REGION
Aged cardboard containers inside the display case near the cash register at Mr. Mike's Record Store hold what remains of Michael Albert's cassette-tape inventory.
It has been at least three months since one has been sold.
The Harrisburg music shop has 100 cassettes left for sale, Albert said. The cassettes represent less than 1 percent of the store's inventory, he said.
"I'll keep them until they're gone, or until I pitch them," Albert said.
Music cassette tapes may not be long for this world, depending on who you ask. Albert gives the medium a couple more years to live, outside of flea markets. He said he sells between 10 and 20 tapes a year.
"(New) cars don't have cassette decks anymore," Albert said. "It's done. It's a done deal."
Earl Williams, on the other hand, has sold more than 250 cassette tapes since he bought York County-based Music & More by Williams in March. The store's inventory includes more than 2,000 cassette tapes. The tapes make up about 4 percent of the store's annual revenue, Williams said.
"(Cassette tapes are) not an item I'll buy to stock in the store, (but) as long as they're available and customers want them, I'll carry them," Williams said.
The demand for cassette tapes will never completely disappear, Williams said.
"Just like they said no one would ever want vinyl, and vinyl is still selling. Vinyl definitely sells more than cassettes," Williams said. "You're always going to have those collectors out there. There's a market for everything."
The popularity of cassette tapes began to wear off once CDs and CD players became more affordable, Williams said.
More consumers started buying CDs than cassette tapes in 1992, according to a report commissioned by Washington, D.C.-based The Recording Industry Association of America (see "CDs vs. cassette tapes," this page).
In 2006, less than 1 percent of consumers said they purchased cassettes, according to the association.
Williams expanded Music & Mores inventory to include incense, oils and musical instruments, in addition to the CDs and cassette tapes that had been sold for eight years before he took over.
Williams sells cassette tapes for $1 each. His 11-year-old son, Derek, helps out in the store on weekends and is in charge of selling the tapes. In return, his son receives the profit from each tape that is sold, Williams said.
The prices of cassette tapes at Mr. Mike's Record Store have dropped by about $4 over the past three years, to the $6-per-tape range.
Albert opened the music shop more than 20 years ago. The majority of his sales come from vinyl, CDs and DVDs.
"I still have a case that has cassette tapes in it, but they're all at least three years (old) or older," Albert said. "I'm losing, but you can't send them back."
[Sidebar]
Michael Albert, owner of Mr. Mike's Record Store, has about 100 cassettes left for sale in his downtown Harrisburg store. He'll keep them until they're gone - or until he throws them away - he said.
[Sidebar]
CDs vs. cassette tapes
Beginning in 1992, more U.S. consumers reported purchasing full-length CDs than cassette tapes. The chart below depicts the percent of consumers who reported purchasing either music format each year.
The figures do not add up to 100 percent because the chart does not include the breakdowns of the percent of consumers who reported purchasing other music formats, including singles, digital downloads, music videos and vinyl LPs.
[Author Affiliation]
BY JESSICA BAIR
jessicab@journalpub.com
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