Chris Sample is disappointed that soon there will be nowhere close by to purchase his concert tickets.
The telecommunication senior said he attends about 10 concerts a year and usually purchases them at the closest Ticketmaster outlet - East Lansing’s Tower Records-Videos-Books, 115 E. Grand River Ave., which is right across the street from his Campbell Hall dorm room.
“I won’t buy my tickets anywhere else (than Tower) because they are all too far away,” he said.
But with the record store closing May 6, the Ticketmaster outlet located inside will be closing as well.
Sherrie Vacek, general manager of the record store, said the Ticketmaster outlet did quite well.
“On the first day of sales we could have anywhere from 10 to 50 people in line,” she said.
Vacek said about 80 percent of the outlet’s customers were MSU students.
She also added sales hadn’t really been affected by www.ticketmaster.com - the online version of Ticketmaster.
But the spokeswoman for Ticketmaster said the 4-year-old online service has become increasingly popular, especially on college campuses.
“Forty percent of our tickets are sold at Ticketmaster.com,” she said. “Most college students have access to a computer, so they can purchase their tickets and have them sent to their home or waiting at the box office.”
Sample, however, is apprehensive about depending on the Web for his ticket needs.
“There is an online service charge that really sucks,” he said. “And one of the times I ordered online I never got my tickets sent to me.
“It is kind of a hassle that there is nowhere in the downtown that sells tickets.”
Although there may be nowhere in downtown East Lansing to purchase tickets, there are other ticket outlets in Okemos and Lansing.
Jeff Morse, owner of Jam Music, 3928 W. Saginaw Highway in Lansing, said his store has a Ticketmaster outlet, and while it is not located very close to campus, he still gets students purchasing tickets from his store.
He said online ticket purchasing and over-the-phone purchases can be difficult.
“When the big shows go on sale it is almost impossible to get through to the online service,” Morse said. “The phone line is difficult to get through on as well.
But Morse said most students will probably buy their tickets from the outlets closer to campus, such as at Hudson’s in Meridian Mall, 1982 W. Grand River Ave. in Okemos, and Harmony House, 4934 Marsh Road in Okemos.
For students without transportation or time to wait at outlets there are other online options.
Bob Struyk, president of Tickets Plus Inc., a Grand Rapids-based ticket supplier, said Internet sales at his Web site - www.ticketsplus.net - have increased dramatically in the last three years.
“We definitely had a lot of our sales transferred to the Web site, especially in the last three to four months,” he said. “People are becoming more comfortable with e-commerce; they would rather sit at home with their laptops.”
Vacek, though, is unsure of where students will purchase their tickets after the record store is gone.
“They will probably find another outlet, go online, or get them directly from the venue,” she said. “If they really want the tickets they will find a way to get them somehow.”
