Seattle Weekly is out with its annual “Best of Seattle” awards, and in a city that takes pride in its remaining indie record shops — the ones standing tall in the face of the digital revolution — the winner of Best/CD Record Store will be familiar to everyone.
It’s Starbucks, of course.
Wait, what?
“Hey, why the hell not!” writes Seattle Weekly’s Chris Kornelis in the blurb explaining the pick. “They stock all the records you love. They’ve got the Fleet Foxes, the Spoon, the Fiona Apple, and the Jack White. And in some communities, they’re the only alternative to the big boxes for physical music.”
Readers are pulling no punches in the comments on the post, calling it an affront to independent stores. We contacted Kornelis, who confirmed that it’s a serious pick but noted that it’s meant to be taken with a grain of salt.
“Starbucks has done a lot in terms of exposing their massive audience to (mostly) quality (often) local music,” he says via email. “Seattle is home to some of the biggest and best traditional record stores in the country — from Silver Platters and Easy Street to Everyday Music and Sonic Boom — and nobody has recognized them or chronicled their evolution in the last five years as much as the Weekly. I also think it’s worth recognizing the contribution that Starbucks has made to the local, regional, and national communities.”
Ridiculous or reasonable?
Picture by javacolleen via Flickr.
