PHOTO BY DANI EL LIPPITT

G
PT

AROM 1 4

Disc Go Round
takes the
used CD
business up a
notch.

D

JULIE EDGAR STAFF WRITER

David Hochberg and Jon Rothenberg: Recycling buffs.

ebbie Gibson and Guns `I\T Roses have
had their day in the sun.
The evidence: the blocks of CDs by
the formerly hot pop and rock stars in
the racks at Disc Go Round in West
Bloomfield.
The fallen stars are fine, because there are
plenty of one-of-a-kind CDs in stock at the store,
a 1,500-square-foot nook in the Sugar Tree Plaza.
Brothers-in-law David Hochberg and Jon Rothen-
berg opened the franchise in May with 4,000 discs
and have accumulated 1,400 more since then.
They employ six part-timers.
The used CD market is on the rise, partly be-
cause of court rulings that bar lawsuits against
stores that peddle already-listened-to compact
discs. Harmony House stores, along with inde-
pendent music stores like Repeat the Beat in Roy-
al Oak and Solo Records and Tapes in
Birmingham, have gotten into the game.
But none has done it on the same scale as Disc
Go Round, once the home of CD Warehouse.
Mr. Hochberg, 31, and Mr. Rothenberg, a 35-

year-old CPA, started with 4,000 discs and the
Disc Go Round trademarks — floor mats, racks,
logos, and the like — to which franchisees are en-
titled. There are five other Disc Go Round stores
in other parts of the state.
Now that they're off and running, they're buy-
ing and selling used CDs, which are almost im-
possible to damage.
"Used CDs are as good as new, so, as we like
to say, 'Why buy new?' " Mr. Rothenberg says.
If there are audible flaws in the disc, the store
will provide a refund and discount the customer's
next purchase by $1.
Plus, Mr. Hochberg added, "we also figured re-
cycling was big now."
Disc Go Round discs are priced up to $7.99.
The retail cost for a new CD ranges between $11
and $16.
"We have no problem with our customers go-
ing to other stores. Once they see the prices, they
come back," Mr. Rothenberg said.

COMES AROUND page 66

Names: David Hochberg and Jon
Rothenberg