National trends for independent record stores are less than encouraging, but Rick Zeigler, owner of Indy CD & Vinyl, doesn't operate in crisis mode.

Zeigler has heard predictions of doom and gloom for more than a decade.

"In 1995, media analysts said CDs will be gone in five years," Zeigler said. "In 1998, they said CDs will be gone in five years. In 2001, they said CDs will be gone in five years."

Indy CD & Vinyl continues to sell music at its prime location on Broad Ripple Avenue, and three nearby competitors operate with distinction: Luna Music, 5202 N. College Ave.; Vibes Music, 1051 54th St.; and Missing Link Records, 4905 N. College Ave.

The corridor of College Avenue from 49th Street to Broad Ripple might warrant a nickname of "Recordtown," but it would be premature to make permanent signs.

Since 2003, more than 3,100 record stores in the country -- 1,400 of them independent -- have closed, according to the California-based Almighty Institute of Music Retail.

Overall sales of CDs, vinyl albums, cassettes and digital albums have decreased 25 percent during the past four years. Annual unit sales tumbled from 667 million in 2004 to 501 million in 2007, reports Nielsen SoundScan.

"There's no doubt that CD sales are declining -- and in this store, too," said Zeigler. "That hurts, and I don't really know what's going to happen. But it's going to be a while before the music industry dies."

In the interest of survival, store owners do more than sell recorded music over their counters.

Indy CD & Vinyl stocks a wealth of rare posters and music DVDs. Luna sells "cultural curiosities" such as books and toy robots. Vibes markets its hottest items at Amazon.com, and Missing Link maintains booths at four area antique malls.

Vibes owner John Zeps said he recently shipped music to a customer in Poland, thanks to Internet connections.

"It's a worldwide market, which is great," he said. "I don't think I could survive with just the locals."

Indianapolis residents, meanwhile, have retail choices not found in every city.

Dave Searle, a former clerk at Indy CD & Vinyl, travels the United States in his role as road manager for the Rev. Peyton's Big Damn Band.

"It feels pretty blessed to have legit stores serving a variety of different needs," Searle said. "Sometimes I'll go to a city and they'll have one store. Indianapolis is at least comparable to any city I've been to."

Josh Peyton, the Big Damn Band's guitarist-vocalist, appreciates the musical IQ that's synonymous with independent record stores.

"At a big-box store, they're going to hire whoever," Peyton said. "At the indie stores, they have people behind the counter who know what's going on. They're like tastemakers. In my opinion, they're the most important people for selling my record."

Indy CD & Vinyl aims to be an all-ages vendor/venue

Indy CD & Vinyl owner Rick Zeigler works to give young customers the classic record store he remembers, and hopes to give members of his generation the classic record store they may have forgotten.

Zeigler's definition of such a store includes CD and vinyl formats, with merchandise new and used. Most important, he said, is a variety of genres.

Indy CD & Vinyl boasts a deep catalog of indie rock, classic rock, jazz, blues and hip-hop.

"I like a record store where teenagers are going to be brushing up against people 50 years old," Zeigler said. "People who buy a Vampire Weekend album are going to be brushing up against people buying 'Love It to Death,' by Alice Cooper. Both things can cross-pollinate, and I see it happening."

Young listeners gravitate to music made when their parents were young, and older listeners turn to store employees with the question: "Well, tell me, what's new that people like that you think is really good?"

Zeigler, 52, grew up in Muncie and earned a degree in clinical psychology. He didn't use that training, however, when he and his wife, Jeanne, moved to Utah. Instead, they opened an independent record store known as Salt City CDs in 1993.

While the store was a hit with the public, Zeigler's family moved back to Indiana to find a new school for their son. They settled in Greenfield, and established Indy CD & Vinyl in the heart of Broad Ripple in 2001.

The decor of Indy CD & Vinyl -- featuring large posters of Kurt Cobain, Muddy Waters and even the controversial "butcher cover" of Beatles album "Yesterday and Today" (which is not for sale) -- is inspired by long-running San Francisco record store Rasputin Music, Zeigler said.

"People come in, walk around looking at posters, and then they'll leave," he said. "That's OK."

Indy CD & Vinyl also has room in the back for in-store performances. About 100 people turned out earlier this month when the Rev. Peyton's Big Damn Band played selections from new album "The Whole Fam Damnily."

"I love doing in-stores," Zeigler said. "It's just another way to turn people on to music."

Sales of CDs are down and sales of vinyl are up, Zeigler said, but the latter format represents a fraction of the store's inventory.

"Vinyl starts with such a low base," he said. "Even if sales of vinyl double and CD sales go down by 10 percent, it's not balanced."

Knowing that sales of downloaded songs topped 840 million in 2007 -- nearly 1 billion transactions made outside the walls of independent record stores -- Zeigler maintains faith in CD and vinyl.

"I know it's the common thing that everyone says, but I think people like having a physical artifact of something they like," he said.

Indy CD & Vinyl

Where: 806 Broad Ripple Ave.

Hours: 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday.

Info: (317) 259-1012, www.indycdandvinyl.com.

Owner Rick Zeigler's all-time favorite albums:

1: Beatles "Abbey Road" (1969).

2: Rolling Stones "Sticky Fingers" (1971).

3: Sigur Ros "Agaetis Byrjun" (1999).

Luna owner relies on service

Luna Music owner Todd Robinson didn't anticipate selling copies of Jack Kerouac's "On the Road" when he opened his record store in 1994. But items he calls "cultural curiosities" are now an important part of Luna's mix of merchandise.

In addition to selling cutting-edge recordings on CD and vinyl, Luna stores on both College and Massachusetts avenues devote shelf space to books and boutique toys.

Robinson shares a favorite memory from last holiday season: When a family visited Luna, Dad looked at records, Mom browsed stickers, a daughter read a book, and a son inspected miniature robots.

"I'm hitting all notes," Robinson said. "People clearly were having a good time. Nobody's tapping their toes because somebody just wanted to come in to look at CDs."

In a recent conversation, Robinson emphasized the value of customer service.

"People still like coming into a shop where somebody knows your name or perhaps even your tastes," he said. "It's a great one-on-one experience, and I don't think you can get that online."

A 42-year-old native of Dayton, Ohio, Robinson has worked in music stores his entire adult life. After learning the business as a clerk at Gem City Records in his hometown, he founded Luna in Indianapolis in 1994.

Robinson's stores are now fixtures in two vibrant neighborhoods, and he doesn't view downloaded music files as progress.

"It's just my personal taste, but pixilated versions of cover art and substandard audio isn't maybe the complete experience," he said.

Enthusiasm flows when Robinson talks about special-edition releases that present vinyl and CD versions of an album in a single package, priced slightly less than $20. He mentions the White Stripes and R.E.M. as industry leaders in this movement.

"It's the best of both worlds," he said. "You can buy this great piece of art, have the warmth of analog vinyl, and you can have a CD for your car or personal player."

There's no shortage of doomsday talk surrounding his industry, but Robinson said it's possible for a record store to turn a profit in the 21st century.

"You have to continually evolve with your clientele's tastes and what people expect," he said. "Customer service never goes out of style."

Luna Music

Where: 5202 N. College Ave., 431 Massachusetts Ave.

Hours: Both stores are open from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sunday.

Info: (317) 283-5862, (317) 917-5862, www.lunamusic.net

Owner Todd Robinson's all-time favorite albums:

1: John Coltrane, "Blue Train" (1957).

2: Everything But the Girl, "Temperamental" (1999).

3: De La Soul, "Three Feet High and Rising" (1989).

Vibes' owner is glad that he diversified

Vibes Music owner John Zeps wants one of his shops to be many things to local musicians: a place to buy instruments, a place to rehearse, a place to make recordings and a place to sell CDs.

He launched his multipurpose experiment a year ago in a building on 54th Street, just east of the Monon Trail.

Six bands keep the rehearsal schedule filled at Vibes, but Zeps says sales of recorded music (local or otherwise) have been lackluster.

"Every day, I hear people say, 'I'd buy more CDs, but I have to buy gas for my truck,' " Zeps said. "I totally understand that."

Zeps, 42, is known among Indianapolis fans of metal and hardcore punk styles as an accomplished guitarist. He had no grand plan to own a record store.

He was a staffer at Tracks Music in Castleton until that store closed and its owner gave Zeps two options: Buy the store or find a different job.

He chose the former, and the first Vibes location opened in 1999.

"Between 1999 and 2001, I was doing very well," Zeps said. "Now, I'm struggling to make ends meet."

He's turned to Amazon.com to help compensate for decreased traffic in his stores. Vibes lists 20 to 50 items daily on the Web site.

The best-sellers are items that are out of print or underground.

"You'd be surprised: Some of these CDs go for $90," he said.

Used CDs and vinyl slightly outnumber new merchandise at the two stores.

It's not easy for independent record stores to work with corporate music labels, Zeps said.

"I'm ignored, because I just have two stores and I buy in such small volumes," he said. "I'll buy 10 copies of a new release, as opposed to Best Buy, which will buy (thousands) and distribute them out to their stores. They can afford to sell a CD for $9.99."

Meanwhile, the market of buying and selling used music is active.

"I think people are dumping their music collections left and right," Zeps said. "It's never been this big of a selling frenzy."

The 54th Street location of Vibes recently featured a pre-owned 12-inch single of the Rolling Stones' "Miss You" pressed on pink vinyl.

"I feel kind of lucky to be able to acquire all this music," Zeps said. "A lot of this stuff, you won't be able to get again. It's historic."

Vibes Music

Where: 1051 E. 54th St., 5975 E. 82nd St.

Hours: The Broad Ripple store is open from noon to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday; closed Sunday. The Castleton store is open from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sunday.

Info: (317) 726-0927, (317) 576-0404, www.myspace.com/vibesrecords

Owner John Zeps' all-time favorite albums:

1: Kiss, "Hotter than Hell" (1974).

2: Black Sabbath, "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath" (1973).

3: Iron Maiden, "Killers" (1981).

Still serving delicious vinyl to music lovers

Missing Link Records is synonymous with pre-owned vinyl in Indianapolis.

While on tour, hip-hop artists often visit the store to dig through its vast inventory of 33-1/3 rpm LPs. With luck, someone else's cast-off record will be sampled and become part of a future hit.

Store owner Rick Wilkerson said he's happy to keep vinyl's food chain in motion.

"I love history; I love nostalgia," Wilkerson said. "Almost every week, a record will come in that I've never seen before. It gets me going."

Missing Link will celebrate its 15th anniversary this fall, and Wilkerson knows the challenges facing independent record stores didn't pop up overnight.

He remembers the arrival of tough times in the late-1990s, when Amazon.com made it easy to buy obscure recordings. The advent of CD burners then made it easy to copy music and share. Once computer users started to share unauthorized MP3 files, a grim slide in CD sales was under way.

To stay afloat, Wilkerson maintains a seller's booth at four area antique malls: Shadeland Antique Mall, Peddler's Marketplace, Noblesville Antique Mall and Exit 76 Antique Mall in Edinburgh.

According to the Recording Industry Association of America, 1.3 million new albums were sold in the vinyl format in 2007. That's a 36 percent increase compared to 2006, but Wilkerson isn't rejoicing.

"That's nothing," he says. "In a country the size of the United States, that would be the equivalent of my store selling one record."

He predicts the landscape of local independent record stores will change within five years. "I think there are still just enough people like me who are stubborn and believe this is worth doing," he said.

Wilkerson, 54, played keyboards in punk and New Wave bands in the early 1980s. He's held a day job in advertising for most of the 15 years of Missing Link's existence.

Wilkerson acknowledges that independent music retailers may be a dying breed. "You'd never start a record store at this point," he said.

Missing Link Records

Where: 4905 N. College Ave.

Hours: 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday, noon to 6 p.m. Sunday.

Info: (317) 466-1967, www.missinglinkrecords.com

Owner Rick Wilkerson's all-time favorite albums:

1: Television, "Marquee Moon" (1977).

2: Genesis, "The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway" (1974).

3: Patti Smith, "Horses" (1975).