Dealer Spotlight: London Drugs
It’s no secret to vinyl aficionados that sales of vinyl records have been growing at an amazing pace the last few years. It’s also not a secret that although vinyl has always been available from mail order outlets like Acoustic Sounds, Music Direct, Elusive Disc, Soundstage Direct, and Audio Basics, it has all but disappeared from bricks and mortar stores. So imagine my surprise when I noticed that my local London Drugs store here in Kelowna not only sold vinyl records, but their prominence and selection was increasing. Curiosity piqued, I started digging for more information and was put in touch with Colin Cottrell in London Drugs’ head office. We had a conversation about how London Drugs came to be selling vinyl, and how well vinyl is selling; what follows is the transcript of our conversation.
So, Colin, thanks for having a chat with me. You’re the Merchandise Manager for the Electronics and A/V divisions, right?
Correct.
Cool; and how long have you been doing that job?
Oh, that’s a good question! Umm, I’ve been with the company for 30 years, and I’ve been a merchandise manager for the last 19, I believe. Sorry, 18 years.
Wow, so you’re fairly well tenured, then?
[Laughs] Well, in relation to other people in this company, I’m probably about average. It’s a good company.
Well, obviously they know how to recruit, and more importantly, retain good people.
Absolutely.
So, London Drugs selling vinyl. How did that come about?
Well, well, well, well... It’s kind of a long story so I’ll skip some of the details. It started just two years ago now; EMI released an anniversary edition of [Pink Floyd’s] The Wall on CD, and of course we agreed to do a promotion with them including flyer advertising and what not. As I was leafing through the information they gave me I noticed that they had re-released a 180 g vinyl version as well, so I thought, “You know, if we’re dealing specifically with Floyd fans here, there could very well be some that want to replace their old vinyl”. So the long and short of is that I put in an ad and I advertised The Wall on CD and vinyl, and actually the vinyl out-sold the CD five to one.
Really?!
Yeah! That was kind of the beginning. Then I went into dealing with EMI and the same group. I figured, “OK, we’ll do Wish You Were Here and Dark Side of the Moon, and see what happens there”. It was the same thing. So it was at that stage where I started working with EMI and we went through their vinyl catalogue. We brought in I think at the time it was a total... This was over the course of seven to nine months, because back then we were working with a distributor so the distributor made most of the calls on what we were doing. Actually, last December we parted ways with them. But during that process as we progressed, we went to about eighteen titles from EMI. Everything we brought in sold, and continued to sell through. We had expanded pretty much to the degree that we could with a single label, what was available at the time, so I then started pursuing other avenues. Since then, we’ve found another distributor that works with us very closely and our selection right now on paper is about 280 titles, but that being said, this stuff is so difficult to get a hold of in quantity that at any given time I’ve got at least half of my inventory on back order.
Wow.
Yeah, it’s not readily available. I guess if you’re four or five stores, or two stores or whatever, I suspect it’s fairly consistent, but when you’re dealing with 66 locations selling the stuff, a minimum order from me is going to be 100 pieces and the way the category is now in the country those kinds of quantities are difficult to come by. I think we’re progressing in that matter because we’re very consistent: our distributor or EMI knows that if we need a title, they know exactly how much we’re going to need initially, and they also know that I’m going to need backup. So hopefully that’s going to fix itself as we progress and move on because, as I’m sure you’re aware, if you’re a vinyl nut like I am, selection is everything. I mean it’s gotta be fresh, it’s gotta be new, new and old, and it’s got to be continuing to change on a regular basis.
Yeah. So from what you’ve been telling me, demand has been outstripping your ability to supply?
Yes. It’s very difficult for me to measure let’s say, the top 20 for example, because if I get 100 or 125 pieces come in in a week, half of that could be gone in 20 days, or 30 days, or 10 days. Then I’ll have stores out of stock, I’ll have back orders, and it might be two months before I get a fulfilment again. At any given time I can look at a snapshot and say, “OK, here’s the number one for the year”, but you can’t do that unless it’s been consistently in stock throughout the year compared to the other titles. It’s interesting to say the least!
I bet! So, talking of selections, how do you decide which titles to carry? I noticed that you have quite a variety in the stores: you’ve got everything from what I would call stuff that’s very accessible to the younger crowd to stuff that’s more accessible to older farts like me, and you have audiophile stuff as well, which is great.
Basically, it’s kind of a weird answer here, but it’s literally what’s presented to me and what is available in quantity. Not everything of course, but I fine tune from there with my limited experience and the experience of the label or distributor that I’m working with in trying to cater to as many genres as we possibly can because in talking with the stores, the customer ranges anywhere from 12, 13, 14, and 15 year old kids all the way up to 40, 50, or 60 year olds. It’s very, very broad, and the classics like The Wall or Dark Side or Hendrix or whatnot, they sell consistently, but also when you gut stuff in like Mumford and Sons or Broken Social Scene, you know, the newer bands—Jack White is another one that comes to mind—sells in the same relation. I mean the volumes are the same or very, very similar. So it’s across the board and a lot of blues and jazz move too, and yeah, the Mobile Fidelity audiophile stuff is, I’m sure you’re aware, just incredible quality.
It is, yes. I’ve got quite a few: I’ve spent more than a few bucks on my share of Mobile Fidelity Sound Labs records!
Me too, me too! [Laughs]
So you’re a vinyl lover, judging by what you’re saying here?
Absolutely, yeah. I’ve been buying... Actually, I kind of jumped back into vinyl about six years ago. I just decided one day to pull out my turntable and I kept all my vinyl from when I was a kid. At that stage I was buying a lot of used. It’s always been a hobby of mine and I’ve always loved it, but in a position like mine I couldn’t really take my personal box of opinions and apply it to corporate because at that stage I thought it was just me.
Apparently not!
Apparently it’s not!
So what sort of gear do you have? Spill the beans!
I have a bunch of gear but I’ve tuned it down to two-channel, and that’s pretty much all I listen to. I’ve got a PrimaLuna tube amplifier, which is bi-amped to a pair of Klipsch horns, and that is my system in a nutshell.
Nice. I actually have a pair of PrimaLuna ProLogue Seven power amps.
That’s what I have—great minds think alike!
We do, yes: tubes and vinyl! So what sort of turntable do you have?
I have—I don’t know if I’m getting the model number right—a Dual 415. It’s one of the newer ones, out of Germany. I also have a Technics SL2202 but I switched over to Dual. I went from direct drive to belt drive. It’s lots of fun, I haven’t felt like this in years!
If you had to guess, roughly how many records do you think you have?
Oh, personally, I’d say 500 or 600.
A good selection then.
Yep. Like I said, I never threw them out. They moved form city to city with me. I could never throw them out.
I’m much the same way. My dad got me into music back when I was a youngster and I didn’t have much money so I was buying records and then like you I never got rid of my stuff, even when I got into the digital medium that we shall not name, I didn’t sell any of my vinyl and then a year or two later, when I actually heard how good a good vinyl system could sound I was like, “OK, to hell with this”. I actually sold most of my CDs to fund my first turntable purchase.
That makes sense.
Of course, now that I have my own source of income I’ve gone rather more insane, but hey!
You and me both! You’ll find me at our Langley store virtually every weekend. When we get a new selection in I’m usually one of the first guys I there.
You get the cream of the crop, right?
I get to see what’s coming in, which is a disadvantage to others and an advantage to me, but you know, I’m not breaking any rules.
I think it’s called a perk of your position.
I guess, I guess. Mind you, if they’re in limited quantities, I won’t put anything aside for me. If I walk in like a normal customer and it’s there, I’ll buy it. So I don’t take advantage there. There’s nothing like walking into one of our stores and picking out five or six albums. I mean, that’s an awesome Saturday afternoon!
Oh yeah, oh yeah! So I think you mentioned 66 stores earlier. Is that Western Canada, or...
Just Western Canada. The furthest east we go is Winnepeg. We have 78 stores but only 66 have the Audio Video Systems department in them.
OK. So, trends. I know you can’t mention any specific numbers but how would you describe your vinyl sales trends?
It’s nothing but up. I mean it’s constantly up. I measure our unit volume and our sales volume on a weekly basis and it’s constantly growing, but what I do see on a regular basis is when we get some fresh titles, fresh selection, then I see the numbers spike more than they normally do. I think the word’s still getting out to a lot of people that we’re a destination for vinyl. I think that is evident in our weekly sell through, but the real spikes come when I get five or six new releases out there.
That’s cool, because to be totally honest, London Drugs isn’t the first place that comes to mind when it comes to records, at least it wasn’t until recently.
Agreed.
Now, it’s, “Oh great, there’s a record store local to me”, so I can flick through and spend even more money on records, so thanks a bunch for that! [Laughs]
It’s our responsibility to keep that selection fresh for you!
Exactly: keep taking my money, it’s great. So I guess you would categorise London Drugs’ decision to sell vinyl as a successful one?
Well, I have to watch how I say that because it was my decision! I don’t want to blow any horns or anything! [Laughs] Most definitely. Most definitely. But again, the biggest problem is getting product.
Yeah, but I guess that’s a great position to be in though, right?
Yep. It is, but also a... Actually, I’ll answer that question in two ways, because it really depends on who’s asking. If you’re my competitor, I’m going to tell you that it was a mistake. [Laughs]
Exactly! “Oh, don’t go into selling vinyl, no no no”!
“Don’t do it, don’t do it”! Even if they did it’s going to be a struggle because they’re just not pressing the volumes that mass retail would require.
Yes, it’s a popular niche, but it’s still a niche would be a good way of categorising it.
Yep, 100% right. Let’s call it what it is.
But bring it on, that’s what I say!
Me too, me too! Well, as long as I’m at this desk I’ll be doing that, and as long as there’s the sell through that justifies it, I’ll keep going at it.
Excellent. So, that’s a good segue into my last question, which is what are London Drugs’ future plans for selling vinyl? More prominent positioning, maybe? Larger selection?
Yes, I’m working with our business unit to come up with a decent display. We’ve only had the selection that we have for the last seven months, so I just keep bringing it in and the guys in the stores and our business unit are kind of improvising as to where to put it and how to display it and what not. We’ve obviously proven that it’s a viable category for us, so our business unit is working on an actual fixture that we’ll place in CD music section. I’m hoping to see that in the stores in the next six weeks or so.
That soon, huh?
Yeah, ’cause right now I think it’s a little difficult to shop. It doesn’t matter to fans like you and me ’cause we want to buy anyway, but for shopping ease you literally need to have something in front of you at waist level that you can flip through and right now we don’t have that, but we are working on it.
Good. That was one of the things that I noticed when I was flicking through the Kelowna store was that it was a bit awkward to flip through the records, but I still managed to find a few!
I’m in the exact same boat. It’s not displayed optimally, and we understand that so we’re working on a solution there.
That’s excellent! Well, Colin, thanks very much for your time. It’s much appreciated.
No problem, Rich, it was nice talking with you.