>Times Square Records
i think i've been there, ages ago. there's this big room where there's racks and racks of golden oldies that are all in plain sleeves -- brown, or possibly dull golden. it looked like there was one company doing them, getting the right to reissue singles from major labels that couldn't be arsed or now defunct soul and country independents.
So it wasn't reissue culture in the sense we'd understand -- labels that curate like Blood and Fire or LTM or Soul Jazz, with a bias to the arcane and esoteric and under-valued -- but more like a nostalgia market servicing middle aged people who'd never bought a favorite record back in the day and now craved, or lost the record or something.
i remember a company in the UK doing that in the early 80s, golden oldies in gold identikit sleeves, things like petula clark 'downtown' and classic soul one hit wonders. for the people who just want the song, don't fetishise having the original pressing with the sleeve and the label and all that.
in america, the big oldies reissue label is called Collectibles:
http://www.oldies.com/
i know the spot you're talking about, i think it was a little south, in the 30's, no? Times Sq. Records closed in the early 70's, tho...
in terms of Times Sq. Records, it was a curated thing (strictly doo wop records, which were a small portion of the r&b market and only really really flourished in NYC) and it was not targeted towards middle aged people, i mean initially these records were rereleased less than 10 years after their original release...
Billboard ran a prominent feature story about the Times Square concept; record producers and execs from local labels followed the kids down the stairs to Slim's shop. There was a distinctive "Slim" sound; usually a passionate, high-pitched lead voice (Slim loved the Frankie Lymon knockoffs), plenty of falsetto and high tenor parts, and, of course, the ubiquitous rumbling bass. The classic R&B sound of the pioneer groups of the early fifties - the Orioles, Five Keys, or Ravens - was perhaps too complex (and maybe too black) for the mostly white teens who crowded Slim's store. A few discerning collectors (Mr. D'Elia, for one) recognized the merits of the Swallows and Dominoes in the early sixties, but most customers opted for the kiddie lead -- The Elchords"' Peppermint Stick," the gimmicky doo-wop, the Five Discs'"I Remember," orthe ringing ballad - the Admirations' "The Bells of Rosa Rita," all prime examples of the "Slim sound."
The Times Square label was born in the winter of 1961. Slim had acquired the rights to several masters and wanted to manufacture repressings on the original labels. Clarence "Jack Rags" Johnson, the co‑writer of "Desirie" by the Charts and ownerof the tiny Cee-Jay label, approached Slim with an exceptional new mixed group (three blacks, two whites) which, of course, they christened (by way of a contest) the Timetones. Slim was initially opposed to the creation of his own label; he was very busy just running his shop. Wayne Stierle, who helped in the store and supplied Times with key reissues, persuaded Slim that his image would be greatly enhancedby a custom record label. According to Stierle, he then fabricated the first simple black and-silver design for the Times Square label, used only for "(Here) In My Heart" and "Go Back Where You Came From." Slim soon dropped Stierle's design for a more elaborate black-and-orange logo, obviously copied from the legendary Chance Records of Chicago label art.
http://www.lulusko.www7.50megs.com/TIMESSQUARE/tsrindex.htm
BUT, to continue the digging the reissue idea back furthor, a friend steered me to this:
Milt Gabler was born in Harlem, May 20, 1911, the eldest of six children. He worked for his father at a hardware store on 42nd Street while a student at Stuyvesant H.S. He talked his father into installing a record department in his radio shop which quickly became the Commodore Music Shop, the first jazz specialist store.
Circa 1933, at the bottom of the depression, he had reissued a few Jack Teagarden items from the old ARC* dime store labels on the Commodore label. He also ordered special re-pressings of out-of-print Vocallion records by Pinetop Smith, Romeo Nelson, etc. When ARC pressed beyond his special-orders for sale to Commodore's competitiors, he started the UHCA label. UHCA meant United Hot Clubs of America, which really didn't exist (but was a good idea). UHCA eventually went beyond re-issuing jazz classics from Paramount, Gennett, Okeh, Columbia, etc. to unearthing valuable unissued material by early jazz masters.
http://www.delmark.com/rhythm.gabler.htm
so, here is a boutique reissue operation, specializing in early New Orleans style jazz, in 1933! and again in Times Square...
