Despite having to compete with popular online music services, CD Island on Merrick Road continues to thrive. They do so by simple market adaption. Instead of selling exclusively brand new CDs, the likes of which have seen a decrease in sales in recent years, the store sells mostly used albums, catering to every musical taste. They also carry a wide selection of DVD’s. Here, owner Doug Mashkow describes what it’s like to run a record store in the Internet age.
How does a traditional record store survive in the ‘age of iTunes’?
Ninety percent of (our items) are used. What we specialize in is buying people’s unwanted CD’s and games and selling them that way. With the way new CD’s are priced, I can’t imagine surviving as a new CD seller alone. We are also an Amazon vendor. We buy everyone’s unwanted stuff from Rockville Centre and sell it on Amazon.
Interested in local real estate?Subscribe to Patch's new newsletter to be the first to know about open houses, new listings and more.
What does your store provide customers that online stores cannot?
There’s a lot of out of print CD’s that you can’t find. (In) a lot of categories like classical, jazz and blues, once a CD goes out of print, it’s not available on iTunes or anywhere else. You have to come in here and dig through the racks to find them. Right now, we have a ton of classical in and the majority of what came in is long out of print.
Interested in local real estate?Subscribe to Patch's new newsletter to be the first to know about open houses, new listings and more.
What is the most popular genre of music in your store?
There’s a little of everything. The great thing is that we are open to taking any type of music. You can find everything from classical to world music to jazz to standard pop.
What kind of discounts do you offer?
There is a loyal customer card. There’s a yearly fee and you get (offers like) 'buy three, get one free.’ If people are seriously buying a lot, it pays for itself.
Are many of your customers regulars?
Yes. We have a judge that comes in all the time looking for classical music. We have a projectionist from a local movie theater that always comes in looking for soundtracks. You get to know what they want and when something comes in, you know that they’re going to come in to get it.
