Post Your Record Store Reviews Here And Tell Us About Your Local Shops

If you go somewhere that you've never been to or haven't been to in a while, give us a quick review. Unless it is filled with un-picked-over gold and you want to keep it to yourself. and tell us about where you shop for records on a regular basis.

i will abstain from reviewing stores in my area, as i am a new member of the business community and i want to make nice. but if i go somewhere that is safely outside my zone, i will write about it.

two stores near me that i like and would like to browse in more: Mystery Train in Amherst and In The Moment in Brattleboro.

Permanent Records in Chicago is just awesome - nice, knowledgeable staff, great in-stores, varied, changing selection, their own label and ties to the local music community. Consider me an ex-Reckless Records regular thanks to them. They've got all I need, save for the occasional trip to 'Metal Haven' the local awesome metal only shop.

in manhattan i like--

Good Records (good for jazz for me--their blues/country/folk sections are non-existant and the rock is standard. good soul too tho somewhat overpriced imo. they have a connection to a dood in nigeria who sends them packages of records, but that stuff is usually too pricey for me. though i did want those mahmoud ahmed pic sleeve 45s they had a while back...)

gimme records (excellent selection of blues & folk & country records, just a block away from Good. I usually hit them in tandem. also good for weird punk/diy 45s if you're into that kind of thing. well-stocked in all genres. good reggae & international sections. usually good/cool wall records.)

in brooklyn i don't really like any shops, unless there's something i'm missing. well, i LIKE D0pe J4ms cuz it's a cool spot and the dudes who run it are rad, but I don't buy much house/electro/disco etc. these are the doodz who run sl0w to sp34k iirc.) the cool shop i liked on Grand Street, Marquis Dancehall, closed a long time back now.

i really need to make it out to J&R sometime. I guess they've still got tons of old LPs from the pre-CD daze.

oh, also, i must give a shout-out to my pals on martha's vineyard at Aboveground Records. I spent a LOT of time hanging out there and also helping mike, the owner, out with his vinyl. you never knew when an old hippie would drop off a load of cool stuff. tons of folk and bluegrass and hippie stuff for cheap. and great new vinyl as well. actually one of the biggest new vinyl sections i've seen anywhere.

Good Records (good for jazz for me--their blues/country/folk sections are non-existant and the rock is standard. good soul too tho somewhat overpriced imo. they have a connection to a dood in nigeria who sends them packages of records, but that stuff is usually too pricey for me. though i did want those mahmoud ahmed pic sleeve 45s they had a while back...)

this place has the best bags: black paper.

i always forget the name of the place that just moved, it used to be a block or so south of other, so i guess between second and third, on broadway or lafayette; loads of international stuff. the guy there smoked in store. good shop.

downtown music gallery was close by other, but i haven't been in a long time & don't recall anyone smoking in the shop..

in manhattan i like A-1 Records. dj-centric with lots of 12" dance and hip hop stuff that i don't buy, but nice soul, funk, new wave, and exotica, all used. lots of listening stations and you can find some stuff for relatively cheap.
rockit scientist has a mostly 50s-70s rock collection that is great to browse but most of it is too expensive for me. i usually go with 8X$5 over 1X$40.
i have not spent a lot of time at gimme gimme but liked what i saw, picked up a flaming groovies lp there the other day. i need to incorporate it into my loop.

A-1 can be cool. friends of mine have been known to pull rare, underpriced punk LPs and whatnot. agreed on rockit scientist being generally overpriced.

los angeles area:

amoeba - don't really need to say too much about this spot. despite their size i think they miss a lot; i think their jazz lp section looks better than it actually is (heavy on the cheapo reissues imo), they've got hardly any blues, and the country vinyl isn't great either. the dollar section is often really awesome, though. i think their vinyl pickings used to be a lot better when they first opened a few years back.

atomic - the guys who work there sometimes seem a little dbaggy but their prices are pretty cheap compared to other spots in town and their jazz section is A++ i think. they're good for classic rock, as well, both stuff that's really well-known and stuff that's more obscure. terrible for new vinyl.

record surplus - i like this place a lot but they've raised their prices a lot over the past several years, but there are some treasures to be found and they seem to only stock lps that are in exceptional shape. everything else gets sent to the dollar bins upstairs, which are not bad at all. very good jazz section, huge world music vinyl section, tons of soundtracks. also bad for the newer stuff, though.

vacation vinyl - new record store in los feliz. pretty small, but well-curated. lots of metal, experimental, and other fringe genres. not bad on everything else, considering its size. fair prices, worth a trek though maybe not worth regular visits.

origami - new record store in echo park that is massively hyped but i think is kinda disappointing. they only stock new indie vinyl and pretty obvious reissues, like the 4 men w/beards velvet underground and nico, that sort of thing. they kinda play to the crowd as it were. no used stock as far as i can tell. this store is pretty big, though, and i guess i know why but it's not as good as it could be.

territory records - tiny, tiny shop which is right next to territory bbq. some stoner metal label dudes run both of them. their tastes actually seem to run to stuff like 'pacific ocean blue' and psych and weird shit. this is a really good store, small but dope seven-inch section, cheap and/or excellent used and new vinyl. this is the kind of place that displays old $1 mike nesmith lps next to a $2 ten years after record next to some euro-psych obscurity.

cd trader - up in the valley, off the beaten path, generally really good and fairly priced. mostly known for their cds and dvds but they've got a shitload of vinyl which is really poorly organized tbh and the place is sort of unpleasant and lit flourescently and it's in a strip mall but it kind of adds to it, in a weird way. even though i can't spent more than 15 minutes in here. lots of weird dudes come here, one of them propositioned my fiancee in the parking lot.

is there a music gallery in soho? i thought that was the place by my brother and sister in laws place. pricey stuff. anything i halfway wanted was 20 and up.

oh yeah, that was it. definitely smoked; record stores with cranky old hand-rolling staff is a special little subsection. the store's still there but there's a sign up suggesting it's moved. to review somewhere i've never actually been, he told me about the place that's i think on like second and fifth?, called something like tropicalia in the mind, where the guy takes off every few months to mooch around south america buying lps. but the business hours are funny.

to get more local: tunes in hoboken's something i drift into sometimes. the music playing is always so bad. but what's on the shelves is good, and it has that less oppressive feeling that you get with stores that also have books and other junk.

faraway: that record store in the old town in stockholm run by a guy who's like sweden's garage expert. it reminds me of going into a record store when i was a teenager and finding that suddenly all these reissues of groups i thought were one-hit nuggets-groups were available, like shadows of night and syndicate of sound lps, mouse and the trapps 45s etc; it's crazy comprehensive in terms of just being every sixties garage group and tangential stuff, alongside a room full of 45s. the whole thing has a cosy feeling; as much space dedicated to records as standing space, low ceilings, old building etc.

there is also a (somewhat) new brazilian-ish record store across the street from gimme gimme but i have yet to drop in. anyone checked it out? "Tropicalia in Furs"

i was trying to think of more l.a. record stores but it's quite possible i've touched on them all? oh wait, dave's records in eagle rock. dirty, dusty, really good. tons of garage, metal, jazz.

okay, that's all of them.

it's pretty amazing how many record stores are in nyc or even chicago. pretty jealous.

during one of my occasional nyc trips i made it a point to stop by downtown music gallery when it was on bowery and spent about 100 bucks on some really cool jazz, a kevin ayers reissue, and some other stuff i'm forgetting. it was heavily curated and certainly not all to my taste, but still a cool place and they guys working there were nice enough.

last time i was in new york i found out they moved to somewhere in chinatown and were only open like thurs-sunday; didn't have time to make that trek.

called something like tropicalia in the mind

clearly should have read before posting, that is the one i was talking about. i got the name right tho

tropicalia in furs has great stuff but the prices are $$$.

these are the ones i've hit in the last year in austin:

end of an ear -- opened in 2005 on s. 1st; great new vinyl of most genres (and cds), and a healthy turnover of used stuff from $1 and up. also have cds and music dvds. overly nice folks who i believe used to work at waterloo.

sound on sound -- on north loop. i've only ever seen one guy in there, who i guess must own/run the place. pretty tiny place, and decent used stuff, but great at consistenly stocking new obsure and not so obscure vinyl. the guy who works there is always eager to order something if you ask.

friends of sound -- vinyl only, and accessible from an alley behind s. congress. zero new vinyl, but lots of used stuff from great bargain bin finds, to fairly priced used lps (lots of 60s/70s rock, soul, r&b, funk), though a large portion of it is collector-y $$$ 45s and lps. lots and lots of turnover here.

break-a-way records -- relatively new and on e. 5th. one or two of the guys from friends of sound left and started this place. similar to f.o.s. in content and turnover, lots and lots of obscure soul 45s plus healthy stacks of rock and soul lps. the odd new thing shows up here, but mostly used. super-nice guy who works here/runs the place went out of his way to track down some obscure mp3s from a friend when i couldn't find the actual records (without spending $$$ on ebay) ...for free! eternal thanks.

there's a few others here (antones, waterloo, backspin...) but haven't been ever or in quite a long time.

i really need to make it out to J&R sometime. I guess they've still got tons of old LPs from the pre-CD daze.

― ian, Monday, July 27, 2009 1:55 PM (37 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

on their website they have lots of weird stuff for $4 or $5. never been to the store though.

the permanent records in greenpoint brooklyn isn't related to the chicago one is it?

I don't think it is.
Permanent in greenpoint is pretty cool, but way out of the way for me. If I lived in greenpoint I'd probably check the new arrivals every few days.

oh yeah, permanent's great. good prices on older stuff and really cheap jazz. it's a nice spot too.

about the abundant nyc stores; this never really hit me until i was on that strip on i think 5th st, with a few places that are great for soul and trad stuff, like folkways and traditional music of japan comps. i'm am not a card-carrying i love vinyl boardee who buys a few things each trip but it's really nice to be able to stumble on something totally different just by heading into somewhere.

i think the tropicalia place shuts at five?, right? too early.

also, the guy at downtown music gallery was great; i hadn't meant to include him in the cranky part of cranky-smoking-store-owners, just the smoking part.

boston sucks for record stores btw:

newbury comics - i'm more attuned to its limitations now but have been going there about once a week forever. they're still great w/new releases, metal, rock, etc. also not awful for reissues, jazz on cd, and they're growing their vinyl selection though they still have a ways to go.

twisted village - the only other store i make a regular destination of. very curated selection of psych, noise, improv, new jazz, experimental, etc. excellent new cd and lp selection if you like that kind of stuff, used lp section has never been kind to me. nice people.

weirdo records - this is like twisted village's stepsister or something. even less accessible stuff, weird world music comps, some good used lps but they're a pain to browse. tiny, tiny space maxes out at like three shoppers. i'll probably get here occasionally but a lot of their stuff isn't really in my area.

cheapo records - run of the mill used lp store w/a blowhard owner.

in your ear - subterranean store w/tons of lps. gobs of bad indie rock from the late 80s and very early 90s. got some decent soul and funk here.

planet records - mostly used cds. pretty unexciting.

there's maybe one or two places i'm not accounting for. i should add that i'm a really picky used lp shopper due to space and cost considerations. but i've probably gotten more good finds on my occasional trips to mystery train in amherst than in all the boston stores combined.

really like the guy who owns mystery train.

my one trip to cambridge a few years back was awesome. i got sooooo much great stuff and for great prices. this was probably five years ago. people tell me a lot of stores have closed since then. i couldn't believe the cheap psych records i got.

yeah the place that p3t3 pr3sc0tt from burma used to run and a couple other really good shops have closed.

is pipeline still there on mass ave between harvard and central squares?and nuggetts on comm ave?
and that place on boylston near mass ave. i don't remember the name.
those places were ok.

still have never been to twisted village.

still have not been to byron's yod store here. i don't really have a ton of money for collector stuff now anyway.

pipeline is gone.
nuggets is around but i never found anything there.
should've remembered the place on boylston (don't remember the name either) because i've definitely gotten stuff there. it's a good store actually.

scott where is byron's store?

i think i remember nuggetts fondly cause i found crazy rhythms by the feelies there for $5 or something.

i remember the late, lamented aron's records in l.a. fondly because i found that same record for $3, not to mention all the galaxie 500 original lps for $6 apiece

byron's store is in northampton. by appointment only.

I flew to DC with work recently, and the one store I visited there - Joe's Record Paradise in Rockville - was hands down better any in London (where I live). I mean, as a huge all-puproses record dump, anyway.

Although maybe I was just over-excited. I'm always bowled over by stores in the States just because the stuff you see is so different. Not sure if it's purely on account of some things getting released there and not here.

I guess my favourite regular in London is Flashback. Can be pricey, but again, good bargain bins.

A1 is the only record store I hit regularly. Academy Annex every now and again. Permanent when we drive down to Greenpoint for brunch. On the one or two times a year I stop in Other Music, I always find good and cheap stuff in their small used vinyl section, like some new wave/post-punk type thing for 4 bucks or an Ultravox record or something.

I used to go to Gimme Gimme, Rockit Scientist, Academy, Kims etc regularly but a few years ago I kinda made an effort to cut back on buying records. I mostly just go for cheap dance 12"s, and buy it nows off eBay. And the salvation army in my hood.

I went to Joe's Record Paradise once and was so so happy xpost

oh, speaking of Boston, there is a guy who comes into my store a lot who always goes to Stereo Jack's when he is in Cambridge. I guess it's good for jazz and blues records. i've never been there.

I've bought blues & old-timey records from the Stereo Jack's guy on ebay. Good stuff.

it's really worth your while to seek out shops that do a healthy high ticket ebay business, cuz sometimes a lot of their store stock can be stuff that is just small potatoes to them, you know? like, not worth their time cuz its 20 or under. and if they are buying large collections a lot they can really underprice some stuff.

i love joe's record paradise, too! i had a lot of luck at the old baltimore location, too...

here are my go-to's with brief reviews

bay area:
amoeba(s) (best for finding $30-75 records that rarely come up on ebay, and are only a little less-expensive on ebay)
rasputin(s) (sort of like amoeba jr, sometimes good for finding new limited-edition stuff that is mis-filed)
recycled (great used store, lots of character and crates to dig in -- always interesting non-rock selection)
1-2-3-4-GO! (lots of new stuff, punk/indie/termbo go-to)
down at lulu's (secret great shop -- tiny tiny tiny, but a well-curated selection of used records, and some new limited stuff dropped off by bands)
aquarius (great for new limited stuff, so close to my apartment)
red devil (overpriced, but always an interesting collection of records -- worth a trip to san rafael every two months)
force of habit (gone downhill in the past six months, overpriced SF nostalgia records)

i havent quite gotten up to the rooky ricardo's level of 45's, but i hope to someday.

DC metro:
red onion (best store, but i am biased. here's an objective review.)
SOM (overpriced, but a nice selection of used record-collector favorites. lots of world/jazz/soul, but could use a little more turnover)
crooked beat (ehh sometimes you get lucky but ehh)
smash! (rad owner, punk store that somehow avoids most new punk, though?)
cdepot (crate-diggaz only)
wheaton public library (crate-diggggggaz only)
joe's record paradise (so fun, but rewards time-investment. save two hours, and dont freak out if you havent found anything in the first 30min)
roadhouse oldies (so so overpriced, but crate-digging and liking 80's boogie records means stopping here occasionally)

other:
soundgarden (balt -- mostly just for basic good new shit)
own guru (balt -- great hoary old used shop, through some bo-bo gate down a little hallway, sort of smells sometimes)
true vine (balt -- gone downhill since ian n@goski abdicated, i hear, but TV has/had the inside track on all sort of hipster-shit, especially if you like weird world music and baltimore club)
academy annex (duh)
ooga booga (LA -- tiny boutiquey shop that has a lot of limited releases from LA-area bands, some of whom are okay. also $200 sunglasses. LOL LA)
amoeba (LA -- same as bay-area amoebas, but has best jazz section of the three)
cd alley (chapel hill -- chapel hill people sell so many records all the time. so much good stuff, and somehow, after me and zack visiting and plundering their 7"s, we seem to still find a shit-ton of rare/awesome old indie 7"s that have sat there new for probably 12-15years every time we go)
chazz's bull city (durham -- local punk store, not unlike 1-2-3-4-GO! nice guy, lots of new 7"s)
nice price (RDU -- sometimes you find some rad shit, good for crate-digging)
harvest (asheville -- nicely curated store, seems like they have more awesome records that people are buying in west asheville, but thats awesome as a visitor. they drove me back to asheville proper instead of me having to walk. bros!)

LOL so typical, thats the longest post ive made in years

Also in LA (well, Torrance), Record Recycler. Not really organized at all, as it's kinda run by one dude. Definitely takes effort and time to go through everything, but worth it. Prices are very fair. Cash only.

Oh, and this dude in LA, but pricing is wtf

http://www.musicmanmurray.com/

Cheapo Cheapo records in London's Rupert Street is, I am very sorry to say, no more. That's something of a personal disaster because I was only recently starting to comb their 70s back catalogue for irredeemable singer-songwriter tosh. All those Henry Gross albums I'll have to try harder to find! Also the most reliably random two quid country section in England. Boo.

northampton MA:

dynamite records: shopped here all the time when they sued to be in the basement of thornes' marketplace. found TONS of good records - all kinds of jazz, weird 70s synthesizer shit, folk. was also good for classic rock lps that were being sold elsewhere for higher prices. good for used cds, too, and new cd selection was pretty good too (tho it's been a while since i've bought new cds).

once they moved further down on main street (next ot the tattoo place) i feel like they went to shit tho. used cd selection sucks now, lps got A LOT more expensive. like shit that used to be $2 is now $6.

turn it up: down the street from my apt. kind of crappy for vinyl. always find good used cds tho.

amherst:

mystery train - this is place is cool and i've only been a couple times but i had some really good finds. lots of good country i thought. good jazz too. the new(ish) location is awesome, too. it's like a house.

shopped here all the time when they sued to be in the basement of thornes' marketplace.
*used, obv

a bit i wrote for clash music about this...

http://www.clashmusic.com/feature/record-store-day-countdown-day-1

also, i used to live in dc, here's what i said two years ago on the DC record store thread:

Som Records is at 14th and T, all used vinyl (maybe a few new things, but not many.) Good selection of jazz, decent pop/rock selection, and he also tries to find good reggae and international stuff. I think he goes to Brazil here and there to dig for stuff to bring back. Has a fair amount of 45s, too. Som can be a bit pricey, if you're used to finding stuff for $3 or less. Most records run from $6 to $20, depending on what it is of course.

Red Onion Records and Books is another fairly new place, located at 18th street around that giant yuppie-paradise Mexican place, Lauriol Plaza (a little past 18th and U, maybe 18th and T or something?) Not as good a selection as Som, at least the few times I've been there, though I've had some excellent finds. Also a bit pricey if you're used to really cheap places. The owner is an incredibly nice guy, chat with him a bit if you go. He also sells used cds for decent prices, and I've found some great stuff in his cd shelves. I haven't really looked at his book selection but people have said it's pretty good, small, but good.

Smash moved from Georgetown to 18th in Adams Morgan, same selection of mostly punk/some indie/some classic rock/some metal, used/new cds and vinyl.

Crooked Beat has been around for a few years, also located on 18th in Adams Morgan. The guy keeps a very well-curated store if you're looking for indie, there really isn't a better place as far as I know for indie rock in DC. Has a few experimental records that cross over into the indie nexus. Really good selection of new cds, some new vinyl. Again, used vinyl is pricey and he doesn't miss a mark in terms of pricing - so there won't be many cheap finds that he underprices b/c he's not familiar with it. I like going here though b/c he really makes an effort to keep his store well-stocked and well-organized.

Then there are the CD/Game Exchanges, located at various points in the city. I always find at least something interesting (mostly used cds), but good vinyl is hard to find here because they take any and all crap. If you do find something good here, though, it's usually not any more expensive than $4 or so.

toonerville trolley in williamstown mass
whooooooo hoooooooo(trolley whistle sound)

Mark Zip's garage in Woodstock New York. Be there or be square!

yeah OTM

i have found some super steals in the underbin near the door. usually everything is a buck or 2 and just really weird/off the wall 12"s that he doesn't care about (he doesn't really like the 80s so much)

atlanta dude asking bypass wax n facts (cool store, hip neighborhood but nothing killer in there). theres a spot called circle sky records in northish atlanta in a strip mall. came up hard there a few years ago, nice people too.

had good luck and good times at groove merchant and grooves in SF on friday, and at amoeba LA and atomic records LA on saturday. thanks to jaxon and this thread for LA recommendations!

I work near Soundstations and jaxon's review is completely otm. I have never not walked in there to the dudes working there talking about baseball.

staying a block from the queen anne 'easy street' in seattle this coming weekend. will report to the 'scores' thread with my findings.

i was only able to visit a couple shops in portland a few months back: mississippi was pretty solid- reasonably priced, very well-stocked, and they specialize in pretty much exactly what you would expect based on the label's output. jackpot downtown was not so reasonably priced- maybe this is a good place to shop for new shit? otherwise they just had TONS of reissue lps for $30-40, blah. wish i could have made it to crossroads tho- the gf's roomie does 'vintage' dance nights around town and strongly reccomended it.

i hit up the Easy Street in Queen Anne when i was there in November. pretty slim pickins for used stuff, tbh. Decent cheap-o stuff tho. picked up ELO's 'Time' for a couple of bucks and a mint Springsteen 'Tunnel of Love' for a buck, stuff like that. but no prizes. much better is there very impressive new selection -- really deep section of psych reissues, for example. I picked up the Shrinebuilder LP, which i hadn't yet seen at *any* of the stores I frequent in Chicago (and they had sold out of it at their gig too), so that in itself made it worthwhile.

i found the Silver Platters store in Queen Anne to be much better for used stuff (although a teeny bit pricier than I'm used to paying, but nothing outrageous.) found some good stuff there.

queen anne easy street kicks monster ass for new techno, idm, and modern classical stuff. actually i haven't been there in a few years, but the guy that did the buying for that kind of stuff there had awesome taste.

Went to Bop Street records in Ballard today. Holy balls that place has well over 500,000 records. The owner was pretty nice and gave me the grand tour of his vinyl haven. The dude is a hoarder, but in a good way. Kinda overwhelming to go through it all. most were a bit over priced, but he was ready to bargain. The downstairs basement was just rows of records. A TON of records. Lots of 45s and 78s.

This is what the basement looked like. Found the image from gis.
http://www.littleblackstar.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/p1020960_800.jpg

my friends ted and nick officially opened their Feeding Tube Records today in Northampton. Feeding Tube is Ted's awesome label. The space in front is fairly small, but there are two huge rooms in back where they will have bands play and expand when they need to. tons of new vinyl. lots of psych reissues and reissues of all kinds. tons of new undie stuff. all the stuff you guys like that i've never heard. aids wolf, wolf brigade, wolf power, all that stuff. unfortunately i can't afford to BUY that stuff. i got the new reissues and occasional noisy/folky/psychy whatever stuff on marthas vineyard cuz i would bring in a box of records for credit pretty much every time i went to the store. i got a lot of stuff that way.
they do have used stuff and most of it is yod stock via thurston and byron and their endless warehouse of stuff. unfortunately, i can't afford most of their stuff either. cuz i'm poor and have to feed my dumb children. but i did get some cool 70's stuff for the right price. pete would dig byron's outjazz. the only problem with having hardcore record headz involved is that byron had already snagged the one copy of the parson sound box that they got in. i would have bought it, damn him! that was the one new thing i would have bought cuz you guys keep making me jealous when you talk about it. but its okay. i need to spend all my money on my store. not me. but its hard sometimes. and it shouldn't bother me cuz i find awesome stuff all the time for cheap! but i'm greedy. i'm really glad those guys are involved with the store though. they are such a big positive part of the town and the area. and i like the union of two generations of beatniks. its lovely really.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qj6JpLdrr-A

ugh. i used to frequently order online from a record store that will remain nameless. often i'd find things that were worth $$ priced to sell. occasionally i'd buy a big order and stick a few of those things in there, expecting to turn them around at a small profit. lately i've noticed that everything i buy that is worth money is somehow sold in the store before they get to my order. i'm pretty sure the staff sees my order, checks to see what's valuable, and then buys it for themselves. either that or there are an extraordinary string of coincidences. is this fair or kind of annoying, or both?

eh?

stormy, you shop here?

http://cgi.ebay.com/RECORD-STORE-SALE-100-000-LPs-45s-78s-Wholesale-Lot-/160443785083?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item255b31df7b

well, i guess you wouldn't shop there anymore...

seattle scene report:

sonic boom: one of two indie-oriented local stores/chains (each with two locations), sonic boom has stores in ballard & capitol hill. clean, inviting and well-designed spaces owned and staffed by friendly people who know their niche. great for of-the-moment indie stuff and hipper catalog titles, but bit too small to be an ideal generalist store. both do a surprisingly good job with termbo-type grage/punk stuff not available elsewhere, which i appreciate. modest but respectable selection of used vinyl @ both locations.

easy street: sonic boom's sister stores (read: competition), one in lower queen anne, the other in west seattle. similar in many ways, but bigger and thus more general in focus, less personable. west seattle location doesn't seem quite as with it, but has a nice cafe. queen anne store buys a lot of used vinyl on a regular basis and often prices cool shit reasonably.

silver platters: another small local chain, this one with stores in lower QA, northgate & bellevue. unlike easy street and sonic boom, silver platters doesn't align itself with any particular demographic and tries to be all stores for all people. vast warehouses crammed with tons of CDs & DVDs, but a fair amount of vinyl, too. new stuff tends to be pretty bland, but their used selections are a mixed bag (due probably to the less hipster-centric customer base). sometimes wildly overpriced, sometimes dirt cheap. not much turnover, so not worth more than the occasional visit. queen anne store is good for old jazz vinyl.

everyday music: aaand yet another chain, regional this time, with three locations in oregon, one in seattle and one in bellingham, wa. like silver platters, these stores tend to be big and rather generic, but unlike silvers platters, they dig deep into weird niches and buy TONS of used vinyl. lots of fresh stuff every day, sometimes very reasonably priced (sometimes not), and knowledgeable/cool clerks. seattle store does a decent job of keeping up with new noise/experimental/drone stuff. ideal general-purpose record shoppe.

wall of sound: tiny store run by two guys dedicated to experimental and off-center art sound of every imaginable sort. given its size, they do a fine job of keeping it stuffed with treats, but unless you're deep into obscure ambient/noise/avant/ethno musics, it's probably not gonna be your ideal one-stop shoppe. if you are, though, it's amazing. small used vinyl selection that occasionally coughs up appealing oddities. worth supporting no matter what, cuz they know what's up and do it for love.

singles going steady: punk rock store/scene intersection in belltown. great people with good stories and connections to all kinds of things i'd never hear about otherwise. it's small and doesn't travel far outside its niche, but within it, i couldn't ask for more. almost all vinyl: punk, garage, psych and metal. not as much used vinyl as i'd like, but okay in that regard. plus a selection of VHS tapes, mostly 70s & 80s horror, which i support. drop by and say hi.

bop street: ballard store solely devoted to used vinyl (see van smack's post upthread) and crammed absolutely to the rafters with it. used to be a tiny shoebox w/ ancillary warehouse. then a big weird dusty cave w/ basement. now it's in a very nice-looking new space on market street. unfortunately, it is not my favorite. nothing against them, it's just that a) they don't concentrate on the stuff i'm most into, and b) things are either overpriced or unpriced, resulting in haggling with people who probably want to charge more than i want to pay. for some this will be heaven, but i'm a sticker price kinda guy. anybody who's into vinyl should probably see it at least once, though.

jive time: the anti-bop street? again, devoted almost entirely to vintage (i.e. collectible, i.e. pricey) vinyl, but small and decidedly uncrammed. they've got lots of stuff squirreled away somewhere but keep the main space spare & well organized. i can't call it my favorite store, cuz i just don't want to pay collector's prices most of the time, but they get great records in every genre/period, and it's fun to drool over on occasion. best thing about them is that while they charge a lot for stuff that's genuinely worth a lot, they let everything else go for peanuts. boxes upon boxes of 1-5 dollar records (especially in their underground antique-store satellite across the street), some pretty damn good.

zion's gate: smallish capitol hill store with almost nothing but vinyl, and lots of it. they concentrate on metal and reggae/dub (etc.), but carry a little bit of everything. dude who owns it also runs kreation records and is one of the biggest online sellers of metal vinyl. as a result, they get shit that no one else knows about, much less carries. otoh, nothing here costs less than it would elsewhere, so it's a tradeoff. just saying...

new store EXPLORIST INTERNATIONAL on 24th street in SF kicks ass. owned by the DEATH SENTENCE PANDA dude, and focused on jazz/world/experimental stuff, my buddy at aquarius tipped me and my visiting store-owning friend off this morning to its existence. $80 later, i have so many MORE rad jazz albums and a ton more. gonna play a bunch of the weekend's orgy of new arrivals on my show tomorrow morning -- locals stop in to this rad new space on 24th in the mission bw south van ness and shotwell. yes, if you are keeping track, this is precisely two blocks from where i live!!!!

imo it's important to support new businesses so you are doing the right thing.

xp - lol - i think i posted about this twice!

stormy, you shop here?

http://cgi.ebay.com/RECORD-STORE-SALE-100-000-LPs-45s-78s-Wholesale-Lot-/160443785083?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item255b31df7b

― scott seward, Saturday, November 6, 2010 1:54 PM (1 week ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

hey scott, I actually know this dude ... issue is, he shows up at all the local Chicago record show things ... and you can imagine what his stock is like (not the worst, but absolutely nothing to differentiate him from any other vendor. Your basic Cream LPs, your basic Janet Jackson LPs; nothing worth a second look..)

never been to the actual "RAFFE RIOT", as depicted in that Photo, no ...

but, again, based on record fair experiences ... certainly no 'hidden treasures' lurking for that eBay winner..

My shop in Knoxville (where I am still an absent employee and can go back as soon as I move back to Knox) had two great articles come out this week. Thought I would share. One features a cute video of HALEY - our adorable favorite 15 year old customer who has been shopping with us since she was 11.

http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2011/feb/07/vinyl-music-knoxville-records-popularity/?cid=Facebook

http://www.wbir.com/news/article/155964/2/Vinyl-records-attracting-new-customers

Lost & Found in Knoxville, where I worked when I lived in TN, has been flooded and suffered lots of inventory loss. :(

I was headed home for a few weeks anyway, so will be there to help out with the mess. i have no idea how bad it is yet. I don't have a pic of our store, but this is just a few blocks away:
http://a1.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/189771_1831386753527_1506120079_31971846_2807932_n.jpg

oh no!!! im so sorry!

Here is our actual shopping center:

http://a8.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/184982_1902934331049_1172431334_32306220_499938_n.jpg

Definitely our hold boxes are ruined. All our dollar records. Storage room with thousands of records.

Verdict is out on our other inventory. Hopefully it didn't get over knee high in the store so other records are safe.

oh lord, heather, give mike & maria my best wishes!!!

I will. I am headed there in the morning but it will take me 9 hours. :(

nightmare...

you can tell your friends that i wish them the best. even though they don't know me. and wish you the best.

Holy shit that is fucked up

Thanks, guys.

that is terrifying, good luck to your records

damn, sorry to hear about this. I didn't even hear about any recent flooding in TN on the national news?? kinda like Nashville was basically glossed over

Here are some pics of the damage/cleanup process:

The bottom racks that are empty were obviously all loses - thousands of dollar records were down there:
http://a5.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/190260_10150405404140076_846520075_17416207_5451663_n.jpg

The whole floor had to be removed (carpet and vinyl underneath - nasty smell):
http://a6.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/190186_10150405398035076_846520075_17416096_3043677_n.jpg

http://a3.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/190260_10150405404135076_846520075_17416206_3108876_n.jpg

http://a4.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/190186_10150405398045076_846520075_17416097_8133498_n.jpg

Oh man, I can almost smell the mildew. Where do we send the case of lysol?

when i had my store in philly years ago it was in a basement and behind a thin wall was the laundry room for the apartments above. one night one of the washers overflowed and in the morning we waded into the store and anything that was on the floor was totally trashed. it was so depressing.

:(

we made a party of it and are doing well. thanks ya'll.

<3 much support & luv

Hope the Mystical Orb pulls through. Sorry for your loss!
I like your friend's Jimi shirt.

Aw! Nathan talked about that shirt all day! His mom bought it for him for Christmas along with a DOORS shirt (lol).

if nathan doesn't want the doors shirt he can always send it my way.

My local record store:

Cavern Records, Walthamstow, London

Decent prices, but (really) shit selection. Vinyl is mostly 90s crap dance/crap alternative, doesn't seem like they get any new stock in ever. Will probably go out of business within the next year or so.

Hey I'm pretty good, this place closed down this month. With HMV also gone this year there's now no record store in my neighbourhood...

> DC metro:
> red onion (best store, but i am biased. here's an objective review.)
> SOM (overpriced, but a nice selection of used record-collector favorites. lots of world/jazz/soul, but could use a little more turnover)
> crooked beat (ehh sometimes you get lucky but ehh)
> smash! (rad owner, punk store that somehow avoids most new punk, though?)
> cdepot (crate-diggaz only)
> wheaton public library (crate-diggggggaz only)
> joe's record paradise (so fun, but rewards time-investment. save two hours, and dont freak out if you havent found anything in the first 30min)
> roadhouse oldies (so so overpriced, but crate-digging and liking 80's boogie records means stopping here occasionally)

Wow really scraping the bottom of the barrel with Wheaton Public Library! A big room of used books with an aisle or two of used records stacked to the ceiling, sometimes horizontally. It's definitely my first choice for used books though - good selection of both recent and older material, and dirt cheap - most are fifty cents to $2. These guys clearly don't bother reading price guides, so if a collectable book or record lands there, it'll be a $1 item. If you're really cheap, you can dumpster-dive out front (yes, front, where they routinely toss stuff that's sat on the shelves for too long.

There was a used/indie record store in Rockville, MD on 355, Yesterday and Today Records, that I used to frequent - two adjacent stores, one with LPs and some CDs, the other with 45s (by far the best selection of singles around here). They closed those stores several years back, moving their focus online, but I see they do run a store in Olney that I've never been too.

CDepot is almost walking distance from here - this place really should update its name since they trade DVDs, games, and vinyl as much as CDs now. Joe's is extensive and nice/knowledgeable people to talk to, but pricey. Higher prices mean more likely to find what you're looking for though.

oops, Y&T Olney is online only, no retail store

What stores are good in NYC for cheap classical LPs?

academy?

brooklyn academy has a fair chunk of classical at a dollar or under.
also worth a stop at the manhattan academy on 18th street -- their stock is fresher than ours is, usually.

housing works on uh, crosby(?) st is good too.

i bet a store like westsider also has classical records but do not know what their prices would be like. weird store, only went once, but if i had more time to dig i might have been able to find more things. did not even look @ the classical.

jon lewis might know some good spots.

Thanks, guys