Barnes & Noble stores carry vinyl.

I don't know if this is news for other parts of the country, but a Barnes & Noble in my area started carrying vinyl recently. They had none when I was there two or three weeks ago, but they had a display near the front of the music/movie department today. It was a couple racks amounting to about 30 LPs along with some Crosley turntables. Among the LPs they had were a few copies of Kind of Blue (stereo), Steve's 33 1/3 mastering of Rumours (with the Pressed at Pallas sticker), some Beatles LPs, The Black Keys, Joni Mitchell Blue, and A Love Supreme. I'm no expert on vinyl, but the prices seemed to be reasonable for Barnes & Noble. Kind of Blue was $21.99, A Love Supreme was $15.99, and Rumours was $24.99.

 

I remember when they had a clearance sale for their LPs. (about 5 years ago?) Some sold for as low as $2.

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/u/music-vinyl-lp-record-players/379004225

 

Thanks for the link. The store I was in today had the recent LPs of the first three Zeppelin albums and the Marley Legend LP.

 

Very interesting. Looks like I'll need to pop into a B&N store here in So. Cal.

 

I'm curious what the vinylers here think of Barnes & Nobles' prices and titles. The selection was fairly limited in the store I stopped in on Sunday, but there were some good titles. The only one that stood out to me in terms of mastering was the Hoffman Rumours LP (33 1/3). Are there any other standouts there?

 

None at their store west of Boston.

 

They have a decent selection online and, occasionally, good sales.

 

Not mine and it is huge, and in a hipster town....

 

I suppose Barnes & Noble could be trialing LP sales in select stores or could be phasing them in slowly across the country. As I mentioned in the first post, my local store had no LPs just two or three weeks before.

 

Are there many vinyl outlets in the Penn State area? As a college town I'd assume yes but, if not, perhaps they're looking to fill a space in the marketplace.

 

A few, but I don't live in State College (unfortunately ).

 

Checked a smaller B&N store in So. California today - no vinyl.

 

A good time to be in Michigan. Well, there's a first time for everything.

 

Update from my earlier post...the Framingham MA store has a small display, similar to that noted by the OP. Including the Crosleys, it's about the size of a small table.

 

A local Barnes & Noble store has taken vinyl to a new level. Previously, they had what many here had seen in their area, meaning a small vinyl display in the middle of store and a slightly larger display with Crosley turntables in the Music/Movie department. The store I was in today still has these displays, but they have replaced a large display of rock and jazz CDs with LPs. These are tiered shelves in an L configuration that are now filled with records. They have consolidated the CDs into some waist-level bins nearby. With the tiered shelves, have three record bins to a column, you see a lot of album covers. I have to say, seeing that many records makes for an impressive display.

Presumably Barnes & Noble sees vinyl as more worthy than CDs of their limited shelf space. I'm sure that CDs are not selling well at Barnes & Noble, but does this mean that vinyl is selling well or are they still banking on it? Truth be told, I rarely see people looking at LPs when I am in Barnes & Noble stores. That said, a teenage girl was paying for an Arctic Monkeys LP when I was there today.

Fortunately for me, Barnes & Noble still has bargain bins of CDs ($4.99, $7.99, $9.99). I picked up the two-disc remaster of The Last Waltz and the two-disc Pet Shop Boys compilation Pop Art: The Hits for $19.06 with tax, after my membership discount.

 

My local B&N went from a small section of LP's last year and expanded them four-fold this year. Should be interesting to see how this all pans out.

 

Guitar Center has vinyl also and in 7 weeks they have already marked all of it down 30% off.

 

The one near me has gone all-in as well. A little more mainstream and a slightly smaller section than Urban Outfitters, but with passable prices ($20-25). Interesting to see how it works out for them.

 

Wow. Were their prices particularly high to begin with?

 

Barnes & Noble's prices don't seem to be outrageous. I've considered buying some LPs there, but I need to research some titles as far as mastering and, especially, pressing quality.

 

Was just at B&N on Saturday and picked up a few LP's.
Lindsey Stirling - Shatter Me
Billie Holiday - Lady in Satin
Daft Punk - Discovery
Alabama Shakes - Sound and Color

Had a 20% off coupon on 1 item and got the 10% off for being a member.

 

There's at least three separate vinyl displays at my local B&N. Interesting selection and the prices are pretty good.

FWIW, I have not actually bought any LP's at my local B&N yet but I have purchased from B&N online a few times in the last year and I always seem to get better LP's from B&N than Amazon. Dunno why that would be, but I'm almost at the point of saying the heck with Amazon for vinyl, I'll just order from B&N.

 

I stopped in Barnes & Noble today and saw a couple MFSL titles. They had Bitches Brew for $61.99 and Talking Book for $32.99. I don't keep up with MFSL vinyl, but those prices seem high.

After several outings of perusing their vinyl bins and leaving empty-handed, I bought the Sony stereo reissue of Kind of Blue today for $16.82 with a 15%-off coupon and the 10% member discount.

 

In stopping at Barnes & Noble today, I was surprised to see a Record Store Day issue of the Pretty in Pink soundtrack on pink vinyl. It had a Record Store Day sticker on the front. Either it was a mistake for Barnes & Noble to get this LP or the labels offer leftover Record Store Day stock to chain stores. I had never heard of Record Store Day LPs turning up at a Barnes & Noble.