I first Movie Boulevard through Silva Screen back in the mid 1980s. I always found them to be informative and fun guys to know. I will miss them. Sad to see their shop close.

psicorpsranger, December 8, 2009; 3:34 PM

Yes, Robert Wood & Richard Jolley ran a good store. Their prices could be a bit steep at times but I never got bad service from them. I remember meeting Robert Wood (a great John Barry afficianado) at a record fair in Birmingham, England years ago where I traded in some LP's and he gave me £5 credit. I found an LP copy of Clifton Parker's then hard to find "Damn the Defiant" which he had obviously mislabelled the price at £5. He nearly choked as I said "I'll take this" but he was a good sport and replied "Got a good bargain there". Sorry to hear yet another store gone to the wall.

gerry.hill, December 8, 2009; 4:05 PM

gerry.hill,

what's your email address?

John

psicorpsranger, December 8, 2009; 5:19 PM

Thanks for the replies everyone, it was great having a read about your experiences.

deason_anna, December 8, 2009; 7:22 PM

GREAT NEWS. THEY STOLE ME 100.00 POUNDS. I MADE AN ORDER OF 200,OO POUNDS AND I ONLY GOT ONE ITEM NOT SEALED AND IN BAD CONDITION. BECAUSE I TOLD THEM I WAS NOT HAPPY WITH MY ORDER, WHEN I SENT BACK THE CREDIT FOR OTHER CDS THEY SIMPLY NEVER SENT MY ITEMS. AFTER MANY LETTERS I HAD TO FORGET, TOO BAD I DID NOT KNOW ABOUT THIS FORUM... GOOD FOR THEM AND ITS A PITY THAT IT WAS NOT BEFORE
DIRECT IN HELL YOU...

POULIOT.PIERRE, December 9, 2009; 12:29 AM

PouliotPierre seems quite angry and understandbly so. If I lost that kinda dough I too would be pissed!!! Having said that these guys were quite expensive and not very nice towards Mr. Goldsmith during my discussions with them. They were nice to Mr. Barry though and would often regale me with their stories and intimate knowledge and friendship with JB. These guys were okay and I did go there now and again when I became a serious collector and like most dudes here, when I got familiar with Mr. internet there was really no other option. There was never a bargain to be had at Movie Boulevard. Funnily enough though, when I was struggling for cash, I offered them an extensive CD collection of over 1000 CDs at the time for which they offered a paltry £450. They would have made that on 10 of the CDs within that collection.

TheSaint.786, December 9, 2009; 4:18 AM

I remember ordering from them pre-internet and then, when on holiday, having the chance to visit the store. I think I bought some stuff and a LaserDisc (see, my story goes way back).
It was a cool store, but (in those days) not thát unique and bordering on expensive.
When internet came my way, I never shopped there again. They should have come up with a new business plan in order to survive these changed times.
So, although still a sad story, I'm not that surprised.

rinse_dream, December 9, 2009; 8:57 AM

You may want to read the thread over at FSM about the store. I think you will find Movie Boulevard have had their own share or problems of late, some very personal. I can understand why some people feel cheated by them, but try to be a bit more compassionate and not stick the knife into someone so much.

http://www.filmscoremonthly.com/board/posts.cfm?threadID=64371&;forumID=1&archive=0

psicorpsranger, December 9, 2009; 12:33 PM

I've heard so many attacks of Movie Boulevard, but they never disappointed me. They sent regular catalogues to customers (each month) long before the internet, an expensive business.

I always enjoyed the long chats on the phone they had with their customers. When they began, as 'Discount Soundtracks', an extension of the John Barry fanclub, there was no talk anywhere of bootlegs. In the UK there are different laws regarding what's legit anyhow, but at this time no vaults were open. They were pioneers in soundtrack distribution, and very knowledgeable. I'm truly sorry to hear of the problems Richard had recently. Best of luck to Jolly and Wood of Hollywood.

wdmccrum1, December 9, 2009; 5:57 PM

This is very sad that Movie Boulevard has closed, I had first visited
the store in 1991 when it was the 'Good old days' as richard once
said to me, It had thousands of Soundtrack LP`s,cd`s
posters,stills. Laserdiscs. I always remember the first time I
walked into the store I could not believe how good it was I was in
there for about 2hrs.
I used to get the train from Liverpool to leeds and on many
occasions stay over in a bed and breakfast and go to the store
and walk around Leeds city centre (Great nights out on the beer!)

But thank you for the great memories guys it was and still should
be the best movie store in the world.
Sadly missed.

Dave


DAVEB888, December 10, 2009; 1:49 PM

Goddammit. I walked past last Saturday afternoon and it was all locked up, I had a sneaking suspicion this might be the case...

It's a real shame, 'cos like a lot of people, I could (and would) spend hours in there chatting with those guys about film music. The amount of lectures I was late for because of it...

his_dudeness2002, December 10, 2009; 6:03 PM

I have never been to this site before, but just discovered it after doing a search for Movie Boulevard via Google. I must say that I agree with the majority of comments on this thread and I myself have bought dozens of items there over the last 17 years or so. However a lot less recently due to the ease and {mostly} price of buying directly from the soundtrack specialists. It's times like this that I wish I'd never discovered the lables themselves, and continued buying from Movie Boulevard: maybe they'd still be around? Unfortunately, at the time you just think of the amount of money you're saving though and don't think of the long term problems it causes. The first soundtrack I ever bought was from Movie Boulevard - it was Jaws 2 and I loved it to bits, and still play it now: although I have it on CD now. I also remember getting The Burbs in 1992 - my mum phoned up and asked for it in December 91 and they told her it was coming out in feb 92. I could've missed it if it hadn't been for those guys letting us in on the "secret"!!! I, like many of you also had chats with the guys when I'd phone up and remember being on the phone for over an hour when I phoned to order a CD! They were a great laugh though and I do hope that they do get out of their financial situation O.K. Also one last thought - I saw on the FSM board some uncaring person saying how he was glad that they went under for selling fakes, when in fact very few of their stock were fakes when compared to the thousands of titles they had in stock. They never once sold fake cds of in print titles, only ones which the record and film companies refused to issue. Anyway, just wanted to add my memories here and wish them all the best for next year.

vhsvideos, December 11, 2009; 8:52 PM

vhsvideos,

Please email me.

psicorpsranger@yahoo.co.uk

psicorpsranger, December 12, 2009; 1:21 PM

I remember Movieboulevard from before the internet: living in The Netherlands soundtracks were -at best- a niche market, but the very idea of having specialty stores catering to afficionados was considered pretty freaky. So I scraped by until -through, of all things, library research, I found Movieboulevard's address and sent out for a catalogue.

What came back changed my world: I never even KNEW so many scores were AVAILABLE. Yes, their prices were steep, even then, but they had EVERYTHING. Movieboulevard is the first shop I ever frequented (if only through the mail) and they are squarely to thank/blame for me starting the cololection I have now.

Over time, as through the internet more affordable options became available, my patronage dropped off a bit, but I've always used them as a first stop whenever I was looking for something really rare.
Sure, some CDs got lost sometimes. And I wasn't without some poorer experiences, but I loved visiting, and perusing their catalogues. I will miss them. It's honestly a bit of my own personal history coming to a close here.

Richard, if you should ever happen to read this: very best of luck with any future endeavours, and thanks. For the music and the memories.

roguer5, February 2, 2010; 7:16 AM

roguer5

You might like to know there was also a thread started over at FSM. Although there were people who were happy to see them go, alot more people were saddened to see them close. I for one was sorry to hear the news. I have known them for over 20 years.

psicorpsranger, February 2, 2010; 9:37 AM

I am writing from Brazil.
I discovered now that Movie Boulevard closed. There were a long time that I did my last contact with them (because I start to shop from Intrada, Varese, Screen Archives and others). Maybe the "error" of Movie Boulevard was that they didn't star to produce cds at their own label.
At true Movie Boulevard was the first foreign shop (outside from Brazil) where I bought a soundtrack, at around 1990 too, by press catalogue (at that time I hadn't Web connection).
That was a bad news.
Excuse my bad english text.


saguenay, March 12, 2010; 10:31 PM

I am sad to hear that Movie Boulevard has closed shop. They were my first source at the very beginning of my collection days. Mail catalogue, bank drafts and all that stuff that seems ages ago.

They were slightly expensive and, it seems like a lot of other sountrack enthusiasts, I abandoned them when I had the net available.

Their service was excellent though and I am really said to learn that they have wound up their business.

raysaliba, April 6, 2010; 4:06 PM

I had no idea Movie Boulevard had closed down until I went to
visit the store one Friday afternoon, it was very sad to see the
empty shop. No more will the sound of wonderful music be
interrupted by the rumble of trains running overhead.
It seems hard to believe that 25 years have passes since I first
met them both at a film fair in the basement of Piccadilly Plaza in
Manchester. Since then Ive always tried to remain a loyal
customer.
It was definitely worth spending a few pounds more just to
receive information about what to buy and what was coming next,
plus of course their tireless enthusiasm was always infectious.
I was very sorry to hear about Richards recent problems and wish
them both well for the future.

Philip Jones

philipjones2005, May 1, 2010; 6:49 PM

I know tha this is a bit late in responding but like all the others who have responded to the demise of this store, i am saddened by their going. And like everyone else I found that they were pricey and I tended to use them only when all else failed. I was only able to visit their store acouple of times about 15 years ago when I was working in Leeds. I spent so much time in the shop browsing (and buying) that I had to call in sick because I would be so late for work. When i moved out of the area and discovered the internet I contacted them less frequently but they were always friendly and knowledgable and it was from them that I was able to get a rare copy of Gabriel Yareds' rejected score from Troy and I find it far better than James Horners' replacememnt score.
Sad to see them go.

RGStovold, September 15, 2010; 11:29 AM

I always felt an air of arrogance in that shop. When I buy an item I don't expect my choice to be sneered at or joked about (which happened on a few occasions). It always seemed like they felt they could do this because they were the only shop in the city area who offered the kind of stock they were selling. I suspect the same philosophy applied to their steep prices. After speaking to other film fans I know I wasn't alone with these feelings. Maybe we didn't get their sense of humor? Also I remember buying some laserdiscs and when I produced a debit card they moaned that it would cost them a small bank charge - hardly good customer relations.

But things changed. Other shops did start to provide the same services and at more reasonable prices. Plus the internet made the world a smaller place. I'm not surprised MB collapsed under these circumstances. All the experiences I had left a nasty taste in my mouth and when the competition rose I moved on.

Obviously, going by other responses, it wasn't all bad. They were around a long time and that doesn't happen without a certain level of customer satisfaction. But I think perhaps they needed to look at themselves a bit harder and check if their feet were still touching the ground.

scorpion, September 18, 2010; 8:38 AM