Save The Empire

Before I start I must point out that the following is purely anecdotal and speculative, as with almost all blogs. It may come to pass that it is speculative fiction. If so, lemme know.

I lament the loss of independent retailers who sell music, movies and video games in Australia. I'm a nerd, so I have a self-righteous notion that I know everything there is to know about cult entertainment. That's just how nerds work. It's fairly well documented in the memories of anyone over 20 that there used to be way more cool little shops in and around the city. Little shops that sold one or a combination of the following: weird Japanese music; strange Faces of Death type VHS tapes; imported games for console systems that never came out in Oz; and bongs. Lots and lots of bongs.

They're still around, but in ever decreasing numbers. They totter on the brink like endangered animals. My heavily nostalgic generation pop in whenever we can, paying about the same or a little extra to keep the indy alive. Obsessed greenies and zoo keepers who force pandas to mate because we'd hate to see them go. In Melbourne, they're still around. Polyester Records and Books. Missing Link. Radical Records out in Dandenong.

Some of them are no longer with us.

For me, the big hit was Gaslight Records. It used to sit on Bourke Street until the wide garage doors were locked shut forever (or until some handbag place took over). This was the first time I noticed the indy was slowly disappearing. iPods were just starting to build momentum and the idea of buying MP3s online was starting to become a reality. Napster had been killed but Kazaa was still untouched. Ridiculous panic hadn't blurted out of the majors yet, but it was starting to bubble at the lips. JB HiFi and Sanity were everywhere. This was before Virgin bought both Sanity and HMV, but after Brashs left and JB took over. Gaslight was closed down, out of business. I spoke to the owner of another little indy and he told me it was because of a combination of city rent, online music and the majors squeezing out all the little guys. This grizzled dude who I completely forget now predicted all his ilk would go down eventually. Globalisation and giant conglomerates, blah blah. I was surprised. I'd always thought majors and minors could co-exist. Then Games Rush at Highpoint got beaten down after a vicious gang-banging by Electronics Boutique (now EB Games) and JB, both offering video games either cheaper or with better advertising, irrespectively. We loved Games Rush! They had a massive range of second-hand N64 cartridges, cool rewards programs through the card you signed up for and they let you trade in for credit. Games Trader filled the void and they're pretty good, but their blinding, heavenly-white-lit chains aren't the same as that one dingy, poorly decorated place I miss so much.

Why? The culture. The atmosphere. The sense that these people around me - the manager behind the desk with hair grey before his time, his geeky employee with a Zerg t-shirt, the black clad metal head with knee length shorts, the snooty chick in the beret - wankers though we are, these people and I know what we're looking at, talking about, buying. We care about these silly records, these dumb DVDs, these buggy cartridges.

I liked that the people at these stores knew more than me. I was educated. I was shown new things not because they wanted to sell the latest shipment, but because the product was exciting, suited me or was damn cool. Coming back and telling the same guy his recommendation was awesome. The ability to browse without feeling pressure to buy. Getting to know the people behind the counter, maybe even the regular customers. Tarantino and Randall both loved what they did because they got to do what they loved - watch movies all day. I still daydream about owning a record store, a DVD shop, a video games emporium. Knowing what they love made them people in the know.

On the flip side are the majors, the Great Evil that arrives every 5000 years to extinguish life. This time, Leeloo never made it past the building dive and we're stuck with JB, Virgin and EB. Inside are employees, morons who know everything about anything except games, movies and music. I get frustrated when I ask for the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles live action and get given the TMNT animated flick. I get annoyed when they've never heard of the Criterion Collection. Elliot Smith being nominated for an Oscar but his music missing from JB, HMV and Sanity's "massive range" when one of my friends went in to buy one of his albums for a birthday present.

OK. These employees are just doing it for the money. They need work. I can't be too hard on them for not knowing their shit (though I do secretly expect them to). They aren't hired for that. That's why these companies buy computer databases. But that's the point: these companies simply aren't what the indy can be and the majors never intended to be. They are large capitalist machines that do what they need to do to to meet mass demand. If I want in-depth knowledge I should go to an indy. But what happens if those guys can't afford to go on or are bought out and when we blink, the endangered species are extinct? In this environment, there's really no way an indy can spring back once it's gone. The atmosphere of community is a beautiful thing and I hope upon hope that we can somehow retain it, rather than becoming obese consumers floating around on couch TVs and interacting through screens.

Support your local. Go buy something from them.
And for bonus points, remember: any money made off of a second-hand sale goes 100% to the store. EB mark up a shit load as it is. They don't need the money. The little Games Trader in Moonee Ponds does, so buy a second-hander from him instead.
Buy your second-hand purchases from indy folk. They need the gorgonzola.

[I must admit that Games Trader are pretty good. They represent the shining hope that larger chains can retain product knowledge and community respect. On a side note, have you noticed Time Zone and Intencity arcades seem to be shrinking while independent arcade places continue on in shopping centres? Apparently its more common that independent arcade games providers (who are notoriously cut-throat and ruthless) supply sole spaces with games. Maybe this is the one industry where the reverse is true.]


SPECIAL FEATURE: While looking up info for this blog, I found this series of awesome ads for various consoles, games and accessories of the past.
http://www.gametraders.com.au/#retro
My faves were the Power Glove and Super Smash Bros.

Postscript: I don't like the film Empire Records (except for LaPaglia's drumming). I couldn't help but use it for the title of this post because it's so damn fitting. Sorry.