In yesterday’s O, there was an article about the venerable Portland institution Music Millennium. With the rise of music downloads and mail order, they have seen a hit in the last 10 years to their bottom line. The article goes on to state the owners are going to try something different in order to keep the store open and viable.
One thing I would suggest - stop paying the Willamette Week so much money for ads. It was interesting seeing this article yesterday in the O and then picking up WW and seeing 3 full pages, 1 1/2 page and 1 1/4 page ads for MM. It seems a little strange to keep throwing money at this type of advertising if you’re still seeing such a drop in CD sales. But maybe these ads were paid for awhile ago or are for a special sale or something. I’ll give them that. Maybe in the next few months, we will see a shift in their business model to compete with the age of the interweb.
Some thoughts and suggestions:

Cater to the younger crowd - you may think you are, but I have always got the impression MM was an old folks record store - especially since they have bands like Chicago do live in store performances.

Music Download Kiosks - I don’t know, do these exist? The thought of someone strolling by doing their trendy-3rd shopping - they may not want to buy a cd or vintage album, but may want to download some tracks to go.

Used CDs - They mention this in the article. Everyday Music has this working well for them. We go there if we really need a CD and can usually find it on the cheap. Yet, it’s a fickle business.

Cutting edge - It seems every week there is a new format for recorded music - Blue Ray, HD, SuperAudio (I have no idea what I’m talking about here, so haters step off.) My point is to cater to the audiophiles who have the money to spend on this “higher quality” of music.

I think there is a place for MM in Portland and it would be sad to see them go. I think they are on the right track with a shift in business model. Good luck guys.