Best Record Store

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Apologies if this question has been asked before, but what is the best record store you've experienced and where can I find it? Rather than giving an angle to question, I'll let you expose your own. I dream of a discriminating record store where I would be 75% certain to like anything I could buy. I also dream of an incredibly stupid record store where I might find collectors fetish issue for $1, but that's another story.

― Jarren, Monday, 3 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

well, you should check out Ameoba in LA and then ask this question

― Steve K, Monday, 3 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Amoeba San Francisco is, how shall I say, acceptable.

― Sean, Monday, 3 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Amoeba everywhere! Yay!

And Noise Noise Noise, of course.

― Ned Raggett, Monday, 3 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Like I would tell you.

― cuba libre (nathalie), Monday, 3 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

wasn't terribly impressed with the SF Amoeba, although i heard the Berkeley one is better. was only looking at the vinyl though

― michael, Monday, 3 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

although i heard the Berkeley one is better

Well as far as used stuff goes, naturally it all depends on what's coming into the store. New stock I find to be pretty similar in both locations. I've only done serious record shopping in New York and San Francisco, so my experience is narrow (but deep), but Amoeba for me stands so far above everyone else I hardly bother checking out the competion anymore.

― Sean, Monday, 3 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

there's a branch of 'missing' in glasgow that by all accounts is rather ordinary except for a large section of improvised, experimental, and underground music (lots of second-hand stuff too). i found two discs (bright's full negative or breaks and bablicon's the orange tapered moon) that i hadn't been able to find in london and for only a few quid each! that's cool.

― fields of salmon, Monday, 3 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I have to say I'm pretty pleased with little ol' Plan 9 Records here in Richmond, VA., mainly due to the fact that they let you listen to any cd or record (new or used) and the good sized used cd and vinyl sections that actually seem to circulate fairly regularly, including the very big $1 record section (recent acquisitions: the Strawberry Alarm Clock, Tommy Roe, Tommy James & Shondells, Funkadelic, Frightwig, and Big Brother & Holding Company). I lived outside of Washington DC for several years and nothing there compared to Plan 9, which I find odd. Actually, Mark Richard-San wrote a column on Plan 9 for Pitchfork, though I don't remember if he named the store in the column. Of course, the people that work there are stereotypically obnoxious, but at least they leave you alone.

― Nick A., Monday, 3 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

In London (and, I suspect, in the UK) its THESE records. They do experimental, improv, avant-garde, industrial and they have some really off-the-wall records. I would want to buy 90% of the records there.

A mention to Sound 323 who have a US free jazz section and some cheap but good experimental albums.

― Julio Desouza, Monday, 3 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

The LA Amoeba is probably the best large record store in America (also love the Berkeley and SF locations), but I have a few gripes. They still don't pay any kind of attention to Import EPs on CD (and no magazines) - though I was pleasantly surprised to find that New Buffalo disc - thanks Tim!. Also, their hours are too short and the parking can be a pain (ie an SF transportation attitude in LA doesn't work). However, if you combine a trip to Amoeba with stops at Aron's, Virgin, and Vinyl Fetish on Melrose (all within a 2 mile radius) then your eyes will surely roll into the back of your head in record shopping ecstasy.

― Spencer Chow, Monday, 3 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

The best record store is where you feel most comfortable, and while I'll agree Amoeba is amongst the most comprehensive large record stores in the country, I lost the warm fuzzies of large record stores over the years. I'm more content to just shoot the shit with a guy or gal in a hole in a wall these days, who knows me personally.

That said, my fave Seattle record store right now for that reason is JAM records (Wallingford). Also Jive Time (Fremont), Fallout (Capitol Hill), Wall of Sounds (Belltown), and Zion's Gate (Capitol Hill) for similar reasons.

I'll agree that Plan 9 in Richmond is probably the best record store on the East Coast, of the ones I saw -- especially the vinyl basement.. YEEAH. Twisted Village in Cambridge, MA is also very unique. Spaceboy in Philly is also quite great, once you get up to the vinyl room as well. I was kinda disappointed in NYC stores actually.. then again, I was already running out of money too fast there as it was, so my motivation for trainspotting and record perusing there was a bit shot.

― Brian MacDonald, Monday, 3 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I seriously doubt there is a better block for record shopping than St. Marks in NYC. Kim's has all of the hard to find, indie stuff. Joe's and Sounds have great stashes of used discs, as well as new stuff for less than $10. And they have great $1 bins. Then head over to Other Music to overpay for a record while spending an hour in a store the size of a shoebox.

― Yancey, Monday, 3 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Amoebas will always come to mind, but I hoped for the crooks and crannies.

― Jarren, Monday, 3 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Gemm & Juno all the way - it's a virtual world now baby...!

― Paul, Monday, 3 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Previously asked here.

― Sean Carruthers, Monday, 3 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

i like dusty groove

― Ron, Monday, 3 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

mod lang is like 1/10th the size of amoeba but still a much better store.

― keith, Monday, 3 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

mod lang is unbearable unless you want certain specific things, and the used section is terrible. best for 7" and imports.

― Sterling Clover, Monday, 3 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I pass by Mod Lang almost every day but I've never been inside, it looks so ridiculous. The list of top sellers they post by the door is pretty much my playlist from hell. I was inside the LA Amoeba last week; I bought a tape copy or British Steel for $2.99 but it was a totally fucked up tape so I'm never going back to Amoeba either. My favorite record store is this Chevron somewhere near Death Valley -- Mojave, perhaps? I got this great best of bubblegum tape there a year ago that I still play all the time.

― Kris, Monday, 3 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Mod Lang is pretty good actually. The guys that work there are nice too (or at least they are nice to me). Aquarius is where I've been going since I was a wee lad so they have a special place in my heart. I think the heavy weight given to Amoeba pretty much indicates that people want a comprehensive and pretty cheap record store, over a more home-y, occassionally surprising but less complete record store. Either one is fine with me (although I will admitt I shop at Amoeba more than any other place).

― Alex in SF, Tuesday, 4 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

pennyblackmusic.com

a rough trade for the entire planet, not just scummy camden fucks.

― did, Tuesday, 4 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

i like dusty groove

Ron, is this the brick 'n' mortar presence of dustygrooveamerica.com? I love browsing that site, although I've never bought anything. I just realized they show their address in Chicago on Ashland. I'll have to stop in sometime.

― Curt, Tuesday, 4 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I've only been to Mod Lang once, but I seem to remember it being really overpriced? It might just be my faulty memory though.

― Nicole, Tuesday, 4 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Rough Trade in Notting Hill and Covent Garden in London. Sister Rays... Reckless Records..

― marinecreature, Tuesday, 4 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I seem to remember it being really overpriced?

Yeah, that was my thought. A vaguely okay used section, I think, but that was some years back.

― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 4 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

The bigger branch of Vinyl Exchange in Manchester.

― Colin Cooper, Tuesday, 4 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Curt, if you like the Dusty Groove site, you'll like the store. Not an enormous selection: just big enough to showcase their tastes and high points. I actually find their racks of rare/import CDs to be the standout feature of the physical store. My haunt in Chi-town is Broadway Records at Briar and Broadway.

― thistleteeth, Tuesday, 4 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

gotta represent for Mpls: Let It Be and Electric Fetus both deserve at least an honorable mention here....

― M Matos, Tuesday, 4 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Actually, Mod Lang prices are v. similar to Amoeba (w/in a dollar). I think the prices seem higher because they put all the imports up on the wall. Naomi and Joe are super nice and knowledgeable. Also, they get import discs before anyone else.

― Spencer Chow, Wednesday, 5 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

You stand a better chance at limited edition/rarities at Mod Lang tho. I got the rare slint-white-label-boot there when everywhere else was impossible to find it.

― Sterling Clover, Wednesday, 5 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

curt, i've never been to the actual dusty groove, only online :-)

― Ron, Wednesday, 5 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

nine years pass...

Somebody on Facebook just posted some 30-year-old photos of my favourite record store ever: the original Vortex on Dundas St. in Toronto. He embodied the principal that, as I've mentioned before, makes a great record store: everything was priced to sell, not to sit in the bin until that one person dumb enough to overpay wildly happened upon the store. Two examples that come to mind: I bought copies of The Who Sell Out and Dusty in Memphis for $7 each (I have a pretty good memory for what I paid for certain records in those days). This would have been the early '80s, when vinyl copies in good shape were hard to find; I can think of another, better known store in town that would have charged twice that. Here's the owner, Bert Myers, who I think everybody just thought of as Bert Vortex. Haven't spoken to him since the '90s, but I'm pretty sure he wouldn't object to me paying tribute to him here.

http://phildellio.tripod.com/bert.jpg

― clemenza, Monday, 16 April 2012 23:15 (thirteen years ago)

one year passes...

This seems to be the most general record store thread...There's a store in Toronto, Around Again, that was one of my four or five main stores through the '80s. I'd estimate I bought, I don't know, maybe a couple of hundred albums there for the decade. (One I specifically remember: a bootleg of the International Submarine Band LP.) I think it's only one of two stores in Toronto (the Yonge St. Sunrise being the other) that's still in the exact same location today as in 1985--most don't exist anymore. The same woman still runs it; I couldn't quite tell if the guy who was with her on Saturday was the same guy from way back when. They may even still have the same sign.

I only drop in once every four or five years now. They still have good stuff, but they're on the pricey side--not outrageous, but the usual $15-20 for most anything you'd want to buy. I didn't want to leave empty-handed when I was there on Saturday killing time before a movie, so I bought the Coolies Dig! for $7, even though there's a very good chance it's useless. I'm impressed that they're still around, and also a little sad whenever I venture back.

http://www.blogto.com/upload/2011/05/20110511_AroundAgainFront.jpg

― clemenza, Tuesday, 7 May 2013 00:32 (twelve years ago)

the princeton record exchange will always have a special place in my heart. they have a pretty vast selection and it's pretty well priced and organized. lots of jazz records.

― Treeship, Tuesday, 7 May 2013 00:34 (twelve years ago)

Yeah, it's great. Logically priced used CDs too.

Was just thinking how great Red Scroll Records in CT is, too.

http://www.redscrollrecords.com/

― Evan, Tuesday, 7 May 2013 02:24 (twelve years ago)

really liked Princeton rec ex the one time I went

― sons of plutarchy (will), Tuesday, 7 May 2013 02:27 (twelve years ago)

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