You couldn't browse, you had to look through a weekly updated catalog. They were a distributor not retail.
Very few warehouses would allow a customer inside. I used to get allowed inside now and then due to having a radio program. Sometimes I would go crazy going through the aisles with 10 foot high shelving. Once in a while some supervisor would end up yelling at the guy who let me in, but most often it was a great scoop of things at incredible prices. The best was when they would allow you in their "trash" space of supposedly defective returns. To them, they were trash and the prices were $1 and at the end, they gave 50% off that. I didn't get this too often, maybe a half dozen times over the years.
That guy put his whole shop on ebay, get rid of it all in one go, don't actually know of the outcome.
Took this picture on my last trip to Last Vestige, Albany, NY. a couple of months ago. They had a 50% off sale on all vinyl. I scored big with all Foreigner LP titles for $2.00 ea., six Phoebe Snow LP's, four Polly Bergen titles on original Columbia labels plus a couple of others. Great shop with a huge selection of vinyl at reasonable prices. In business for thirty years.
His trick for staying in business is that he owns the building. Landlords killed the record stores more than downloading or streaming.
I finally found a pic of the outside of the 1st record store I worked in (1974-77). It was called Platterpuss and was there ca. 1969-1988. Cedarhurst St., Cedarhurst, NY.
When I was serving time, my wife went out to my favorite record store and bought me this record. Even though I had no record player, the guys in the cell block sang these tunes to me all night long
This is the Record Vault. My store of youth. Great store. Had stacks of old Rolling Stone mags for sale. Psychedelic section. Tons of imported metal. Great shop.
Not exactly records, but NYC once had an entire street where for several blocks it was all radios, tubes and electronics, maybe a few records
I used to enjoy going in here when I visited the city. On or near Houston St., right? There was a little basement Mexican restaurant near here where I usually ate when in the area.
Not sure. I didn't go to a shop of that name, but I went into another shop with a very similar entrance in the 1970's on W 8th Street in the Village. Not that there weren't many shops in basement levels
