Still Rockin'

Sharing music is more important than selling music for Michael Anderson, the manager of TDs CDs &LPs, and that’s how founder Tom Donohue would have wanted it.

Donohue passed away from liver cancer on November 12, 2003, but his passion for exposing people to new music is still alive. Nowadays, Donohue’s legacy is preserved by the store’s employees and their genuine interest in music and dedication to finding the right music for loyal shoppers.

While TDs CDs & LPs briefly closed after Donohue’s death, his friends and business partners Patrick Fiore and Marina Ballor reopened the store Nov. 22 the same year.

The store went through a rough patch after Donohue’s death because everyone was in shock, Anderson said.

“Everyone loved TD,” Anderson said. “He was the father of the local scene, and there was resentment because I wasn’t Tom.”

Donohue is gone, but other things that make the store unique have not changed. The store is still hard to find; you either have to take notice of the small sign outside Kirkwood Manor, where it is located, or hear about it through word of mouth, which Donohue felt was the best way to get the word around.

“I’d rather have customers bring in their friends,” Donohue said in a Nov. 28, 2000, IDS article.

The store is tucked cozily in the same building as Soma Coffee and Laughing Planet Café. Once discovered, it seems to quickly become a favorite for local shoppers. Although the stacks of records and CDs that once characterized the store have been replaced by categorical and alphabetical organization, it’s the relaxed and personable atmosphere that sustains TDs' special qualities.

TDs employee and IU senior Jake Ruby feels rewarded when he shows customers new music. He also loves the store’s neighbors in Kirkwood Manor.

“It’s like a community. The employees at Soma get discounts on the records at TDs, and I can go over to Soma and get coffee,” he said as he sipped a beverage, courtesy of Soma.

Although many customers enjoyed shopping at TDs' solely for Tom’s personality, Ruby said the store still has regulars. And it’s because TDs still has employees like Ruby, who have an arduous interest in music, that the store keeps running. He has a warm and friendly temperament and wants to keep his costumers satisfied by engaging in conversation and showing genuine interest.

Michael Rings, a graduate student in the IU Department of Philosophy, enjoys shopping at TDs because it’s an independent record store, which he always likes to support, and because the store has an eclectic mix of the music he likes.

“I mostly buy CDs, though I picked up a vinyl copy of No New York (a 2004 compilation album produced by Brian Eno) there, which I had been hunting for years,” Rings said.

And it’s because of TDs' eclcetic mix of music that customers keep coming back. If you can’t find an album there or anywhere else in town, they’ll special order it for you.

Not only does TDs offer a wide range of CDs and LPs, they also sell DVDs, magazines and have a section of local books and free zines.

TDs' survival is uncharacteristic of record stores in the U.S. Numbers have continually declined over the years. About 2,700 record stores across the country have closed since 2003, and about 65 percent of all music sales are now taking place in chain stores such as Wal-Mart and Best Buy, according to a 2005 Rolling Stone article, “The Record Industry’s Decline.”

TDs has remained open despite this trend.

“One never knows what the future holds, but I hope we’re going to be here for the long haul,” Fiore said.