Save Music Millennium on NW 23rd! Wait, why?

I logged onto Facebook (the world’s second largest friend networking website) the other day to discover some of my friends had joined a group called “Save Music Millennium on 23rd!” and when I first saw it I said to myself, “Yeah! Let’s save it!” Then I paused, furrowed my brow and said aloud, “Wait, why?”

Music Millennium has long been a staple of the Northwest side of town and perhaps as much a Portland landmark for many as Powell’s. But if you go in there today it looks little like it did a few years ago. Now the walls and aisles are cluttered with chintzy crap as if it were a fancier-looking Sam Goody, which has also gone out of business.

Though some of their items are very expensive and priced far above their competitors’, it is understandable due to their high rent. And many perceive their employees as having an elitist, self-important attitude, which keeps them from frequenting the store. But the issue isn’t with Music Millennium. No, the issue is with these bandwagon-riding kids who are trying to “rally” behind the shop with their Facebook group.

The group’s page pleads with people to “[t]ry and stop downloading music (I know it’s hard) and buy CDs at the 23rd location.” Their reasoning why is because the “store is a Portland landmark and 23rd won’t be the same without it.”

How would Northwest 23rd not be the same without Music Millennium? In fact, if anything, the loss of Music Millennium would define the new 23rd better than if the store were to remain. As gentrification plows down the street, followed closely by its army of former suburbanite mall dwellers, the small, independent shops dwindle and are replaced with the proven financial juggernauts.

Frankly, it would appear as if these folks didn’t understand the principles of capitalism to begin with. If you like a store and would like to see it remain in business then you must patronize it regardless of its financial status.

Where is the group pleading with folks not to steal music because it’s illegal and could potentially harm local record stores? That group has yet to be created. But now we have this knee-jerk reaction. Your cute neighborhood record store is in the red and now you ask your pals to try to abstain from breaking the law in order to save the store.

But at this point, why even bother with trying to save the store? You didn’t shop there enough in the first place. You acquired your music elsewhere, probably from a cheaper and easier medium. You have thereby proven the obsoleteness of your favorite little record store. If the store’s only reason for being in existence is because it’s been there a while and you’ve grown fond of looking at it then it simply no longer serves a purpose.

The Facebook group should be applauded for urging people to stop downloading music. They have identified one of the factors for the demise of the store and they have sought to put a temporary end to it. And, yes, this group’s intentions are quite noble. Rallying behind a local business should be admired. Surely we’d hate to see something like a Tower Records in Music Millennium’s place.

But doesn’t the purpose of this group remind you of people who are claiming deathbed repentance? It will be sad to see Music Millennium on Northwest 23rd go the way of the polar bear. Should Music Millennium close its doors, perhaps something interesting will replace it; maybe even something you’ll like better.