West Coast Connection Forum
DUBCC - Tha Connection => West Coast Classics => Topic started by: The_Ripper on September 15, 2011, 02:26:04 AM
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(http://extras.mnginteractive.com/live/media/site204/2011/0913/20110913__C_PN14-VIP2+PC68FW1.JPG)
LONG BEACH For more than three decades, Long Beach's World Famous VIP Records has been a very important place for very important people.
But after 32 years and nine months VIP is closing its doors, Kelvin Anderson, the store owner, said Tuesday.
Anderson said VIP will fold by the end of October if an alternative business plan can't be developed. Either way the era of physical music-retail sales is over.
Anderson said he held on as long as he could while other music businesses crumbled around him.
"I knew this day was coming, as far as the physical part of the music business, but you walk around in denial in a daze. I'm in a daze right not. But hopefully God's got another plan a better plan," he said. "It's been real tough for the last few years, maintaining, but we are way too far behind financially now to come back selling CDs."
VIP spawned a number of artists during its 30-year history. Snoop Dogg, Warren G and Nate Dogg, known as 213, teamed there to record their first album.
"Back in the day I put together a makeshift studio here and I invested in some deejay equipment," Anderson said. "I set this equipment up and a lot of times I wouldn't even know who was back there. I believe it was a safe haven for a lot of these kids because at that time you didn't have anywhere to hang out except VIP or King Park."
Although the store is closing, plans are in the works to keep the property active.
"The physical part of the music business is definitely over, but I still feel we could have a future in this location if we are able to restructure the business," Anderson said.
To make that work they would have to provide things people need and want but can't easily get from the Internet, Anderson said.
"If we are able to raise enough money we can bring in digital downloads or something where we can still service the community," he said. "A large number of people come in and want something downloaded on their I-pod, their phone or their drive and there is still money to be made in that area."
The specter of closing has been looming for months but the reality has just set in. It was, Anderson said, something like the warning on a car's rearview mirror "Objects in mirror are closer than they appear."
"I just didn't know it was this close," he said. "But we've got to get out of debt. We have a debt situations that is one of the big problems right not."
Throughout its existence VIP fended off large chains but the Internet became their toughest competitor, Anderson said.
"Over my years in the business we always had to deal with chain stores like Warehouse and Tower (Records) and had to compete with big box stores like Target and Walmart. They were always able to sell things a little cheaper than we could," he said. "But, we were able to make it up with knowledge of the music and customer service ... That's why Warehouse and Tower are not here."
But each passing year's tech advances undercut the store's sales, Anderson said. Physical sales changed, then gave way to the onslaught of the digital world.
"In the three decades I've been a part of this business we've had a lot of ups and downs and we've have a lot of changes," said Anderson. "People stopped buying eight-track, and bought the cassette. People stopped buying the cassette to buy the CD. But after the CD there's nothing else for people to buy."
At one point Anderson and his brother Cletus had a chain of 12 stores. VIP in Long Beach is the last remaining open. Another, owned by a brother-in-law, closed last week in Compton.
Anderson has accepted the fact that he can no longer run a viable business under the umbrella of physical music-retail sales, he said.
"I doubt there is anything in this store you can't download from the Internet, but to top that, there's nothing in this store you can't download for free."
Fans, friends stunned
Many in Central Long Beach are in shock. Frequent VIP friend and customer Tang Watson is among them.
"I'm going to be sad to see Kelvin go. He's a good man and the community is going to miss him because this store has meant a lot to a lot of people," he said. "One thing about this place is it's always been about the people, the community folks. If you were ever looking for somebody, you could probably find them here."
It's a sad day in the Sixth District, said Councilman Dee Andrews.
"I think its saddening to have a famous icon leaving the community, because he did so many good things," Andrews said. "Unfortunately, there comes a time when we all have to either leave or things just change. I don't know what his plans are in future, but he's really been an icon in the Sixth District."
Life is going to be hard in the neighborhood without VIP, said Michael Baker, owner of Mr. Baker Style Center next door to VIP.
"It's going to be a real hardship for the community because he has been around for over 30 years," he said. "The symbol up there, (he points to the sign atop the store) VIP is like the grandfather here. I'm still in disbelief he's leaving."
But, Baker is still hoping for a miracle.
"I wish that all the people Kelvin helped throughout the years, like Snoop Dogg and all the entertainment people, would try to do something for him, because he has done a lot of things for a lot of music people," Baker said. "Maybe a miracle will happen, but he's going to be missed. I hope it don't happen."
Sign bound for eBay?
Where will the famous sign atop the store wind up?
"Most likely the sign will be sold on eBay," Anderson said. "I could never leave here and leave it here. Once I go the sign has to go. I can't imagine seeing words like "smoke shop" on my sign."
Originally from Brandon, Mississippi, Anderson said he might return home.
"If I don't get things turned around here, I would more than likely move back to Mississippi. I've always wanted to move back home," he said. "I've got a couple of business opportunities available to me there so if I don" get things turned around by the end of the year, I'm pretty sure I'll start the new year off in Mississippi."
Time is short for the iconic store made famous by Snoop Dogg, who recorded three music videos on its roof.
"I figure we will probably have another month here, but VIP plans to live on for a long time on the Internet," he said. "It's tough. Anytime you've dedicated this much time an energy into a business, you just never see yourself going out backwards."
In all his years, Anderson has only one regret.
"Even though we are a close-knit family, for 30 years I was almost a seven-day-a-week and 10-hours-a-day worker. I look back and realized I should have spent more time with my family," he said. "I look back now and see how I was addicted to this store. I think that even if the store was doing good or OK , I don't think this is a business I would want to leave to my son, The years, the days, the hours I spent here, I kind of cheated them out of something. That I regret."
But there are several good memories to recall from the store on the corner of Pacific Coast Highway and Martin Luther King Jr. Ave., he said.
"God has been good to me over the years and I have no complaints," he said. "A lot of times a bad thing turns out to be a good thing. I'm just waited to see the good in all this and I think it"s coming."
For more information or to share your thoughts visit World Famous VIP Record Store on Facebook or call 562-591-2349.
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sad news.
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It's a shame that nobody is buyin' CD's these days. Fuck buyin' MP3's.
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It's a shame that nobody is buyin' CD's these days. Fuck buyin' MP3's.
The problem is not people buying mp3's, it's downloading for free. The thing is, I want to buy mp3's if they are CD quality (or near-cd, like 320 kbps mp3's), but for most rap albums that is not possible. They expect you to pay 10 bucks for an mp3 album ripped at 192 kbps. I'm not buying that.
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It's a shame that nobody is buyin' CD's these days. Fuck buyin' MP3's.
The problem is not people buying mp3's, it's downloading for free. The thing is, I want to buy mp3's if they are CD quality (or near-cd, like 320 kbps mp3's), but for most rap albums that is not possible. They expect you to pay 10 bucks for an mp3 album ripped at 192 kbps. I'm not buying that.
Yeah, but people are buyin' also a lot of music from iTunes these days.
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It's a shame that nobody is buyin' CD's these days. Fuck buyin' MP3's.
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Yeah, but people are buyin' also a lot of music from iTunes these days.
not me
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Yeah, but people are buyin' also a lot of music from iTunes these days.
Sure, but at least the artists get paid that way. As far as cd's go, it's a shame record stores will cease to exist in their current form. I don't care about the format itself though, because even vinyl was better than cd's in many ways.
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Yeah, but people are buyin' also a lot of music from iTunes these days.
not me
or me.
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Yeah, but people are buyin' also a lot of music from iTunes these days.
not me
Neither am i, but a lot people are these days. I don't wanna support that shit though, i collect CD's.
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Sad news..I bought a few CDs direct from their amazon shop.
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Yep sighn of the times. My younger brother and sister and young people at work etc, none have a cd collection except maybe the odd cd.
I am a cd collector, still buy them(much much less than i used to though) i have a real big collection but i must admit iam starting to see the good side of digital. I buy alot of video games digital now, no longer buy dvds at all , i love buying cds and will continue but they take up so much space, you mis place them and loose them and they get scratched, etc i mean i download albums i own on cd cos i cant be fucked looking for the hard copy i own lol...
But yeah i still cannot accept buying digital albums full price and if quality is shit then fuck that.
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It's a shame that nobody is buyin' CD's these days. Fuck buyin' MP3's.
The problem is not people buying mp3's, it's downloading for free. The thing is, I want to buy mp3's if they are CD quality (or near-cd, like 320 kbps mp3's), but for most rap albums that is not possible. They expect you to pay 10 bucks for an mp3 album ripped at 192 kbps. I'm not buying that.
exactly. I don't get why they don't at least offer the higher qualities. But a teenth is way to much for 192kbps mp3 files without artwork and shit.
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if he is waiting on snoop to help, then good luck with that
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Yea I still buy cds.but it a be cool if snopp helped.after all that is where snoop use 2 record his music at b4 he became famous.
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Sad to hear this, but unfortunally there is no other way out. But physical cd's are still the shit compared to mp3.
This is a lost for the West, VIP Records is legendary and inextricably connected as a representation of the Westcoast
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Fuck buyin' MP3's.
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It's a shame that nobody is buyin' CD's these days. Fuck buyin' MP3's.
The problem is not people buying mp3's, it's downloading for free. The thing is, I want to buy mp3's if they are CD quality (or near-cd, like 320 kbps mp3's), but for most rap albums that is not possible. They expect you to pay 10 bucks for an mp3 album ripped at 192 kbps. I'm not buying that.
exactly. I don't get why they don't at least offer the higher qualities. But a teenth is way to much for 192kbps mp3 files without artwork and shit.
Amazon is 256kbit.
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very sad news. i have a lot of memories buying records there and then hitting up roscoes
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This record store wasnt even all that, the only reason why its even famous is cuz Snoop put it on the map and its in the heart of East Side Long Beach. P.C.H. And M.L.K. where your favorite rappers are from. Sure it had memorable moments there when LBC was getting put on the map and recently a tribute to nate dogg was there but other than that, it was just another record store with LBC t-shirts. The cd's there all cost $15-17 bucks and they didnt have anything rare there. Same shit you would find in any record store.
One more thing, why are all you euros getting sad about a record store you never even visited? lol
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^iam not sad but not euro either(OZ) but it reminds me of the same shit thats happening here(and prolly everywhere), no famous record stores here but all the good ones from back in the day that i used to shop at that had all the good hip hop are gone and more and more cd stores and chains are disappearing all over the place.
Anyways i just ordered 5 cds last night anyways. Aussie $ high and USA cds are cheap! ha used to pay $50 for some cds from America when i was a teenager..
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Amazon is 256kbit.
Hmm that's weird, why take 256 and not go straight to 320?
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Sad News. He should just turn the place into a recording studio. Seems like an obvious transition.
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Honestly though; physical still sells more than digital.
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if he is waiting on snoop to help, then good luck with that
Why should he wait on Snoop to help?
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Honestly though; physical still sells more than digital.
mom and pop stores cant compete with bestbuy or target prices. I dont even remember when is the last time i bought a cd from my mom and pop record store. I buy my cd's from amazon.
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motherfucker....that sucks...that's where I bought my DAZ's RAW album..st8 underground.
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if he is waiting on snoop to help, then good luck with that
Why should he wait on Snoop to help?
Read the article.........
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Sad News. He should just turn the place into a recording studio. Seems like an obvious transition.
Yeah, I think they should expand instead of close, the owner Kelvin Anderson said it himself, they need to provide something that people can't get from the internet.
Out here in Phoenix we use to have a moms an pops spot that was similar to V.I.P. called Circles Records & Tapes, they were around for 38 years and they had to close at the beginning of the year last year; all Circles Records & Tapes sold were brand new cds, some records, cd cases and stuff like that. On the flipside, we also have Zia Record Exchange (there's a couple of them), they sell new and used. I've been going to Zia's ever since I moved out here from L.A. and they've always switched things up. Way back in the day they sold mostly music in form of records, tapes and cds then they started adding movies (vhs then dvd, now blu-ray) then video games and just in the last year or so the location down the street from me expanded and is now selling new and used books too. Besides that, they sell all kinds of posters, cups, shirts, magnets, etc. having to do with movies or music and local artist even sell art work there too; they also have an Amazon store. They'll even re-surface your scratched cds for a buck or two and they're open til like midnight or 1 am unlike best buy that closes at 9 pm. So Zia they went from just a new and used record store to giving people way more.
There are a few other spots out here that are similar to Zia Record Exchange, like Bookmans (which is more of a new and used book store but also have a grip of used cd's, movies, video games, some electronics and I've even started seeing music equipment) and a few other places that are are still open and from what I can see they're keepin busy. But you have to offer something more than just selling new cds or just new movies or just new books because all these things can be purchased digitally now or even downloaded for free. We used to have the Wherehouse, Tower Records, Sam Goody, etc. out here and they all closed. I could see V.I.P. expanding and adding other things to their store and being successful, maybe adding a real recording studio and giving people something totally unique and not just a regular record shop that is having trouble selling new cds. It sucks for places like V.I.P. to have to closed because we do need those moms and pops stores but they have to adapt and come up with more than just one way to get that money, hopefully it's not too late for V.I.P. to figure it out.
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Honestly though; physical still sells more than digital.
mom and pop stores cant compete with bestbuy or target prices. I dont even remember when is the last time i bought a cd from my mom and pop record store. I buy my cd's from amazon.
Yeah i dont exactly support the small cd stores i buy from amazon to.
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He should just turn the place into a recording studio. Seems like an obvious transition.
true. an easy way to get rid of the debt, if he still has the recording equipment
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I understand they can't keep up with FYE, Best Buy, etc. I get that.
Just an interesting fact though because everyone is always talking about physical CD's becoming obsolete. Physical CD's still make up about 70% of the market. Digital is at 30% of sales.
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I understand they can't keep up with FYE, Best Buy, etc. I get that.
Just an interesting fact though because everyone is always talking about physical CD's becoming obsolete. Physical CD's still make up about 70% of the market. Digital is at 30% of sales.
no value in that tho.
thats just a statistic percentage of a small consumer-market that is collapsing
Physical Cd's are obsolete cuz of illegal downloads, not because of iTunes or amazon.mp3 ;)
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Thursday, Jan 5 2012
It's a smoggy afternoon in Long Beach. World Famous V.I.P. Records sits tucked in a strip mall off Pacific Coast Highway, its faηade marked with sun-bleached outlines of album posters. The store's iconic record-shaped sign still stands tall, though it could use a paint job. Speakers in the doorway, meanwhile, blare '90s R&B.
The shop is open, but it's empty, which is par for the course lately. That's why after 33 years in business, owner Kelvin Anderson was scheduled to close V.I.P.'s doors for good this past weekend.
Taking calls behind the register on his Bluetooth, the 57-year-old Anderson wears a polo shirt, frameless glasses and a neatly trimmed goatee. He hardly looks ready to retire, yet there's resignation in his voice. "I waited way too long to try to reinvent us," he says.
V.I.P. Records hasn't turned a profit since 2003 the year iTunes launched and began accruing debt about five years later. Anderson says he and his son, Kelvin Jr., with whom he runs the store, can no longer afford to pay their rent and utility bills.
V.I.P. has undergone several downsizings in the past decade. The store's original entrance on PCH now leads into a vacant storefront next door, and the wall that divides the two spaces is crowded with sunglasses, hats, jewelry, incense burners anything to help counter dismal CD sales.
Record stores have been shuttering all over the country, but the fall of V.I.P. is particularly dispiriting. After all, "World Famous" isn't an affectation; V.I.P. is iconic in the annals of West Coast gangsta rap. It housed the studio where Snoop Dogg, Warren G and Nate Dogg then a trio known as 213 recorded the demo that led to their big breaks. The rooftop sign has been the backdrop for videos including Snoop's "Who Am I (What's My Name)" and Jermaine Dupri's "Welcome to Atlanta" remix.
Taking a seat on the in-store performance stage which has been graced over the years by artists such as Nate Dogg and LL Cool J Anderson discusses the establishment's 1990s heyday, during which it hosted standing-room-only record signings and concerts.
The store also has played a key role in breaking urban artists, even those who never stepped through its doors. It once served as a tastemaker for the neighborhood and even for Los Angeles as a whole.
At one point, the V.I.P. name was attached to a dozen outposts in Southern California. The chain's original location in South Central was founded by Anderson's older brother Cletus in the late 1960s; it specialized in gospel, Motown and R&B.
After graduating from high school in Brandon, Miss., in 1972, a teenage Anderson followed Cletus to Los Angeles and got into the business. Together they opened V.I.P.'s Long Beach location their 12th in 1978; Anderson bought it shortly thereafter.
"Some kids go to college, but I got my degree in the music industry working at V.I.P.," he says.
In the '70s and '80s V.I.P. distributed albums and housed two labels, Magic Disc Records and Saturn Records, the latter of which put out Ice-T's 1982 debut single, "The Coldest Rap."
By the next decade, V.I.P. was an urban-music powerhouse. Eugene Luckett, a former retail marketing and distribution executive for Polygram, BMG and Capitol, has worked with Anderson for 15 years and describes him as instrumental to the success of artists he handled, including Warren G, Notorious B.I.G., TLC and Whitney Houston.
"In the '90s all the labels wanted the next West Coast gangsta rapper," Luckett says. "Kelvin was a portal for executives who didn't know anything about those artists."
Label reps like him relied on Anderson to tell them who was hot and how to market new albums to urban communities like Long Beach. After all, Anderson always seemed to understand what those audiences wanted to hear.
"He could get 1,000 people to show up to an in-store with minimal advertising," Luckett says. "That truly speaks to his bond with the community."
By the early '90s, West Coast hip-hop was taking over, and the kids visiting the store wanted in. Anderson enlisted the help of L.A. producer Sir Jinx to build an in-store recording studio, in part to bolster what he calls V.I.P.'s role as a "safe haven" for young people in the community.
Fresh off the success of Ice Cube's first two solo records, Jinx brought Anderson to his cousin Dr. Dre's house and showed him an SP1200 drum machine. "That was all you needed to make a hip-hop record in those days," Anderson recalls.
With Jinx's help, he soon transformed the store's back storage room into a veritable musical playground for the local kids.
Snoop and 213 recorded a demo there "[V.I.P.] gave us life," Snoop recently told Current TV and Anderson was struck by their sound. "They were something totally unique," he says. "You had Snoop's smooth delivery, which you could enjoy even without music to back it up, and you had [Nate Dogg], who was incorporating hooks right into the raps. That was brand new."
Death Row Records signed Snoop later that year, after Warren G played the demo at a birthday party for Dr. Dre, his half-brother.
Anderson also helped facilitate the rise of Warren G, hooking him up with director John Singleton, who needed music for his 1993 film, Poetic Justice. Warren G's track with Nate Dogg, "Indo Smoke," caught the ears of executives at Violator/Def Jam, and his debut, Regulate ... G Funk Era, went multiplatinum.
But that was then.Now, to ease his debt, Anderson plans to open a small V.I.P. outpost in the same complex to sell the 30,000 vinyl records V.I.P. has accumulated over the years.
"We got a little of everything in there 12-inch records, 45s," Anderson says, adding that the inventory which also will be sold online through the store's website ranges from the gospel hawked in V.I.P.'s salad days to 213's demo.
It smells something like a fire sale, and it has provoked widespread angst.
"You can't walk into a Best Buy and have a discussion with the clerk about the new local artist playing on the speakers, and get recommendations from them," laments Luckett. "And you certainly can't get that on iTunes."
Not that the community hasn't tried to save the store. In October comedian Ricky Harris a former Def Comedy Jam host who got his start doing skits on albums recorded at V.I.P. hosted a comedy benefit at the Laugh Factory; it brought in several thousand dollars.
"That was great, but we'd need to throw about 200 more of those just to break even," Anderson says.
Ideally, he'd like to reinvent the store as a music museum, showcasing the history of music technology think 8-tracks and old SP1200s. He'd also reconstruct the recording studio, torn down during V.I.P.'s downsizing in recent years. Eventually, he wants to revive the Kelvin Anderson Foundation, the stalled nonprofit he founded in 2006, which provided local kids with music-industry opportunities. "Right now, though, I'm just hoping I can get a good price for the sign on eBay," he admits.
Anderson will use that money to pay off the rest of the store's debt and eventually return to Mississippi, where he hopes to find more lucrative business opportunities. His son, however, plans to stick around the music industry in marketing and distribution. He cites his father's work as his inspiration.
"As a kid, I'd see the Wu-Tang guys or Notorious B.I.G. come in here just to buy records and meet the man behind the counter," says Kelvin Jr. "Everyone who came to the store treated me like their little brother. It was like all of Long Beach was my family. And in that sense, we'll never really leave."
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I understand they can't keep up with FYE, Best Buy, etc. I get that.
Just an interesting fact though because everyone is always talking about physical CD's becoming obsolete. Physical CD's still make up about 70% of the market. Digital is at 30% of sales.
no value in that tho.
thats just a statistic percentage of a small consumer-market that is collapsing
Physical Cd's are obsolete cuz of illegal downloads, not because of iTunes or amazon.mp3 ;)
yeah what the fuck are you kidding lunatic?
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I don't understand why they haven't smelled the business opportunity on ebay, they could have opened a virtual store there, sell 12 inch, memorabilia and stuff and still be afloat as i type.
They haven't made profit since 2003 (?!) how credible is that, i wonder how they've struggled all those years if that's right
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I don't understand why they haven't smelled the business opportunity on ebay, they could have opened a virtual store there, sell 12 inch, memorabilia and stuff and still be afloat as i type.
They haven't made profit since 2003 (?!) how credible is that, i wonder how they've struggled all those years if that's right
It's all about what else you have going on. Perhaps his studio work supplied the income to keep the store going. I used to work at a local video store back when they were all going under trying to compete with Blockbuster and the owner basically kept it open because it was important to the neighborhood and had been there for 20 years. At the time, there were only 2 local stores left in the area. It went under in 2003 with the other one following suit about a year later. Thing was he was barely breaking even for years but his other business was doing well so he could afford to keep it open. Stores might be losing money but if the people running them have other income, they can keep it going on that. That's likely how it went down with VIP.
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if he is waiting on snoop to help, then good luck with that
If he doesn't help even in the slightest, then good luck with him ever returning to that community