I’m attaching the press release below, so that you know what I know. But if this is at all a possibility, this is quite a bellwether warning for indie music retailers, as ear X-tacy is one the nation’s most recognizable and lauded independent record retailers – a name that often finds itself in the same sentence as Electric Fetus and Amoeba Records…
UPDATE: I will be attending this press conference and will be tweeting live on The Decibel Tolls Twitter
John Timmons, founder of the independent record store and owner for nearly 25 years, is expressing his concern for the survival of ear X-tacy, as we know it. Timmons will announce details of the store’s situation during a press conference Friday, February 12, at 10:00am, at the store,1534 Bardstown Road.
With the 10,000-square-foot prime location’s lease about to expire in March 2010, Timmons is focusing attention on the realities of a dire situation and the potential impact of losing one of the nation’s top 10 record stores. The absence of this local treasure would have a financial impact on the local media, especially public radio. It would affect concerts, promoters, and leave a void on Bardstown Road in the Highlands, an area already severely impacted by the economy’s downturn. The synergy of Louisville’s local businesses would be affected and the city’s music and cultural landscape definitely would be altered. The dynamics of “keep Louisville weird,” a local movement founded by John Timmons, would suffer from such a loss.
“This is not about business. It’s about something my customers have built and have come to expect. It’s about a place to experience music,” Timmons said. “Many tourists seem to make ear X-tacy a destination point as out-of-towners have learned about ear X-tacy through national exposure. I think the store is a place that makes Louisvillian’s proud. It’s been a community effort to build it and it’s going to take a community to sustain it.”
