Record stores in New York

I'd love to go back there!

 

IIRC, weren't they expensive?

 

they also had a fabulous Soundtrack collection!

 

if I ever make it to California that's the first place I'm going shopping!

 

yes! walked out after a visit there many years ago...once was enough!

 

IIRC, generations was once called by another name...Second Coming Records they had 2 stores across from each other. One had a fabulous selection of white label promos..for cheap. I must have bought thousands back then!

 

How about the Grassroots Tavern Downstairs? Cheap watered down pitchers and darts. I spent many days in that building upstairs shopping for records at Sounds and evenings downstairs in the Pub when I was a student.

 

that's cool...but I do not drink so my time was spent upstairs for hours on end! hey we may have been there at the same time! what years are you talking about? Up and Down stairs! hey! that's funny.

 

Around 1976 to 81. And of course a few years post graduate.

 

yup I was there...in 1981+ three times a week!

 

I've stopped in there, but it seemed absurdly boutique-y. Are the prices not that way? It's very small... the hi-fi shop struck me like Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous... maybe it's just the street, which has been glammed up nearly beyond recognition.

 

a) Second Coming was a different operation.
b) Forgot to say, Princeton is nice, but I don't think it's been worth a special trip since about 1999, unless you want bargain bin cds.
c) At In Living Stereo, new vinyl is fairly priced. Used is highish, but no more so than the other Manhattan stores. I've seen plenty that were worse, in places that they had no business charging that much, like mid-Michigan.

 

man alive. next you'll say that you wandered down a couple blocks and saw Fripp with blondie at CB's.

I'm gesturing to my left leg, which is what would be given in exchange for having been alive at that time.

 

They were, but worth it. $8 for Massacre's Killing Time album or a UK pressing of The B-52's Mesopotamia? Yes, please!

Later, Chris

 

I guess it is possible to find a bargain at an expensive shop.

 

no, unfortunately I missed that.
YES, it was fab back then.

 

Of course, this was the early-mid 80's, so $8 was a couple of dollars more than what I was used to paying than at, say, Disc-O-Mat...

Later, Chris

 

WOW! yes I remember that store! I overpaid many time for music I just had to have in my collection...

 

As a Long Island guy who works in Manhattan, I get it when people say there aren't as many stores in NYC as there used to be, and stuff is more expensive, etc., but I have to say that whenever I set foot in Academy on W. 18th or Other Music on East 4th I find multiple things I have to buy, and fairly priced, at that. Basically, I always walk out with something interesting. The thing about these NYC stores is they are well curated, and you are far more likely to find something a bit more funky or edgy or esoteric or jazzy than your typical suburban shop, which may have dozens of Beatles or cheap ACDC records but not, let's say, a copy Wooden Shjips' Oh Tannenbaum on green vinyl for ten bucks. (I literally found that on my last trip to Academy, along with a minty 70s reissue of Monk & Miles at Newport for $3 and Robert Pollard's out of print Kid Marine on CD for $5.99).

So when you shop in NYC you are still likely to find something you are not going to find somewhere else.

By the way, Generation Records is definitely still going strong, as is the Jazz Record Center on 26th, one of my favorite places in the city and a mecca if you love jazz.

 

Yes I was in Art School so I did frequent CBGBs and Max's. Later on the Mud Club various clubs from Hurrah's and Danceteria, to Bonds and The Peppermint Lounge. Plus you could always catch a show at The Bottom Line or The Lone Star Road House.

It was a fun time in NY. I did catch some acts that made it big. Plus you would see David Johanson, Joey Ramone or Joe Strummer out at late night diners like the Kiev grabbing a bite. At the time it seemed like nothing.

 

The last time I went to the Jazz Record Center was years ago -- they had lots of stock but everything was expensive. Not sure if they have moved; it was on one of the upper floors of an office block hence no street frontage. This is practically an institution that's been around for decades and the owner is an expert on Blue Notes. Strictly jazz only IIRC.

I can understand that a tourist may not want to make the trek out to Princeton NJ for a record store. It has been a few years since I last went there but they had plenty of records at reasonable prices.

In downtown Manhattan, Academy is (was?) still the best place for used vinyl at reasonable prices.

 

um, no - unless by "almost" you meant one-third of the size

 

I did the bulk of my shopping while at Princeton in the mid-to-late 90s and the store was definitely incredible then. It did fall off a bit over the next few years as they started to shift more toward DVDs and CDs - in the early 2000s it was fairly average if vinyl was what you wanted but so were most store. In the last number of years, however, Prex has had a resurgence, devoting far more attention to vinyl than they did in the previous decade and are now top-to-bottom a better option than anything in NYC.

 

Seconded. I can't stand Other Music either. Snobby and rude. But I'm glad other people on this thread like it...I'd rather a record store stay open even if it's not personally my taste.

And when J&R music/movies were in 3 stories before they moved it struck me as being about the same size as Amoeba (in fairness, DVDs were moved upstairs in J&R well before the big move). But I could be wrong. Either way, hardly seems worth much of an argument.

 

my friends and I walked by Bleecker St. Records tonight for the first time in probably close to a year and we can confirm that it's no longer on Bleecker Street just east of Leroy but has moved to West 4th Street just east of 7th - evidently they couldn't hack the rent at the old location. not that it was ever an epic shop or anything of the sort but it seems that with the move they've shed a bit of their vinyl inventory, focusing more on new releases with the originals as an afterthought. glad to see they're still around, though.