Best and worst record stores you have visited.

I've only been there once back in the day. I knew I would never return when I brought the records to the counter and the guy pulled out THE BOOK!

Oh yeah!......I know the guy you're talking about; a real nutjob!

 

and brought them back to his shop and overpriced them! LOL!

 

Plaza and Wuxtry must have merged or something at some point. It's now a single store on Rte. 13 just a few blocks east of downtown.

 

I'd like to imagine I haven't found the best yet, but my usual hangouts, Amoeba and Lovell's (in Whittier) are always great.

The worst I've been to is a little place called Nerdboy (also in Whittier). They either must've recently been robbed around the time I went in, or the owners are paranoid by nature, because I could feel someone's eyes on me the entire time I was there. Sure enough, the folks at the counter had their eyes on me every time I looked over. No thanks.

 

I really dig Sonic Boom in Toronto dead-smack in the middle of Chinatown!!

I felt like a teenager again upon visiting for the first time!

 

Me too, before it was sold to investors.

 

Best still in business:

Amoeba in SF
Downtown Music Gallery in NYC
Bop Shop in Rochester, NY


Best of the dead:
Sam the Record Man in Toronto
Yardbird Records in Coconut Grove
Record Runner in Buffalo (before owner got fixated on Mercedes Benz autos)

Worst:

too many to name. Reasons vary: dead stock, shoddy or no grading considerations, high prices, arrogant, lazy and/or exploitive owners, etc etc etc

 

Best or worst?

 

As a Mass native and resident, the Boston area music store scene is far from what it once was. A Jets or Colts fan would call it deflated.

 

Current faves:

Bull Moose (especially the Scarborough, Mill Creek, and Portsmouth stores)
Newbury Comics (Norwood and flagship stores only)
Listen Up (a reasonably priced hole in the wall in Natick, about 20 miles west of Boston)
Deja Vu (also in Natick and needs to be experienced once...less organized than a record show and the owner is a character, but there are plenty of finds)
In Your Ear (the branch near Boston U, I'm not familiar with the others)


Least faves:

FYE
Urban Outfitters (maybe it's the hipster attitude, but it just feels wrong)

A for Effort

Barnes & Noble

RIP but fondly remembered

Looney Tunes
Disc Diggers
Strawberries (ahh, Morris Levy)
Harvard Coop (70-80's heyday)
Circuit City
Best Buy's music department
Lechmere

 

I'll add another store to my list of favorites, one that has been mentioned multiple times in this thread: Princeton Record Exchange in Princeton, N.J.

I had heard and read positive things about this store for years but had never had the chance to visit until earlier today when I took a road trip to New Jersey from the D.C. area. Excellent and large stock of new and (especially) used CDs and LPs. And the prices are among the best I've seen anywhere. They definitely price items to move, which is cool to see. PREX, as it as referred to, is definitely among the top 10 stores I've visited in the U.S., and maybe among the top five. It's a guaranteed wallet-emptier. Definitely worth checking out if you're ever nearby. And Princeton itself is a pretty nice/cool college town.

 

Oddly enough, this is true for any of the Half Price Books in Phoenix too. They rarely get anything in whether it is on CD or vinyl. When they do get vinyl, it is almost always grossly overpriced.

 

Here in Athens, GA we have a stellar selection. Wuxtry Records, Secret Sounds, and Low Yo Yo Stuff. My favorite has been Low Yo Yo though. Bought $50 worth of vinyl and they gave me 2 records for free just cause. Now thats awesome!

 

For some reason, Half Price Books here in MN is surprisingly decent both in selection and price, though I've heard horror stories from elsewhere in the country.

 

I'm sure that's true. It's still pretty darn good though. Austin, TX has really good record stores too.

 

I was recently at this store, as well as the one in Cambridge. The Boston store is larger and I liked them both. I wish that I had time to go through the thousands of 45s that each one had.

 

My favorite: Now long gone Vinyl Fever in Tampa. In the pre-Internet, pre-Amazon days, this place was just great. It had a fantastic back catelog inventory, great prices on new releases, and knowlegable and friendly staff. I could spend hours there, especially in the vinyl days. I actually feel a little guilty when I think of it because I, like many others, decreased the visits once CDs and the Internet made shopping so much easier. And now it is just a happy memory. If I could go back in time to shop, I would love to spend another day there.

Runner up: Tower Records in S.F. or N.Y.

 

Randy's in SLC is a great stop.

 

I asked before because I've bought records from forum member @Wasatch that had Randy's price stickers on them and they were in nice shape and reasonably priced. My only complaint would be that Randy's uses too many price stickers on the actual jacket and labels. Fortunately, they're the kind that are pretty easy to remove without damage.

 

I'm also a fan of the Half Price Books stores in Minnesota, which is where I used to live and still visit fairly often. I primarily like the stores for their selection of used/out-of-print books, including on music. I've found some pretty good titles at the St. Paul and St. Louis Park stores especially, books like Nelson George's definitive story on Motown Records, "Where Did Our Love Go?"

The CD and vinyl bins at Half Price are pretty hit or miss, but they are worth checking out and occasionally have some choice items -- usually more so in the CDs.

 

Randy's has been around for a long time. I've been going there for over 20 years.

 

Because I love weird christmas, space age pop and exotica, there is no better shop than jerrys in pittsburgh. Deep inventory and everything $3 to $7.

I really love euclid in new orleans for well rounded stock. You never know what you will find from exotica and jazz to post punk and doom metal. Always a treat to explore.

 

Worst was a short-lived place that reeked of pot smoke that used to sell homemade cassette dubs of bootlegs for $10 each, and bootleg CDs for $20 each.

 

I was college room mates with the owner Rob.