By: disenchanted on 10/28/08
Oh I am so frustrated about the death of all these small businesses in Northfield. I greatly valued Fine Groove & over the years ordered numerous esoteric CD's. THANK YOU Mr. KenKnight for giving so much to the residents of Northfield. I wish you the best. And I totaly agree with your
statement blaming high commercial property
taxes...they are terrible here in Northfield. Each time a small business closes I wonder how much these high taxes (thus high rental rates) represent in the decision to close. In Northfield, a business owner can be successful & still fail because of the commerical property taxes.

By: tch on 10/29/08
There are a number of factors going on, and only a few of them are hit in the artcle: property and otehr taxes being one, competition from online retailers, like Amazon is another. One other important factor is that so much of what is being produced and marketed lacks consumer appeal, to be polite. Music was so much better in the '50s, '60s and '70s, even the '80s with the birth of punk rock, than what we get today.

I admit that the number of CDs I have purchasd in the past year, whether at a "brick and mortar" retailer or online seller, can probably be counted on one hand. umber of music downloads is still at zero. This is because there is so little new material that appeals to me.

The same problems are also plagueing the book industry.