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College Memories

This time I'll talk a bit about the local campus music store, Face The Music. It's a local music store that's been around forever in various places near campus, and it's the closest music store to the university. So, as you can imagine, many students go there when looking for new tunes.

When I first started college, the store was in a semi-big spot on the strip of store space that lines the avenue just west of the university campus. They had a large selection of full-priced, popular discs. The discs were in quite a few different categories: the typical rock and pop, country, jazz, soundtracks, reggae, and such. They also had a very large selection of used discs selling for anywhere from $6 to $10. Such a great deal, if you can find what you're looking for.

The store moved to a new, smaller location just a few storefronts down from where they were, and they STILL have everything I've described above. Because it's a smaller space, they don't have quite the large selection they used to have. They still have a good selection though, for the most part. You can't always find what you want, but if you're looking for something popular your chances are good. They still buy and sell used CDs, and I'd say about half the store is space for those used discs. They guarantee their used stuff, and I've never had a problem with anything I've purchased there. They also sell stuff like stickers, used DVDs, and a few other things.

One cool service they offer is special orders. You can tell them the name of the artist and album you're looking for, and if their sources have it they'll order it for you. Special orders usually arrive within a week or two, and they call you to tell you your order is in. I've used that service a few times, and it's very helpful. It was very convenient to be able to just walk a few minutes from the dorms and pick up a new CD rather than commuting across town to some other store.

The people working there are cool, usually fellow college students. It's a hip little music store and very college-student oriented. It might not have the huge selection of other stores, but the convenience makes it a good choice. Another cool thing is that they offer coupons, printed in the local papers! They're good for a couple bucks off a new or used disc, and the last few times I've bought stuff from them they have allowed me to keep using my old coupon! I think that's a great thing and I love them for it.

One negative thing about the store is that their prices for non-used CDs are a little high. But I gladly paid the extra few dollars once in a while for the ability to pick up my music and not have to travel very far. Also, the money (presumably) stays local, so I'd much rather pay full price to support local places. OK, maybe I haven't always done that, but I think I've bought my fair share of music from these local places.

That's my Face The Music story!! I have fond memories of buying cool music from that store, and it was an important part of my college experience.