd vibe was strong with these places. "Things will be different for me in this other language"
Yeah, well, they're fucking not are they cunt. |
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Post by Dr W.F.T Blundershart III on Dec 19, 2021 0:33:58 GMT
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Post by Dr W.F.T Blundershart III on Dec 27, 2021 23:53:22 GMT
Uh oh. I am too broke for this shit  |
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Post by Dr W.F.T Blundershart III on Dec 30, 2021 1:41:42 GMT
Splurged a bit on the BEACH BOYS "Holland" LP which, in my tiny mind, I'd long thought of as their final worthwhile release.
I like miserable music but this is some maudlin, makeshift shit right here. Better fucken grow on me, Wilson.
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nikkeisindex
in the market for yet another kaftan
Posts: 377
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Post by nikkeisindex on Jan 3, 2022 14:54:13 GMT
I have spent $300 on a 7" twice. Once was the Haskells or the Haskels, obviously means a lot to me since I can't spell it from memory, Taking The City By Storm, the Milwaukee band. I know there is another band by the same name from Texas and their 7" is good too -- not that one.
Headline: It didn't feel good.
I can't justify this. I bought a house so now I pay $2400 a month in mortgage (split w/ Camp Leader, so only like $300/mo more than I was paying for a 1-bedroom before).
Then I bought X-Conz Do Dead People Tan for Y28,000. In part I figured the seller would be trustworthy because I'm racist and the seller was Japanese. This is top dollar ever paid for this record but I don't think I'll ever get a chance to get it cheaper.
Anyway, life is not disposable income and we all have to pay bills and I'll never retire because I spent the bulk of my earning career years dicking around in Tokyo. I'd argue worth it but ask me again when I'm 65 sweating some $600 copy of some idiotic record.
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