Retail Trade

Disappearing Ink: What will happen to all the books?

City Alderman Wants to End Booze Sales at Gas Stations

"One for you. One for me!" That was Homer Simpson's fantasy of an alcohol-fueled car, and according to 24th Ward Alderman Scott Ogilvie, the city's current laws allowing liquor sales at gas stations is providing a similar temptation. "Right now, you can walk into a gas station, you can buy prepack ... More >>

Fudging The Numbers With Last.Fm

Art and life co-habitate, informing, imitating, and enriching each other constantly. Each week in Better Living Through Music, RFT Music writer Ryan Wasoba explores this symbiotic relationship. I was thrilled five-ish years ago when I found out about Last.fm, the music recommendation service that d ... More >>

Amazon Agrees to Pay Sales Tax in Texas; What About in Missouri?

On Monday, the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts and Amazon jointly announced they had struck a deal for the internet retailer to begin paying sales tax in the Lone Star state. Amazon has a distribution center in Irving, Texas, but has never paid sales tax for products shipped from the facility b ... More >>

A Comprehensive Guide to Record Store Day 2012

This just in: Vinyl is BACK! Now in its fifth year, Record Store Day has made its international mark, recognized by labels, bands, and collectors worldwide. Celebrating the cultural impact of the independent record store, RSD offers everything from live performances to special discounts to limited e ... More >>

Damn the Man - Save the Empire

Mayor Alvin Parks Rethinks ESL's Late-Night Liquor Sales in Wake of Shootings

​East St. Louis native and Illinois Senator Dick Durbin last month urged Mayor Alvin Parks to end the city's late-night liquor sales in the hopes that it would cut down on violent crime. As he had done in the past, Parks rejected the notion. But after two separate shootings long after midnight thi ... More >>

Megaupload Goes Down: Five Lost Music-Stealing Technologies

It's true: Megaupload has been gone an entire week, and for the millions of people who used the site because they like their totally legal for-pay cloud storage to come equipped with fake download links and massive flash banner ads I'm sure things have been difficult. For copyright holders, massiv ... More >>

Spy Games and Celebrity Sightings at St. Louis-Area Bookstores

image viaWatch out, she may be packing an iPhone.​As everybody knows, the Christmas-shopping season is the most hectic time to be in retail -- as both a seller and as a consumer -- and this year, there's an extra frisson of excitement in St. Louis bookstores, thanks to some corporate espionage ... More >>

CDC Identifies Source of E. Coli Outbreak

​Romaine lettuce sold at an area grocery chain and sourced from a specific farm was the source of the E. coli outbreak that sickened dozens in Missouri and several other states earlier this fall, according to a report published yesterday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.The report ... More >>

The Ideal Gift for the Couch Potato Who Has Everything

What more can we say, besides to add that it is Cyber Monday so it would be practically un-American not to take a few minutes out of your workday and purchase a case of genuine Dunder Mifflin copy paper for your Office-loving loved one? It also happens to be the cheapest brand of paper Quill is offe ... More >>

Borders: The Fallout

image via​Borders has finally decided to put itself out of its misery and allow itself to be liquidated. By the end of September, all the remaining 299 Borders stores (including the six in the St. Louis area) will be gone, leaving 11,700 booksellers, baristas, store managers and corporate empl ... More >>

Spotify's US Launch Approaches; Which Music Service Are You?

​Music fans in the United States don't have a lot to envy of their European brothers and sisters, at least unless they're big fans of Abba or the kind of sticky, glitter-covered dance-pop that usually just makes me really want to leave the youth hostel and brush my teeth. One exception: Spotif ... More >>

Record Store Day 2011: Hot Sellers, Highlights from St. Louis

​As we have already mentioned, Record Store Day 2011 was a massive success, with a couple local stores suggesting it may have been their biggest sales day ever. Most places did plenty to give back to their rabid patrons, offering free food, beer, live music and local celebrity DJ sets througho ... More >>

The Ten Best Things To Do This Weekend in St. Louis: April 15 to 17

​It's the most wonderful time of the year: Record Store Day! For us at A to Z, it's like Christmas, only we're receiving special gifts from Wayne Coyne and Thom Yorke, and enjoying DJ sets and live performances by the best in local music. Which, as far as we're concerned, beats the pants off o ... More >>

This Weekend is Record Store Day in St. Louis

​If your Friday routine doesn't have you checking out our weekly listing of Weekend Best Bets over at our music blog, A to Z, for shame! You're missing out on some great entertainment suggestions.This weekend, it's is all about Record Store Day with radio personalities and DJs spinning their favor ... More >>

Record Store Day Announce 2011 Releases, Ozzy Osbourne Commands Your Attendance

​Record Store Day is a relatively new and relatively awesome Holiday. It's like Christmas for music nerds, only better -- rather than forcible family-togetherness and buying gifts for other people, record collectors are lured with live music, beer and shiny new wax into spending the day with t ... More >>

Missouri Latest State to Push for Online Sales Tax

Local retailers want to wipe that smug smile off those Amazon.com boxes. ​Two state representatives held a press conference today in the University City Loop, calling attention to legislation that would add sales tax to purchases Missouri residents make over the Internet. State representativ ... More >>

AG Chris Koster: 'Tis the Season for Online Scamming

Don't let this guy steal your Christmas.​Hacktivists! Gawker Attacks! Operation Payback! It's a scary cyberworld out there, and you, too, could be a victim of Internet crime. Especially during this season of light, joy and online credit card information. Luckily, we Missourians have an attorney ... More >>

Unwrap This

Wal-Mart Expanding Local Produce Selection

Image via​First, Wal-Mart entered the market for organic produce. Now, the New York Times reports, Wal-Mart plans to expand the amount of local produce it sells. "No other retailer has the ability to make more of a difference than Wal-Mart," the retailer's president and chief executive, Michael T. ... More >>

Eleven Documentaries About Music's Grandest Artifact: The Record Store

I Need That Record chronicles the events that led up to the demise of many record stores​Before there was an iTunes "store" and torrent sites, the record store played a vital part in thousands of people's lives -- a church for the sinners. For some this hasn't changed. But by and large, peop ... More >>

KETC Spotlights Record Store Day, Vintage Vinyl, Dapper RFT Freelancer

On Record Store Day, KETC's "Living St. Louis" filmed a segment about record stores -- and specifically, Vintage Vinyl -- that aired this week. Among the interviewees is the RFT's own Christian Schaeffer, who is looking like quite the record-nerd-mafia don in his get-up. The segment is a nice introd ... More >>

Recap: Record Store Day at Vintage Vinyl and Euclid Records, Saturday, June 17

Dana Smith​As we stood in the slightly elevated perch of Vintage Vinyl's DJ booth, I asked store co-owner Tom "Papa" Ray if Record Store Day was his version of Christmas morning. He thought about it for a second and said, in his inimitable drawl, "You know, I think I like Record Store Day bett ... More >>

Last Collector Standing: Long-time Local Musician (and Current Euclid Records Employee) Rob Wagoner

Jon ScorfinaRob Wagoner, of Bent, Adoring Heirs, Ultraman and Euclid Records fame​Rob Wagoner's record room is quite literally a room dedicated to collecting. Besides his massive 4000-piece record collection (which is painstakingly alphabetized with the loving help of his wife, Kim), his upsta ... More >>

Record Store Day in St. Louis: What's Going on at Vintage Vinyl, Apop Records and Euclid Records?

[Update, April 14, 3 p.m.: Now updated with info on what's going on at Slackers!] On Saturday, April 17, record stores around the country are celebrating Record Store Day -- a time to unplug from iTunes, eMusic and Amazon MP3 (or torrent sites) and purchase tunes in-person. As enticement, Record S ... More >>

Vintage Vinyl Says: "Don't Quit Your Day Job!"

​Record stores have have long counted talented musicians among their ranks. A young Aimee Mann worked the counter at Boston's famous Newbury Comics chain, while locally, Jeff Tweedy worked at Euclid Records during his Uncle Tupelo days. But for this year's Record Store Day -- which takes place ... More >>

Zhu Zhu Pets Big Hit on Cyber Monday

​It's a good time to be an owner/investor in the St. Louis-based toy company Cepia LLC. Internet searches for the company's Zhu Zhu Pets is off the charts today -- Cyber Monday -- the biggest online shopping day of the year. By late this morning Google labeled Zhu Zhu Pets as "on fire" after thous ... More >>

The Noble Writ: Wine Shopping from Afar

A point comes in many wine lovers' lives when they are unable to find a bottle they really want in their local wine shops. It might be a wine from the birth year of a special person, a bottle enjoyed while traveling or just something about which they've read that simply captivates their imagination. ... More >>

Record Store Day at Euclid Records, Vintage Vinyl and aPop Records

Tomorrow is the day, when three independent record stores in town unleash limited-edition vinyl, special movie showings, guest DJs, sales and plenty more carefree shenanigans -- all in the name of Record Store Day! Check back on Sunday or Monday for a slideshow of images from all three stores. But b ... More >>

The Morning Brew: Thursday, 12.4

In today's news: More money to help with the food crisis, the tricky "health halo," and a dispute over reindeer meat at Ikea.

$16 Million Restaurant Plan at Lambert

Napster Drops DRM -- With a Catch; Sony BMG Does as Well

Letters Column

Week of June 22, 2006

Read All About It

Another independent bookseller gives up the ghost

Obscurity Knocks

CD Baby's weird and wacky Missouri musicians, "Yo! RFT Raps" talks to inBox magazine's svengali, and the Raconteurs star in this week's Download

Nuclear Option

A new weapon is unveiled to end the beer battle

A Farewell to Fabarre's?

There's a place in your heart for Papa Fabarre's -- even if you've never been there

Best Toy Store

KB Toys

Best Electronics for the Audiophile

Music for Pleasure

High (and Dry) Fidelity

Local music retailers are facing tough times and coming up with new ways to combat slumping sales across the industry -- if they don't file for bankruptcy, that is

Best Local TV-Ad Personality

Becky, Queen of Carpets

No-Look Legislation

The good that doesn't get done and the bad that does in Jeff City

When Online Got Off Base

Or: How Mark Cuban would have -- and could have? -- saved the music biz

Best Place To Stretch $20

Globe Discount Variety

Digital Dilemma

Wave bye-bye to the bootleg -- in the MP3 domain, a digital file is replacing an artifact

Ransom Notes

Can one man convince millions of people to pay for their "free" music?

Best Shoe Store

Dreamland Shoe Co.

Shelf Life

A new chapter for Loop mainstay A Collector's Book Shop

TRADE SECRETS

Cashing in your CDs