Retail Trade

Psst, Anybody Out There Wanna Buy the Fresh & Easy Chain?

On Wednesday, Tesco, the English-based company and owner of Fresh & Easy, announced it was getting the hell out of the U.S. and selling its money pit grocery store chain that wouldn't let you touch the fruit, never had the brands you wanted, and made you check out your own damn self. See also: - CL ... More >>

Amoeba's Vinyl Vault: Treasure Trove or Legal Sticky Wicket

By Brett Koshkin While the corpses of corporate music retail chains litter strip malls where outlets like Tower Records and Blockbuster Music once stood, Amoeba Music is an independent juggernaut with three California-based stores the size of supermarkets. They've been a celebrated shopping destina ... More >>

Disappearing Ink: What Will Happen to All the Books?

The Shins and Edward Sharpe and The Magnetic Zeroes Added to the Expanding McDowell Mountain Music Festival Lineup

The quickly expanding lineup of McDowell Mountain Music Festival 2013 has added two more big names to the roster: The Shins and Edward Sharpe and The Magnetic Zeroes. The 2013 installment of the festival is looking to have the most impressive lineup in MMMF history, as The Shins and Sharpe join Th ... More >>

Roosevelt Row's Tediberto's Has a Liquor License Problem

See also: Tediberto's: Drop Your Vitamix and Put on Your Animal-Friendly Dancing Shoes, Vegans, We're Goin' Out to Eat See also: Vegan Mexican Restaurant Coming to Downtown Phoenix See also: Vegan Mexican Restaurant Owner Not Helping Stereotype of Vegans It's one of the worst kept secrets in the do ... More >>

The Love Me Nots and Jim Adkins Perform at Stinkweeds for Record Store Day, 4/21/12 (VIDEO)

Whether you got up early to buy the Feist/Mastodon split or went to one of the many free shows in town yesterday, it's safe to say that yesterday was a good day. Stinkweeds celebrated its 25th anniversary and Record Store Day with a barbecue and live performances by Dylan Pratt, Mergence, Source Vic ... More >>

Jason Draper, Accused of Stealing From 25 Walmart Stores, Says He Steals Because He's "Humiliated" Living With His Mom at Age 35

If you're "desperate and humiliated" because you're 35 years old and living with your mother, getting caught stealing more than $45,000 worth of merchandise from 25 different Walmart stores probably won't remedy that.Still, that's what police are saying Jason Dee Draper did to land him in jail on 28 ... More >>

Tech N9ne Discusses The Clubhouse Shooting, The Doors, and Machine Gun Kelly

Aaron Dontez Yates, better known to the world as Tech N9ne, is not a big fan of the typical. "How many black dudes do you see painting their faces and coming out with bishop robes on the stage?" he asks me, speaking from his tour bus "somewhere in New Mexico." He's taken a strange, twisted path ev ... More >>

Unite and Take Over Vol. 2: More Stories Inspired By the Songs of The Smiths

Unite and Take Over Vol. 2, Record Store Day variant cover by Jason Pedersen​One of our favorite Kickstarter success stories was last year's Unite and Take Over, a graphic collection of songs inspired by the lyrics of The Smiths. Editor and writer Shawn Demumbrum took to the crowd-funding s ... More >>

Fred's at Barneys New York Closed

​Fred's at Barneys New York, the stylish, modern bistro and brainchild of Fred Pressman, son of Barneys New York founder Barney Pressman, closed today. Located on the second floor of Barneys New York, which opened in October of 2009 in the Fashion Square Mall in Scottsdale, a Barneys' associa ... More >>

Stinkweeds vs. John Maus: Weird-Pop Musician Hates Record Stores, Record Store Hates Him

​Yesterday, Pitchfork did an interview with experimental musician John Maus as part of their Guest List series. Most of the interview was typical stuff from the column, with Maus riffing on his love of South Park, Odd Future, Panda Bear, and Ariel Pink. Things took a weird turn, however, whe ... More >>

Blogs Teased in Our 4/7 Issue

​This week, New Times ran a list in our print publication highlighting some of the most interesting posts published at Up On The Sun over the past week. Here are links to those posts... Why did Bright Eyes singer Conor Oberst diss Lady Gaga's concert in Arizona? What are Phoenix's most obnox ... More >>

Record Store Day Round Up 2011 : Phoenix Stores Offer Up Exclusives, Live Performances and More on RSD

​"Folks who work here are professors. Don't replace all the knowers with guessors -- keep'em open -- they're the ears of the town." - Tom Waits, on the important of independent record stores. If you're a nerd like me, April 16 isn't just another Saturday. It's Record Store Day, the day independent ... More >>

What's Selling: Record Store Day Roundup

​This week, looking at What's Selling is a little different. That's because Saturday was the long-anticipated Record Store Day, and hopefully you didn't miss out.Not only did all of our favorite local record stores have live in-store performances, but they sold a ton of exclusive material only ... More >>

Record Store Day Roundup: Phoenix Record Stores Offer Up Exclusives, Live Performances on RSD

Tech N9ne wants you to visit Stinkweeds​Record Store Day is upon us this weekend, the day set aside by, well, record stores, to showcase their goods, and debut a whole mess of exclusive collector items.  Phoenix-area shops are planning all sorts of special events to sweeten the deal.  In ... More >>

Death of a Record Store: Robrt Pela Spins Through His Life as a Vinyl Geek at the Soon-Defunct Associated Distributors

OiNK Administrator Cleared of Charges

Alan Ellis, operater of former p2p juggernaut OiNK, was cleared of all charges last Friday in a British court.​For those not in the know, file-sharing is a pretty big way of life for some music fans. Shawn Fanning pushed the practice into prominence in the late 1990s with his super-slick software ... More >>

Arty Girl: Jason Hill at Design Within Reach

Courtesy of Jason Hill.Ooooo, pretty...​I wish there were five of me.I mean, I'm sure that would drive everyone else around me (or me's) crazy. But if there were five of me, I could see and do all the things I want to in this town.And today I'm adding one more thing to my mental "to do" list and t ... More >>

Buy Local Starting Today and Save Moolah

Simply Bread's fabulous challah.​Today is the infamous Black Friday, and even if you're not braving the Wal-Mart madness or the bumper cars of a mall parking lot today, you've likely got shopping on the brain. What auspicious timing for Local First Arizona to introduce Buy Local W ... More >>

AZ Ghostbusters Raise Money for Salvation Army and Promote New Ghostbusters Video Game

Jonathan McNamaraMatt Haynes (center) with the AZ Ghostbusters Though there were no spiritual apparitions at Gamestop at 5707 Northern Ave. in Glendale during the midnight launch of the new Ghostbusters The Video Game, there were plenty of EKG meters and "proton packs" just in case. These delicate ... More >>

Sony Ruins eMusic's Indie Credibility, Raises Rates

eMusic adds Sony and pisses off its indie rock-savvy clienteleThese troubling financial times call for belt-tightening across American society. We all know what's going on with the auto industry, and the record industry is not safe from this recession. As announced Monday, online music retailer eMus ... More >>

Record Store Day: Why You Should Care

Record Store Day - it exists and it is happening this SaturdayBelieve it or not, record stores still function in this digital day and age. On top of that, this Saturday is Record Store Day, or "Time to Give a Shit About Record Stores." While record stores are a debatable topic, a day that celebrates ... More >>

Five Reasons to Support Record Store Day

Z Gallerie Closing Leaves King-Sized Vacancy on Tempe's Mill Avenue

The Z Gallerie stores on Mill Avenue in Tempe and at Scottsdale's Fashion Square Mall closed over the weekend after huge sales that saw quality home furnishings going for 75 percent off.While the mall still has big-name anchors like Nieman-Marcus and Dillard's, the funky furniture store was itself a ... More >>

Up on the Sun's Top 5 Entries of 2008

Happy New Year, Phoenix. Here's one last look at 2008 with the top five blogs as determined by the sheer number of eyes that read them. Catch the top three slots after the jump. 5 - The Nintendo Experience Mobile Tour I want to be the kind of Nintendo fan that happily shrieks at the chance to pl ... More >>

Gun Sales Booming Because of Fears of Obama

Arty Girl: John Loring at Phoenix Art Museum

"Tiffany Style"

Metallica goes diva on the Internet…again

Stick it to the Man

Shop indie

What's happening in Phoenix for Record Store Day on April 19

String Cheese

Everyone Gets a Deal!

The son of Napster moves to sign every unsigned band on Earth

Rage Against the MP3s

The expensive stripper speaks out

No Trespassing

The feathered fiend examines the guv's (cough!) brass balls, conspicuous consumption in Scottsdale and the L. Ron Hubbard House in Phoenix

Target Market

Art for the masses

BEST WINE SELECTION

Sportsman's Fine Wine & Spirits

Sorry, We're Closed

Downtown businesses are struggling to stay afloat

BEST PLACE TO BUY NEW CDs

Circles Records & Tapes

Backdoor Boogie

30,000 bands can't be too wrong -- CD Baby hands 'em independence

System of a Down

Steal This Album! (Sony)

When Online Got Off Base

Or: How Mark Cuban would have and could have saved the music biz

File Shearing

After whacking Napster, the labels needed their own digital download alternatives, and fast. It shows.

Ransom Notes

Can one man persuade millions of people to pay for their 'free' music?

Ransom Notes

Can one man convince millions of people to pay for their 'free' music?

Lawsuit on Board

Fired AutoNation worker sues company for pregnancy discrimination

Pirates of the Cyberspace

Music, money and mayhem clog MP3 download sites

See Ya Later, Regulator

Car Pool

Tempe law firm goes after car dealers who overcharge state taxes and fail to reimburse customers

USED CDS ON THE HIT LIST

MAJOR LABELS THREATEN RETAILERS WHO SELL SECONDHAND DISCS