Penny Lane shuffles off to Upland

The times, they are a-changin’ for Penny Lane Records owner Steve Bicksler, who is closing shop after 22 years in Pasadena to become a mostly Internet-based music retailer.

The anachronistic stacks of vinyl, cassettes and CDs that remain after last week’s closing sale — 40 records for $10; 50% off other items — are headed to a warehouse in Upland, where a remixed Penny Lane will open to the public only on Saturdays but will spin 24/7 online.

The online shopping experience is no match for flipping through crate after crate of records, Bicksler admits, but the rise of both digital music sales and rent bills means Penny Lane as it stands no longer pencils out.

“My heart is sinking slowly,” said PCC student Christina Kalfayan — “Chris K” to listeners of the campus’ online Lancer Radio — who has bought more than 150 records from Penny Lane over the past two years.

Bicksler, 58, said, “It may sound like heresy, but on Amazon you can find almost anything. It’s just the way things are going. We’re trying to be the best of both worlds by staying open one day a week.”

Bicksler launched Penny Lane in 1985 at Venice Beach and by the mid-1990s grew the business into a chain of nine shops, all of which have gone the way of the portable cassette player.

The Pasadena store opened in Old Town in 1990, then in 2005 retreated 16 blocks east to a larger and less-costly location across from Pasadena City College.

The store’s closure leaves two independent record shops — Poo Bah Records and Canterbury Records — in town.

Pasadena native Ron Stivers, who bought Poo Bah in 2002, has seen demand for CDs plummet, while vinyl sales have grown to become half the store’s revenue. He diversified in 2004 by launching a record label that distributes the work of more than a dozen local artists.

“We’re not really carrying the regular radio stuff,” said Stivers, 38. “Our function is to try to introduce people to different music.”

Stivers and Canterbury Records owner Rusty Gordon, whose father founded Canterbury in 1956, said their businesses remain viable, and they don’t expect Penny Lane’s closure to affect their shops.

“They are three very different stores,” said Gordon, 66, who along with pop and rock albums shelves an extensive and esoteric catalog of blues, jazz, country, folk, world music and movie soundtrack recordings.

Bicksler previously operated a specialty movie rental store on South Lake Avenue that eventually succumbed to Netflix, but he has been no slouch in trying to change with the times.

Penny Lane began trading in used iPods after Pasadena’s Apple store opened in 2003. For years Bicksler offered 75% cash back or 85% store credit for quick returns on CDs — a de facto rental policy allowing customers to build digital music collections on the cheap.

Moving to cyberspace via San Bernardino County means Penny Lane will increasingly specialize in harder-to-find items.

“You won’t be seeing much 99-cent vinyl from us anymore. Everybody wants a bargain, but now our intent is to offer that bargain on things that are really worth seeking out,” said Bicksler.

Saturdays at the Upland store will take on a swap-meet feel with rotating guest vendors, and Bicksler will begin selling at the PCC Flea Market, held on the first Sunday of each month.

Kalfayan, 25, said she will miss the tactile experience and serendipitous discoveries of sifting through albums at the store.

“You can’t do that from behind a computer,” she said Tuesday with dozens of records in hand. “I found a Thin Lizzy vinyl that just made my day.”

Penny Lane’s new address is 1551 W. 13th St., No. 107, Upland. Call (909) 982-1212 or visit www.pennylane.com.