The CD/Game Exchange brings in business with its supply of new and used music, movies and video games. The store, located at 30 E. 11th Ave., is among a chain of three others, which are located in Portland.
Anyone who has tried to buy a used compact disc knows the familiar frustration of poring through poorly organized bins for hours trying to find that one score that will make all the effort worth it. More often than not, hopeful customers will come out with empty hands and a defeated look.
The CD/Game Exchange, located at 30 E. 11th Ave., hopes to turn what was once a laborious and time-consuming chore into something as easy as buying, say, a new CD.
The first impression one gets after walking into the store is CDs – a lot of them. They line the walls and shelves, locked away in glass cases, organized by genre and alphabetized. Upon closer inspection, it appears that the used CDs are right there, mixed in with the new ones.
Ben Terrell, manager of the CD/Game Exchange, explained that although the store does a brisk business in new albums — “We sell them at or below list price,” he said — it’s used CDs that bring in a lot of the store’s business.
“The used sales help keep prices on the new stuff down,” he said.
The store, part of a chain that includes three others in Portland, makes about 30 to 40 used trades and sales a day.
“We pay a little more and take things that other stores won’t,” Terrell said. “I’ll buy pretty much anything.”
The store also trades in video games and systems, tapes, LPs, DVDs and videocassettes — most of them used.
“I consider this place to be the best of everything,” Terrell said.
Establishing the store’s unique identity hasn’t been easy, he added, with a lot of competition coming from all directions. Not only does the store compete with the numerous stores around Eugene, but it also has to deal with big music chains such as Sam Goody and record clubs that give new albums away for free.
“Big chains will undercut you on the new stuff, and record clubs will affect the way a new album sells because they give them away for free,” he said.
As for Napster, which critics say could wipe out the record industry, Terrell said he isn’t worried.
“I don’t think it’ll have that big of an effect,” he said. “I think people are more into the actual buying and packaging of music, the physical aspect of it; I love the packaging, the sound, the smell of records.”
Nor is Terrell worried about the rising cost of CDs hurting his business.
“Higher list prices on the new stuff make the used stuff more valuable,” he said, adding that a significant amount of his business is through used music.
“Everything is worth something to someone,” he said.
Customers seem to be pleased with the store’s selection and prices. Thomas Green, an undeclared freshman, liked “all the different kinds of media.”
“It’s cheap, and they have lots of stuff,” he said. “I’ll come in looking for something, and sometimes they won’t have it, but usually I’ll walk out with something I needed.”
Dan Turano, a freshman computer science major, said he found great buys in the store’s black sticker section, where all the CDs range from $2.50 to a quarter.
“They’ve got unbeatable deals; look at this here, an Aerosmith CD for a buck,” he said. “I got Pearl Jam’s ‘Ten’ here for $5. I mean, where else are you going to find that kind of price?”