How long did 45s stay in stores?

I know that singles were once in stores on 45 records. What was the average store life of a popular 45 back in their hay day? For instance, Don't Be Cruel/Hound Dog was released in mid 1956. Were new ones still being pressed and shipped to stores a year or two later?

I know that singles were once in stores on 45 records. What was the average store life of a popular 45 back in their hay day? For instance, Don't Be Cruel/Hound Dog was released in mid 1956. Were new ones still being pressed and shipped to stores a year or two later?

Yes. Eventually it was re-released on the Gold Standard Series.
The book Presleyana (most current edition is Presleyana V) gives you detailed information about different pressings and from which date.

Talking about 45's. I bought a Jim Reeves 45 the other day for about $4, it was the 1959 "He'll Have To Go/In A Mansion Stands My Love" record.

Really nice quality as well.

53 years old!!

I know that singles were once in stores on 45 records. What was the average store life of a popular 45 back in their hay day? For instance, Don't Be Cruel/Hound Dog was released in mid 1956. Were new ones still being pressed and shipped to stores a year or two later?

Growing up in Chicago... I think it depended on the record store... large record stores usually didn't carry 45's not in top 100 but smaller neighborhood shops did.

However you could get a 45 no longer in top 100 through a special order request at the bigger stores but it took two - four weeks and pending the store, had to pay an additional cost.

When album sales continue to increase, a lot of the bigger stores stop carrying EP's.

Some of my favorite neighborhood shops carried Elvis's complete catalog... all his albums, 45's and EP's. Also they gave out Elvis's RCA catalogs, bonus photos and calendars when you purchased an Elvis record or if you were a regular customer.

I recall when RCA released the GSS set in '64, a lot of the larger stores didn't carry them just the smaller neighborhood shops.

In the late 1960s, early 1970s, I'd go to local market stalls and they would have boxes of old - unplayed - singles on sale for a few pence each. I got a mint copy of A Little Less Conversation/Almost In Love for two shillings, or 10p as it was soon to become. That's about fifteen cents in todays money. I don't recall singles hanging around in record shops for months after they had left the charts but, as has been said, you could order them.

I actually purchased what would be my last 45 around 1990. Compact Discs had arrived but stores carried the various formats for awhile. In 1990, cassettes and cassette singles were still selling widely. Compact Disc singles killed what was left of the market for 45's and cassettes. It wasn't like there was much of a choice-I remember one day walking into the record store and all the records albums were gone. The bins were filled with CD's. I felt a profound sadness as I realized an era had passed-and I suddenly was older.

I actually purchased what would be my last 45 around 1990. Compact Discs had arrived but stores carried the various formats for awhile. In 1990, cassettes and cassette singles were still selling widely. Compact Disc singles killed what was left of the market for 45's and cassettes. It wasn't like there was much of a choice-I remember one day walking into the record store and all the records albums were gone. The bins were filled with CD's. I felt a profound sadness as I realized an era had passed-and I suddenly was older.

I remember the same feeling.

The other day I heard a kid ask his grandfather, "Did you have records when you were a kid?" Talk about feeling old!

... The bins were filled with CD's. I felt a profound sadness as I realized an era had passed-and I suddenly was older.

Me too.

The other day I heard a kid ask his grandfather, "Did you have records when you were a kid?" Talk about feeling old!

Strange as that sounds, I have met with parents with kids, and I generally ask the kids even in their late teens, about records, or music artists. Many really don't know what a record is. Some do. What is even more fun is showing them the old 45 RPM record insert, they haven't a clue. Although records are making a comeback, I don't believe the younger generations particularly care about the type of music many of us do. They buy and collect artists of whom I have never heard.

... The bins were filled with CD's. I felt a profound sadness as I realized an era had passed-and I suddenly was older.

Me too.

The other day I heard a kid ask his grandfather, "Did you have records when you were a kid?" Talk about feeling old!

Strange as that sounds, I have met with parents with kids, and I generally ask the kids even in their late teens, about records, or music artists. Many really don't know what a record is. Some do. What is even more fun is showing them the old 45 RPM record insert, they haven't a clue. Although records are making a comeback, I don't believe the younger generations particularly care about the type of music many of us do. They buy and collect artists of whom I have never heard.

Along these same lines, I'm in my 40s, and some of us older guys are sometimes looked at as "old" because we don't automatically know how to operate the latest piece of technology. Personally, I'm just not fascinated by it like a lot of people, so I don't keep up with it. About a year ago, I walked into a high school classroom where the young band director had been asked to sub because a teacher had to leave. She had left an instructional record to be played to the class, and the band director was looking at the record player like it was an alien. I walked in and he asked, "Could you help me figure out how to work this thing?"

I would find it hard to believe that anyone born maybe pre-1998/2000 wouldn't know what a record is. Heck, they still sell them at big music stores here, there are vinyl sections specifically, it's pricey yes, but it's pretty damn noticeable.