gloves to touch vinyl surface

I would not patronize a business that required me to wear gloves to examine used records.

Why not? Even if you're considerate and careful, the next visitor may be a buffoon. They're everywhere, as any shopkeeper knows, and you can't keep them out because they don't wear signs around their necks. Many of them aren't even aware that they're buffoons, ignorance being in the nature of buffoonery. You often can't tell that someone's an idiot until they actually do something idiotic, by which time it's too late.

Asking customers to wear gloves alerts the casual shopper that care in handling the goods is expected. It gives the serious buyer confidence in the quality of the goods. Finally, it may annoy the buffoons enough to send them to some other, more trusting (and less careful) shop.

Personally, I'd go out of my way to support a business that was this serious about selling only the best quality goods.

i'm a retailer and must think from DIFFERENT standpoints and that's why i established myself as a retailer.

retailing deals with array of various people.

Exactly. Asking people to wear gloves isn't a personal insult. A retailer can't tell if you're an experienced buyer or not.

As to the suggestion that the customer can remove fingerprints themself, any record retailer will tell you that the vast majority of buyers have NEVER heard of record cleaning, still less machines and solutions dedicated to record cleaning. The Audiogon community (myself included) represents the bleeding edge of expertise/fanaticism when it comes to record care. We are not even remotely representative of a record shop's customers, 90% of whom have far less knowledge and experience with record care or anything else in audio. If you want to sell to them, while protecting your merchandise from them, some precautions are reasonable.

I'm reminded of damage suffered by my local audio dealer, like $2K tweeters destroyed by the poking fingers of brainless visitors, most of whom who never buy anything. What's he meant to do? Survey people at the door to discover if they're expert enough to enter his shop? He'd drive people away. You do the best you can to instill sensible caution and hope for the best.

Granted, this request is overkill for experienced buyers like Jmobray or Dreadhead... or me for that matter. But if a retailer finds that it protects his merchandise from mishandling by less experienced shoppers, where's the harm in cooperating?

Better gloves than earmuffs.