#562.5: The Sunrise Returns

GETTING MORE TALE #562.5: The Sunrise Returns

I was very saddened when Sunrise records shuttered most of their stores nationwide, including my regular outlet at Fairview Mall.  Not so much when the HMVs started closing.  I haven’t spent any money at an HMV in years.  Recently, Sunrise announced they would be taking over several of the old HMV locations, including the one at Fairview mall.  Yes, Sunrise has finally returned to Fairview.

Sunrise re-opened a few days after Record Store Day in a case of bad timing, but they still had some RSD stock.  I set aside my Saturday morning to immerse myself in their inventory.  As expected they had plenty of vinyl, displayed front and center when you enter the store.  It’s a good selection of the usual suspects priced in the mid-$30s.  Their vinyl catalogue selection was much better than the same for CD.  Flipping through the Kiss LPs, they had 15 or so titles from the catalogue including some of the lesser known ones such as Carnival of Souls.  Then I flipped through Deep Purple on CD.  Disappointingly, they had five copies of the hits disc Icon, one copy of In Rock (standard edition) and one copy of The Very Best Of.  The same issue plagued many artists in the CD section:  five copies of Icon, but very few actual albums on CD.   This wasn’t the case across the board.  There was a healthy Metallica section and they had all the Oasis deluxe editions.  One deluxe that I was looking for was the four disc Black Sabbath Paranoid reissue, but all they had was the double CD (and 180 gram vinyl of course).

They staff were friendly and passed the test.  They approached me and asked if I needed help, I didn’t need to ask them, and they waited a reasonable amount of time.  Unfortunately their system isn’t quite up and running yet.  No inventory lookup.  But they tried.  You can’t judge a store too harshly a few days into their first week.  They had a promotional sale on:  Buy something on vinyl and get $5 off a T-shirt.  They had a lot of cool T-shirts, (a lot!) but if there is one thing I don’t need right now, it’s more T-shirts.  They even had brand new Star Wars turntables.  Star Wars turntables?

The one surprise I saw was in the Mr. Bungle section.  They had five copies of their legendary debut album, at a steal of $5.99 each.  Compare that with $21 on Amazon.

I hope Sunrise does well.  They made a few sales while I was there, and the store was never empty.  It was funny to listen to the people browsing.  “Is that a CD?”  “No, it’s a seven inch record.”  “NO WAY!”

Way indeed.  Welcome back Sunrise.

SUNRISE SCORES:

Four finds from four different genres.

Brant Bjork – Tao of the Devil CD – $18.99 (compared to $24.28 on Amazon.ca)

Oasis – Be Here Now 3 CD deluxe – $32.99 (compared to $31.45 on Amazon.ca)

Kiss – Music From the Elder 180 gram LP reissue – $32.99 (compared to $33.79 on Amazon.ca)

Steve Earle & the Dukes – The Continental Club 7″ RSD 2017 single – $11.99 (not available on Amazon.ca)

 

 

27 comments

  1. I hope they do well.
    However the prices I thought were out to lunch. I was in a hurry but I walked out empty handed. The Ramones RSD I noticed was $30 more than the local record store.
    I did not see that Steve Earle record, but every RSD item I saw was priced more than the local record store. This seems wrong to me because a chain can buy in bulk and get a better price, but turns around and sells for more.
    My bet is that teens are their biggest buyers, and the teens that shop there never shop around.

    As for HMV, they were not perfect, but they had a pretty good selection of music, and had 2/$10, 2/$15 and 2/$20. They went under and had better prices and better selection. I don’t know. I might give them another shot, but will probably stick to my local record store, or Amazon. Better selection, better prices, good music to listen to while shopping, and not being crowded by annoying teens.

    I usually try and get the Amazon free shipping, but sometimes it is much cheaper to pay the $3.49 per item.
    Many of the items seem like $24 cds become $10 cds with paid shipping.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. I was never a fan of HMV’s 2-fer sales. One album I would want, and then to get two I’d have to buy something I didn’t want. I think the last time, I got Jethro Tull’s Too Old to Rock and Roll remastered. But they had no more Tull to go with it, so I bought a Kiss album I already had.

      I didn’t see the Ramones RSD thing, but most of what I priced was cheaper than Amazon. The only one that wasn’t was the Oasis deluxe, by 80 cents, so I’ll definitely be going back. Some things weren’t cheaper, like those stupid Icon sets which I hope they ditch very quickly. They were everywhere. Every artist had the stupid Icon albums in their sections.

      As for the teens, there were no teens in sight at 10:30 am on a Saturday. BONUS.

      Yeah, I’m happy. I hope they do well.

      Like

      Reply

  2. They are opening shop here in TBAY as well. Since they have a ton of stores open the stock must be thin to spread around as it must be a huge undertaking.
    A guy I work with his daughter was rehired by Sunrise after the HMV debacle and even though they haven’t opened up here yet they are telling her she can work up to 40 hrs a week to the get the store ready. And they have been on time with paying staff as well…
    Good to see….
    Hopefully this works out…

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  3. I wonder if they opened in the Upper Canada Mall in Newmarket. HMV was closing there a couple of months ago and we picked up a couple of things then. Good luck to them. It seems the only time I browse for records lately is if the store is closing down.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  4. They’ve got two locations that I know of here in Ottawa but hope they open more. I’ve been to the one location and the prices on vinyl were relatively reasonable but I think it’ll be a while until they get their stock levels to something reasonable.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. Yes and that could take time. Generally you want to sell stock and replace it with different stock…not just add and add. It was disappointing to see so many Icon sets. This store is in the same plaza as Walmart. You can find all those Icons there, and more. Sunrise should have instead stocked Machine Head, Made in Japan, and the new Deep Purple instead of five copies of Icon. But it’s also possible that part of their stock is made up of dumpage from other stores.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  5. You guys are all lucky! I have neither where I live. HMV closed down years ago, so now we are left mostly with independent music shops. Browsing is not much fun in these tiny places. Haha! Plus I’ll be hard pressed to find any metal albums anyway. Always thankful for the Internet! 😊

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. Yes, as Marillion say “Thank God for the Internet!”

      Too bad you don’t have a good local store. Maybe one day somebody will open a big one again. The vinyl resurgence is making that happen in places.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

      1. Yes! There are a number of new vinyl stores popping up over here. But I’m a CD kind of fan, and don’t have a vinyl collection… yet. ;)

        Like

        Reply

  7. Hooray! I’m happiest about this return because it’ll mean we have a record store in my town. When the HMV left, that was it – well, there’s that used shop downtown but… anyway, Sunrise it is!

    Ours has a Coming Soon on the door, but I’ve heard estimates of June or July. I hope it’s not that long.

    I also hope they have that Mr. Bungle CD when ours opens. I’d totally drop $6 on that (I need it)!

    Like

    Reply

Rock a Reply