Jazz Record Mart

Chicago’s cultural economy just became a little smaller with the loss of the Jazz Record Mart. As reported in all of Chicago’s mainstream media. The owner, Bob Koester, has sold his record inventory, his brand name and website to a retailer in Nevada. Thus ends a Chicago cultural icon with roots that go back well into the last century. For music aficionados who still prefer their music in analog format instead of digital, the loss of the Jazz Record Mart is a minor loss. There are still other retail options in Chicago, such as Reckless Records, and numerous on-line sites that sell jazz and blues including the vendor who will soon have the Mart’s inventory. For the consumer, it may even be an advantage as they can avoid Tony the taxer’s near eleven percent sales tax. (Actually, Koester cited high rent as the rational for selling the business, not high retail taxes.)

The greater loss to Chicago is the loss of another business in the cultural sphere. Businesses are the incubators of other businesses. And in fact, Alligator Records, the Chicago-based blues specialty label, was founded by an erstwhile Jazz Record Mart employee. So the loss of a business not only diminishes the aggregate size of the local economy but it diminishes the likelihood of future new businesses.