Big Secret Project V

…I was going to post (again) about the grand first bite of that huge record accumulation at Restore, 7 Gordon St., Dunedin Central at 10.am today….

…but was so excited about “selling” records again that I neglected to take pic’s of my very overladen car or the carefully shrouded, 20 crate lump all ready to table at the store…

…so here’s a picture I painted to look at whilst you wait for the doors to open…

…it’s one of a series of ten I did during lockdown last year…

…(cue elevator music)….

……see you at 10.a.m.

Yesterday

…wax in….

…wax out….

…hurry while stocks last.

 

 

…busy, busy…but not THAT busy…photos flipped to create retail frenzy…

….(sorry kids, your folks are spending your pressies money elsewhere this year).

From The Office Of The President Of The Vinyl Filled State Of Tootonekstan

….after 7 years of 6 day weeks, no holidays (apart from longish w/ends in Kokonga), no sick leave (except for one and a half days where I could barley stand),  whilst celebrating the the fourth anniversary of the cut off date for employing a part timer and this being the third summer that I have clasped my hands together and batted my eyelashes towards the heavens while intoning the mantra “maybe this summer there’ll be enough money saved to get new glasses”, I’ve decided to call time on Too Tone Records….

…nope, that’s it… no discussion will be entered into, no business advice will be taken, no cajoling will be succumbed to… I’m off to find a nice mindless shit-job and save up for being able to see clearly again….(and maybe buy some new underpants)….

…all the stock from the back room is groomed and ready to be presented in three weekly doses of 3-400 new arrivals avalanches…everything will be offered for sale to my loyal locals and any “foreign-devils” lucky enough to be in the area before it is packed away to be sold, over time, on Trade Me….

…last day of shop trade will be January 15th 2017….hurry whilst stocks last.

…a huge shout out and my undying gratitude to all my regulars, from here, from there, from overseas….. without your dedication to hunting for black plastic discs I wouldn’t have been able to do the biz for as long as I have,  sorry if I haven’t been able to tell you all about shutting shop personally, but time and circumstances can’t facilitate that….to all the naysayers and over precious obsessives…fuck you – go bother someone else… : )

…to my suppliers, come and have a yarn and we’ll stock take…

…huge props to the Feastock team, you are legendary…Feastock tickets?…the committee are on to it and will inform you in good time as to the whereabouts of  their new ticket outlet….(see you all up there)….

…an especially huge thank you to my good friend Dee whose support & loyalty to the Too Tone brand has got me thru some rough patches…

Tone Out

 

 

… (truth be told…. I couldn’t bring myself to continue running a small business without John Key at the helm of Godzone…thank you John for all the support, tax breaks, mentoring and custom over the years…it’s been real….).

School Holiday Programme

…this school holidays we have been running a programme for fathers (it’s always the fathers) who appear to be running out of ways to entertain the kids and turn up here, at Too Tone Records…

…here is a father taking part in our “how-to-get-the-rest-of-the-family-to ignore-you-all-holidays-and-possibly-have-you-put-somewhere-quite-&-padded” camouflage course….….he’s our star pupil.

 

…(hey!…Arthur & Eddie!…your Dad’s on the interweb!).

…(seriously though, love it when folks visit with the kids….because the kids, more often than not, are better behaved than most of my regular customers).

Giant Medallions In The Making

…in lieu of t-shirts with the Too Tone Records logo on, I’m making giant medallions for the coming summer season…

…they’re about 2 foot across…one size “fits” all….

….bring a big chain….

…and how do you transport bulk medallion templates?….

…all tied up with string of course.

The Moaning Is Over

…for years I’d felt aggrieved after reading an article about a New York secondhand  record dealer, who claimed to regularly find money, joints & tabs (nay, sheets!!) of acid slipped into Lp covers, that I had NEVER found a single “buyer’s bonus”….

…until yesterday….…the drought is over…

…these were stuffed down the side of an apple box worth of 7″ 45s….

…(one is even Too Tone “branded”)….…not joints or acid or cash, I’ll admit, but Dunedin is the Edinburgh of the South.

…(oh… and the moaning?….it isn’t really over).

Even Though I Insisted

…Callum wasn’t swallowing the “if you have the t-shirt you should buy the album” angle.

I Only Joined Trademe

…so that I could take this screenshot.

How I Spent Record Store Day

…experimenting with alternative packaging…now that I can’t buy small quantities of plain bags to stamp my logo on….smallest printed batch you can get done on yucky plastic is a million billion…so it’s the old-school news print roll for me…neatly in half so as not to crease the corporate image…

…also trying out hiding behind the bins…(thank you for noticing Ian, nice shot)…

….both concepts are being well received.

Spencer Hall Exposes His Organ In A Record Shop

…cheers Spence’…thank you for sharing.