The joy of being in a record store

Record shops became my favourite place when I was a little kid and they still are now!


There were 3 places I'd frequent when I was a young kid.. (late 70s.)

1) Our local Woolworths. All the stores closed a number of years ago, but I moved from the area where I grew up a long time before that. I'd go there mostly for singles because you'd stand the best chance of getting them in a picture sleeve. That's where I bought my first new LP - by Madness called One Step Beyond. I didn't have that as a username for nothing, y'know!

2) A shop called Eclipse Records. This was a PROPER record shop - along with all the strange smells and punk vinyl on display plus a tiny little Philips battery operated record player on the counter I could spend all day in that tiny shop if I were allowed to. Bought my first ever single in there (Abba's Money, Money, Money - I was 7!) It closed around 1982 to make way for a video rental store and ended up full of pirate copies... There was a rumour I heard about the owner of this record shop that he was basically some sort of Nazi. And the shop got trashed and he was driven out of business - that all could just be someone's invention of course and I'd like to think there was no truth in it as I only heard it from a couple of people and it was somewhere that was pretty well respected.

3) The local market. Ha! The guy on there had one of those little record players too. Every Thursday (market day) I'd pop along with whoever (Mum, Gran, Brother..) and I'd end up getting 2 or 3 singles, ex-jukebox. They had the centres punched out and it was only a few years ago that I discovered that US singles never had the small LP-like centre holes, although ours did - hence them often having the push-out middles. He had about half a dozen boxes of 45s and they were supplied with the plastic adaptors. Believe me, I could list dozens I bought from there because I played these over and over and still had a lot of them until I lost them in a house move about 4 years ago. They were wrecked but kept for the memories; hey ho - I still have some from that era so not all is lost. I know this is not a store (a stall, actually) but I still find a lot of CDs for next to nothing on markets so what goes around comes around - as they say. Yup, bit of a cliche but I've always been a sucker for nostalgia and it rings true here I think.

You might notice not much mention of me actually buying LPs? They were only really for birthdays and Christmases - far too expensive - or I might just get a swap from someone who lost interest in theirs. Maybe the very occasional gift as well. MFP cassettes were cheaper, so I got one of those on a couple of occasions but the 'budget' range of LPs and tapes were usually 'old'' acts and not the sort of thing that would get my attention til years later.

There are still a couple of places I like to get records/CDs or occasionally tapes from but as for proper record stores there are only two and a third that sells 99.9% used. And the market as I've just mentioned. The places I get most from now are charity shops - and it is surprising that sometimes I get things from them that I can't get in our HMV or independent or even used shop. And you still see the occasional cassette - if I like the look of it, I'll get it.

 

My earliest memories of any stores that sold records was the local shopping center (before malls or strip malls were developed as we know them now). Near the Market Basket grocery store there was a WT Grant department store. As my family was shopping in the store, I recall flipping through the record bin as a little kid, but mainly looking at the album covers. At that time, I listened to music on the transistor radio, but without any money to spend, I didn't notice any of the price tags.
There was also a Thrifty Drug Store that also carried LPs, but I was more excited about the 5 cent ice cream cones and 12 cent packs of Topps baseball cards they sold....

Then my brother gave me Blue Oyster Cult's Agents of Fortune (and some 45s) for Christmas! Brand New and Sealed with the plastic wrap, with the record label plug sticker that I meticulously slipped inside the album jacket.
That was my introduction to the world of vinyl - which has been an irregular constant over the years...

I recall looking forward to the weekend to go to Rhino Records to buy import singles, delaying studying for a exam to go buy used LPs instead, examining the wall of 45s at Tower Records Sunset (and then looking at the boxes underneath, just in case new stock wasn't put on the shelves), calling Aron's Records to hold import records for me, mailing a SASE to dealers in Goldmine magazine with a list of my wants, strolling through Music Plus and Wherehouse stores even though I knew 99% of the store was predictable and overpriced (do you remember when $18.98 was the Suggested Retail List Price for CDs?), working part-time at a record store, wondering what working at a record label would be like, bleakly witnessing various aspects of the music business consolidate as technology advances...
Despite all of this sentimentality, this is quite a unique slice of cultural history that we're seeing pass by...never again.

Don't Fear The Reaper, indeed.

 

I didn't grow up in the era when they still had listening booths, but I sure miss record stores. Even in the small town I grew up in (which in 1971 or so when I started buying records had a pop. of less than 40,000, but still had 3 record stores, along with the other stores of other types that also had record racks) we had some nice choices.

 

Ahhh..... Those were the days!
Remember, that excitement walking in, and getting the blast of all those
great promo posters hanging from the walls, the hanging promo mobiles, and the even
more elaborate full displays... Remember the Beatles moving display ??!! Anybody that
old to have seen it, those heads of the four Fabs bobbing back and forth.... I feel old, but content.

I miss the good old stores the way you could be anywhere, on vacation in another
town or State and find fantastic treasures. I have lived all over and moved around a lot,
there was something about those days indeed... It is not the same now. Not at all...
I am now down south in a medium sized town but only a handful of real record stores..
Sad... When I get to Atlanta or Nashville I go wild! Cause there are still a few good ones there.
Thanks for the post, got me going down memory lane... I grew up in L.A. In the 1960s, I recall
every Beatles record that came out. I remember the 45s and the 16 Magazines that I poured over, covering my bedroom walls with all things Fab, Stones, Batman, Superman, and The Man From Uncle!
Ahhh..... Those were the days.

PS- I spent so much time in stores , I started working in a few, always grabbed the good stuff!

 

Have to admit that I fell out of love with record/ cd stores about 15 years ago.

It happened when they began to be staffed by assistants with little knowledge of music or the customers. They would persist in asking customers whether they needed any help. It just destroyed those glorious moments of steam of consciousness browsing.

 

I miss spending a whole afternoon in my local used store,
and not even buying anything.

Darryl

 

Same here in Belgium and Holland , stores are replaced by record fairs.But the these fairs have much more rare items and oop cd's and vinyl.

 

Three visits this week,a rarity even though I live just walking distance.
First one was just a time waster between one errand and going to work.Didn't think anything would pop out,then a WLP of an A&M/CTI,which I collect.Three bucks.Then headed into a buzzsaw of a day at work and this was the only redeming moment of the day.
Next,after reading the store's Facebook incoming stuff,it looked like they got a cache of early A&Ms,so I got three numbers toward my goal of the first 100 A&M LPs-all three bucks,in great shape and an A&M/Horizon and a WLP Lani Hall(Mrs. Herb Alpert,as many here know)-another three bucks apiece.
Then to my usual Sat. visit,with the "50 Cent Room"(please,no rapper jokes allowed),newly cleaned out after an "all free"clearance week with funky,fresh ones.About ten folk in there,some with iphones checking home inventories,one regular with his trusty ring binder label inventory(in his ongoing quest to own every LP made before rock took over the world).The place seems like a non-alcohol version of Cheers(I kinda play Norm in this setting).Two hours in there and while I only had about six bucks of merchandise,some quality time with friends on the quest to pick through the goodies before the next batch of Christian,Classical and beat up 12" fill out the room till the next clearance.After finding the first Whipped Cream copy,kinda the license any used LP junkroom needs to show its in business,I found it to be a really beautiful mono and that came home to live amongst the other five copies in my collection.
I am not an addict. I can quit anytime.Anyways,the rent check is in the mail and we had overtime this week.

 

A very popular cd/record store here in Dallas, CD Source, just announced they are closing after being in business for 21 years. Their vinyl section was growing rapidly every day. The managers had worked there forever, at least one since day one. Bummer, bummer, bummer...

 

The good old days for sure, spending an afternoon scanning the bins or looking for that new Zep or Stones or Queen LP being released. The joy of that LP in your hand for the first time. Chatting up with the owners and getting ideas on other artists I might enjoy. Or smoking the occasional "I won't tell" in the back room.

Can't get that same effect with I-Toonz and nothing in your hand but a mouse.

 

I visited a really good, recently opened record store yesterday. I checked them out after reading an article about them in the paper. They had a small collection, but I found a few interesting titles. Also, I liked what I was hearing from the store's record player. It turned out to be Ann Peebles' Can't Stand The Rain, which I added to my pile. The girl behind the counter told me that she really loved the album and we started chatting. She played several other things (New Order, Bootsy Collins, The Temples) and also took requests from customers. I picked Gene Clark's No Other, which she was unfamiliar with but enjoyed. We ended up talking about recent concerts and giving each other recommendations about new music to check out, she also recommended the store's Spotify playlist. It was more than an hour after paying the LPs before I finally left. I wish there were more record stores like this one.

 

I have a great record store, located only about 10 minutes (or less) from where I live. I had gotten away from records for 25 years, but went back to them a few years ago, and with a happy vengeance to make up for lost time! I love spending time there -- and also talking with other fans of vinyl. It's a great feeling, and I think a lot of people who are relying on downloading today are truly missing out.

 

Yes, there's something about the stores and the holding of records in one's hands, looking at the art work, reading the jacket and sleeve, etc. they are friends! I never have had that feeling with CD's nor cassettes. When the stores became virtually 100% CD for a while it just wasn't the same anymore - not the same kind of excitement.

 

Swap meets are pretty special too. The wife and I went to the Seattle Swap Meet last weekend, and came home with about 25 records. Now, that's a great way to spend a day. If not for stinky people, or people who subsist solely on garlic cloves, it could be the PERFECT way to spend a day.

 

Really miss Borders...

Great book and music store.

Used to spend like 3 hours there once a month or more.

 

I don't know. I would like for record stores to be able to survive. But I wish they would grade their used vinyl. So many just throw them in a bin.

 

I remember being followed out of a Camelot Music store by security when I was 14 or so because I spent such a long time in the store without spending a dime. I just liked to look. Even at that young age it drove me nuts that they filed Jethro Tull under T and "Hank Wilson's Back" under W.

To this day, I relax just by going to a record store. Like Darryl said above - I don't even have to buy anything.

 

I've probably gone into record stores an average of two or three times a week for the past 50 years. I RARELY leave a shop empty-handed.

It remains a great joy even if the circuit of shops in NYC is a small fraction of what it was in the old days.

 

I remember different kinds of shops with different kinds of affection.

My local shop in West Chicago, IL was Simmon's Appliance & Repair, which did a pretty brisk business in records. In the mid-60's I was always hanging out at the 45's rack - that's all I could afford - but I eventually started browsing the LP bins. There was a Head Shop in our town in the late 60's and they had a good selection too. Once I could drive I'd hit stores in Wheaton and other surrounding towns. There was one shop in a strip mall outside Glen Ellen - name escapes me - that had great prices and an extensive budget bin. I found some incredible things there for 49-cents and up.

NYC had its own record shop karma and I used to love making the rounds in the Village and Soho. Pier Platters in Hoboken was another mecca.

Fond memories.

 

Record stores were like book stores in the sense that they were "therapy" for me. For around an hour, I could rummage through the bins and look for items that were new and interesting. Sometimes whatever I bought did not pan out. However, I still have many gems that I still have to this day just by taking a chance.

In addition, record stores would be playing the new releases that they thought were worthy. It really was an "experience" to frequent them.

I always thought that the independent stores were the best. The big corporate chains did not have the same vibe for me. They would have the selection, but not the expertise of the store employees.

As a young teen, I would visit a local store that was owned by a guy named "Tom Ayres". That guy really knew his stuff and would point me out to some incredible music. He had his finger on the pulse of the music industry and knew what was coming out before it actually did. He would later go on to music producing himself was well as artist management. I really valued his opinion on music. You couldn't get that from the big record store chains.

 

Charity shops in the UK think they have record collectors all figured out these days...no more 50p for everything, all mixed in together.

Last week I picked up an Irish folk rock album, VG at best, which I had never heard of but took a chance on. They know me by sight at this particular shop, and took the record away, had a good look at it. Aha! The nice but non musical lady behind the counter cried, this record is signed by the band! Well, I said, its signed by someone...it did indeed have two small biro signatures on the back. So, says the nice lady, its worth a lot of money! OK, says I, how much? She looks at me for a minute. I don't know, she says, a lot? I'll need to speak to a music expert, have it valued, I want you to come back - she looks at the calender- next week, and I will sell it to you then. Thank you, said I, but unless the signatures are Lennon/McCartney I'm not that bothered...and she looked at me like I was playing a game of double bluff worthy of James Bond...oho, you record collectors, she says...and locked away this precious artifact in the safe! The days of buying picture discs for £1 are over, I fear.

 

Two weeks ago I went to 2 shops 100 miles from my home: I was very successful at my first stop with a 3 lp set in great condition but the lp I picked up at the second stop was over powered by noise. Wish I'd left that store empty-handed! Now I'll have the fun of looking for a clean copy!

 

Through the years I've had 95% good luck with visually clean records being sonically clean, but every once in a while I accidentally purchase a dog. It's hard to say what happened in the grooves; maybe a terrible pressing to begin with or some kind of extreme groove wear.

There's always an element of gambling in this... I don't gamble, but I guess taking chances on music provides me with a similar kind of excitement.

 

I never thought of it that way but it is a gamble and most of the time I do win! I've got vinyl you'd swear was mint and vinyl you'd think was used as a frisbee > the mint is full of noise and the frisbee plays mint! Vinyl is funny stuff.

 

I agree - I used to hit thrift/charity shops and almost always find some Beatles, Who, Stones, other bigger name records in the bins with the runs of Mantovani, Bobby Vee, Percy Faith. Now, most of them have silent auction areas where those get batched up and put in for bidding.

I found some Apple singles (Mary Hopkin and Wings) in a Goodwill shop a year ago, in the normal bin, and was wondering who missed those!