Or buy your albums on eBay, since many smaller record stores now sell on there, like the one I bought from for many years, Positively Records, aka
posrec@aol.com.
They sell good stuff. And they can order whatever you want.
I avoid HMV, Tower, Best Buy, and the rest of the chains like the plague. Then again, the Sam Goody I used to go to had a lot of people who used the music-sharing to get the latest releases. Heck, PCM used to employ a software pirate guy.
I just buy from the smaller stores because:
a. They actually know you and order for you.
b. They actually know the music.
c. They have a wider selection and no Britney posters.
Mitch