Updating the independent record shop model

I regularly read that independent record shops should “update their model” to allow for the “changing times” but at the very core of independent record shops have always been the fans. When Avalanche first started I can still remember we had three Christian Death fans and seven Cardiacs fans. Good independent shops were run by people who cared about music selling to people who cared about music. 

If independent shops are reduced to selling to casual fans and passers by and subsidising their income by selling online on Amazon and eBay then their heart has already been taken out. Selling tickets and second hand can certainly help but selling “new” music was as much what made an independent shop as it being independently owned. An independent shop without the fans is maybe better off closing.

Answers on a postcard or moving forward possibly by email.