“Vinyl is emotional, it’s bullet-proof, it’s physical, and it’s music.”
Doyle Davis, co-owner: Grimey’s New and Pre-loved Music, Nashville
Doyle Davis is the co-owner (with Mark Grimes) of Grimey’s New and Pre-Loved Music Store founded in 1999. Today the shop is known for its huge inventory, hundreds of thousands, many of them of vinyl records. Thanks to Doyle’s love of music, Grimey’s has become the go-to destination for hard to find recordings as well as new releases signed by the artists. While Doyle knew his customers were loyal, it took an international pandemic to show him just how loyal some of them are.
Monday, March 22 felt to Doyle like the end of the line. He called in his staff, they all spent the day cleaning the store, and at the end of the day he showed his love by firing them all, and doing it fast. He wanted to be sure the 15 full-timers would quickly qualify for unemployment insurance. And they did.
The same day he filed for his PPP loan (Paycheck Protection Program) and EIDL (Economic Injury Disaster Loan), both of which he also received quickly.
CUT OUT THE DEAD WEIGHT INVENTORY
With the doors shut and no date for reopening in sight, Doyle needed to get a grip on his financials. He cataloged his expenses (including rent, vendor bills, and health insurance for his out-of-work staff) and his revenue, which was now limited to on-line sales. Up till this point, the on-line sales was pretty much just the souvenirs (or “Merch” like T-shirts, caps, mugs and such). Almost none of his music inventory was listed! So he got to work putting his inventory on line. He says he also took a cold hard look at his music inventory. There were a lot of new releases he routinely bought which he had very low expectations of selling. That was going to have to stop. “I realized I can’t be Tower Records and cover every release. I needed to make sales and generate revenue with less inventory.”
THAT AIN’T NO FAIRY GODMOTHER…. THAT’S TAYLOR SWIFT!
At 4:30 one afternoon, In the midst of all these painful decisions, Doyle answered his phone. It was Tree Paine, Taylor Swift’s publicist. Taylor wants to send some emergency money to help keep Grimey’s going during the shutdown and needs to know how much he needs! “I didn’t even know what to say,” he said. She offered to cover his rent, pay for his staff’s health insurance while they were on unemployment and provide extra cash for the staff to keep afloat. “I didn’t even know she was a customer. When I hung up the phone, all I could do was cry. I know many of our customers love us but this was amazing.”
SOME THINGS WILL CHANGE FOR GOOD.
Doyle says he never really paid much attention to his on-line sales. Looking closely at the numbers, he discovered that more than half of the orders came from out-of-state (tourists and former residents). Also 5 out of 10 mail orders were for new-releases. Also he discovered that the demand for CD’s was lower than he expected. Going forward, he plans to put more inventory on-line, trim down the inventory, and leverage his growing national reputation.
TUESDAY, JUNE 6 REOPENING- PENT UP DEMAND IS SWEET.
When the store re-opened, Doyle brought 3 of the full timers back on the payroll, and he says he plans to bring everyone else back as soon as his revenue will support them. The first day, his sales were double what he would have expected. The average sale was close to $65 per person compared to the typical $20 per person. Almost everyone was a regular. “One guy hit the hand-sanitizer and told me this is the first time in 88 days in a record store.” Listening to Doyle describe the near death free-fall experience of closing and then reopening Grimeys, it felt like the customers, the government, and the world wide web kept him afloat. “Here’s what it is,” Doyle says: “Vinyl is emotional, it’s bullet proof, it’s physical, and it’s music.”