For anyone who visited the Music Millennium on NW 23rd and Johnson will no longer be able to because they are closing down!
I almost feel guilty for not buying more of my cd's at that place, even though I live nowhere near that place. I always loved to visit that store, and browse through the New and used cd's. It really was a neat place with knowledgeable people working, who actually knew a lot about music. I think what really killed that place was the lack of cd sales because most kids are downloading music illegally, not buying it.
RIP MUSIC MIllennium on the Northwest side. They have been at that location for soooooo long! Very sad!

Too bad they didn't try to add some value.

(maybe they did, I don't know)

Love the store. I go every few months and buy stuff.

IMHO, our legal environment is hostile to the kinds of innovations they could be doing to keep people in the store. Imagine....

Digital music purchases right there in the building from their safe and high speed lines (or in store cache).

Custom CD burning services, complete with personalized cover art.

Coffee, Internet and music videos, right there in store.

Wish list exchange, digitally.

Home delivery of the same. Log on, get an account and purchase your music through the Millenium! Get extra goodies for doing that, plus well packaged and produced media packages.

Lots of stuff can be done with digital music and physical stores, but for the attorneys.

The eastside store is still open.

This was covered in depth by The Oregonian and Willamette Week about a month ago... surprised it's taken this long for a topic to appear here.

I think it's fairly safe to say that many (not everyone!) in Portland proper say they support local businesses, hate a certain national chain with a store at SE 84th & Holgate with a passion, and would rather see more local businesses than national chains.

However, I don't think Internet downloads, rising rents/leases, and more national chains appearing on NW 23rd Ave. are the only culprits.

Since people are mostly motivated by price, we should also be adding the $9.99 specials at most electronic chain stores to the list. With the price people say they've wanted to see on CDs all along, people forget about supporting local businesses to save a few bucks. One year, I remember a Willamette Week "Best of Portland" reader survey said the favorite place to buy CDs was... Best Buy!

In another thread, there were comments about how much people hate McDonald's (I'll also add Starbucks) - but how much business do they take in every day? In comparison, how much business do local eating establishments and coffee shops take in? How full are parking lots at a certain furniture store located at Cascade Station (which brings up another point... how many people are going out there just to look and drove all the way out there, where the same people claim they support public transportation and there is a light rail line/station that is fully capable of transporting them to their window shopping)?

If people say they support local businesses, they really should. Find out if there's a business association in your area of town, and if there's a website and directory, find and try the places closer to home. Many times, you'll be glad you did.

I may be paraphrasing, but I believe Terry called 23rd Avenue, "a mall without a roof" in several interviews. This writing has been on the wall for well over a decade.

The small businesses on the street built it up for big businesses. Gee, what a great concept. Ah, the glory of the Katz legacy. If I wanted to go to California, or New York, I would fly.

I cannot stand being around so many permanent tourists, so I only venture up to that part of town if there is a can't miss movie at Cinema 21. A shame, really, because the neighborhood had a great deal of appeal for many years.

I have shopped at the Burnside store since they had the forbidden fruit upstairs. I am glad that Music Millennium is still part of -- an ever gentrified and shrinking -- old Portland. Long live rock!

I was in NW Music Millenium right before the Willy Week & Oregonian articles....someone at the counter told me that it was closing. Does anyone know the exact date, or are they already shut down?

'Tis very sad, but I can't blame them....$15,000/month for rent....sheesh.

Are they gonna keep the Eastside store?

Less rent, I imagine.

Music stores have not aqdapted to the new reality of music sales.

Some suggestions

Music stores license through the major copyright holders, to allow them to create personalized cd's for customers. Or allow customers to download music at terminals in their store, then pay at the store, a lot of people dont like to give out credit card info on line.

Actually, it's the RIAA and their greedy cohorts that have not adapted, and as a result, businesses like MM go out of business.

the eastside store will remain open but i will miss the live performances most, to many to remember, i remember the good ole days Everybodies,chrystalship , For what its worth, longhair music you could stop in buy the new springsteen album ,a new bong ,some incense to cover up the smell of the weed you were smoking talk about one stop shopping.......

dude, crystalship? its been like 4 decades. besides, wasn't that one of the most expensive places to pick up a LP?

And is Longhair Music still in business anymore?

chrystalship closed i believe early 8os after it moved from the Galleria