current fav nyc record shops

Actually, I'd say that the folks at Other Music are way friendlier and more helpful than any other record store workers I've ever come across.

I also like Shrine. Is it closing?

Many of the ones that do remain are in ill-health (notably Record Runner, from whom the stench of ganggreen spews like exhaust from a muffler. What a mixed metaphor.

Etherea's used CD section never fails to turn up pleasant surprises (and seems less picked over by local bin hawks than Kim's or OM's), and their [new] stock in IDM is pretty hard to beat.

Other Music ain't bad either but it's definitely not the place to go for cheap deals.

I'll have to check some of these other places out sometime.

Other Music, Mondo Kim's, Downtown Music Gallery are all great for indie esoterica and the like, but less so for Brit imports. Those used to be best prized at since-vanished Route 66. Rebel Rebel (Bleeker, west of 7th Avenue) used to be better for Brit import stuff, but both their stock and their clientelle now lean worryingly towards a very specific demographic that perfers shocking pink feather and day-glo pacifiers than mohawks and combat boots (i.e. more gay dancefloor music, less British post-punk). Footlights on East 12th is still the best for soundtracks. Academy is great for selling stuff off, but sporadic in their selection otherwise (unless you're looking for widely available, middle of the road sorta stuff).

How about stores in the other boroughs? I live in Brooklyn, so know it best. Ear Wax used to have a decent, cheap selection of used vinyl, but their prices have gone up a lot. I've only been to Miggy's once, but he had really good stuff. Holy Cow in Park Slope sometimes has okay stuff. Um, I'm blanking here...

Any recommendations on record stores in Queens, Staten Island, and the Bronx?

Don's, in Cobble Hill (it's off of Court Street, but I forget what the side street is). Pricey but really good for old/rare vinyl.

In Brooklyn Beat St is unparalleled. Three DJs, a glassed-off dacehall ROOM, cool staff, they're legendary for a reason. Insane levels of dancefloor classics, sketchy mix n match 12"s with "Buffalo Girls" on one side and "Da Butt" on the other. I'd love to hear what other people's Brooklyn places are though (especially Downtown/Ft Greene/Pk Slope), I'd take a frickin NYE for Christ's sake if it meant I could actually have a non-hip-hop record already in mind and go buy it without going into the city.

Colony Records totally belongs on this thread! I've never liked it, they have a weird system of printing out a receipt for you that's like your "ticket" and then they go and get the record from somewhere, if they have it, and maybe they don't—they never have anything it seems like—but you've got this receipt anyway with a price on it and everything, and it makes you feel like you should at least order the thing at least, but then maybe you decide you just want to look around some more, but nothing's in ANY sort of order designed with you in mind, so you can either stuff this receipt in your pocket, hand it BACK to the guys who work there (who when i was there acted very impatient, is if i was interrupting them from something far more important (i probably was)) or keep it in your hand, wandering around this vaguely hostile series of linked fluourescent antechambers

On the big chain tip, apart from midtown Fifth Avenue, the HMV's are gone (West 72nd, East 86th, West 42nd -- all gone). Not sure if it's still there, but the Coconuts on Lexington and 58th street is now probably a FYE (for your ears?). A bajillion ice ages ago, it was the site of a Disc-O-mat where I first bought The Wall by Pink Floyd and London Calling by the Clash, and it was right around the corner from the sublimely dingey Comic Art Gallery. Ah, youth.

(also: later this month, fehlmann and jan jelinek are djing at tonic...)

I've found good stuff at Tunes.

Gimmee Gimmee is the most underrated store in NYC.

And i shop at Mondo Kims because I like the store and I like the people who work there.

All of you complaining about smug employees at Other Music oughta venture over to Fat Beats someday. There, my friends, you will encounter surliness like you have never experienced.

I second this but since I never leave my neighborhood I have no other recommendations. I just walk to Tower, it's across the street from my house.

Still, gotta love'im.

Oh, and I had a very pleasant experience at OM just the other day. My purchases from another store set off the buzzer on the way out, and the guy gave me no hassle whatsoever, just swiped them across the demagnetizer and then -- noticing I had pockets stuffed with CDs from three different stores -- offered me an extra-large OM bag to put everything in. OK, it's good promo for the store -- they got me carrying my Sounds and Kim's buys around in an OM bag. But he was still a nice guy.

Thanks to everyone who has been posting here! I've been filling pages with names and addresses, and will endeavor to blow my next paycheck on CDs.

hi guys, i am visiting NY for a few days & want to check out some new record shops

i mainly look for used cds

been to other music & kim's (both overpriced)

anywhere else worth checking out?

all closed iirc

Other and Kim's in the city. Earwax, Sound Fix and Permanent in Brooklyn. Academy is mostly vinyl but has super-cheep CDs too

academy (18th street and brooklyn locations) and the record grouch (williamsburg, brooklyn) both have used CDs.

(if you go the brooklyn academy, ask for me, i will be there all week.)

i went to academy last week & i'd say it was more, or at least real close to half, cd's

nice, i'll be up around 45th-51st in manhattan most of the time (and working 12 hr days) but if i can make it to academy, def. will do that

is there a 12th st. academy as well?

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=academy+records+nyc&sll=40.734478,-73.986483&sspn=0.01782,0.038581&gl=us&ie=UTF8&hq=academy+records&hnear=New+York&ll=40.727747,-73.972664&spn=0.035644,0.077162&z=14

Academy 18th Street has a great classical CD section, a little less so for rock/pop but the entire front half of the store is CDs. Brooklyn Academy has a very small CD selection (not worth a trip) and 12th Street Academy, if I remember right, is all vinyl.