The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Recently saw an article regarding stores that are no longer with us and came upon this:

National Record Mart
"Founded in 1937 by Hyman Shapiro and his sons in Pittsburgh, the company specialized in used 78 RPM records from jukeboxes. Crazy, right? But it became the first music store chain in the U.S., and in 1964, the store helped bring the Beatles to town for a concert. The company had more than 160 stores, as far away as Hawaii and Guam, by 1998. But sales suffered in the ‘90s, and all stores closed by 2002."

I think I can see a copy of Bing Crosby's "White Christmas" there in the racks.

Great photo, thanks. But I think that Liberty Music Shop (with three Manhattan locations), technically a "chain", might have predated NRM.

My first 78s were a buch of jukebox rejects my parents had bought for a nickel each shortly after World War II. They (the records--not my parents!) had been sitting in the basement for years or decades when I got interested in the format and "adopted" them as an early teen. The seeds of my downfall were sown as, furiously mixing metaphors, I took my first step onto the proverbial slippery slope.

drh wrote: Sat Aug 27, 2022 6:44 pm My first 78s were a buch of jukebox rejects my parents had bought for a nickel each shortly after World War II. They (the records--not my parents!) had been sitting in the basement for years or decades when I got interested in the format and "adopted" them as an early teen. The seeds of my downfall were sown as, furiously mixing metaphors, I took my first step onto the proverbial slippery slope.

<waves at drh from the bottom of the slope>