Detroit Record Stores?

I will be on business all of next week in Detroit, Michigan. Could some of the learned Motor City-ites point me in the direction of any good used/rare record shops in the general area? Thanks in advance.

Ken

 

It's been almost 12 years since I lived there for some time. There used to be a couple of really cool CD stores in Ann Arbor. One was right downtown next to the Michigan theater, and the other one was a couple of blocks south and east (if I remember correctly). The second one was called CD Wherehouse or Warehouse or something like that. I think they carried a large selection of used CD's.

There was another store on Ford Rd. somewhere close to Canton township, it was in a little strip mall.

I would suggest to check the yellow pages in your hotel room under "Compact Disc".

Roland

 

If you're loking for vinyl try CAR CITY RECORDS located on Harper Ave. just south of Nine Mile Rd. in St. Clair Shores (just northwest of Detroit, 15-20 min drive from the city)
Looking for vinyl and CD try RECORD TIME located on Gratiot Ave. one 1/2 block north of the 696 freeway.

 

Are you going to the Super Bowl?

 

Ras you beat me to those 2 great stores.

Here is a couple more Melodies & memories on Gratiot just north of 9 mile in Eastpointe its before you get to Record Time and just north of Detroit.


Street Corner Music on W 13 mile and southfield in Beverly Hills, I've found some incredible used vinyl there. this is about 5 miles north of detroit.

 

Thanks very much for the replies; greatly appreciated.

re. "Are you going to the Super Bowl?"

Sort of; I work on a show that's doing a thing after the Super Bowl. I'll be in a theater a block away.

 

What area are you staying at? Might help, so we can let you know how far away these places are from where you're staying.

With all these recommendations, you may need to use Google Maps. Enjoy the area, though--we've rebuilt a couple of freeways and have had the teams out picking up garbage from our roads over the past few weeks, a mad scramble for the Super Bowl.

Roland!

The one next to the Michigan Theater was Schoolkids Records. They had a double storefront for all the pop/rock/jazz, and another storefront for the classical. Sadly, they pretty much closed up shop, and they are now operating on a shoestring out of a basement on State Street, just around the corner. They used to have a terrific selection of imports, and they were probably the only store I ever saw that carried pre-recorded DATs.

At the corner of State and Liberty was Discount Music--could that have been the one you were thinking of? Discount Music used to be a division of Musicland in our area, but this was an independent store with the same name. They've been gone from AA for several years now, too.

I think Wazoo (State St.?) is still around. Last time I was there, they had just about converted to all used CDs, and stuck the vinyl in milk crates under the bins. I think it had changed back to vinyl...selection was never that good for CDs, so I never went back. They were up on the second story of a building on State St., IIRC.

If you want the "mecca" of used LP/CD shops in Ann Arbor, head a little bit down Liberty to Encore Recordings. The aisles are tight, the shelves appear to go to the ceiling, and you can lose yourself for hours in there. Don't forget to check the drawers under the bins, and the understock beneath the drawers.

I have never been to PJs, but it is at the intersection of Packard and State St., on the second floor of a triangular-shaped building. (I think they are above a Subway, on the Packard side.)

This might have been Desirable Discs in downtown Garden City...I think they closed that location down. There was another used record store on Ford, closer to me (may have been in Westland--I recall it being on the south side of Ford), but I don't recall the name of it. The only store we have here in Canton is Dearborn Music (Ford @ Canton Center), and they're a decent (but not great) store with only a handful of used discs...mostly popular stuff I wouldn't be interested in. Their main store is in Dearborn on Michigan Ave. IMHO, the "west side" here is lacking in stores. I tend to head to Ann Arbor (only 20 minutes door to door) for any shopping of that nature.

As for other area stores, Car City is a shadow of its former self (rumor has it the owner is on a month-to-month lease, and there is empty floor space now). Melodies & Memories (mentioned above) was a large, cool store last time I visited. Very reasonable prices.

Also, see if Solo Records is still around--they had a little green store on Woodward on the south end of Birmingham, but I heard they moved to Royal Oak. Just checked, and it appears they're on Woodward near 13 Mile Rd. now. Downtown Royal Oak has one or two shops, but from what I could tell through the windows, there's not much to them. Few have the depth of a place like Encore in Ann Arbor.

 

Desirable Discs went totally out of business after owner Jeff's divorce. All 3 locations are now gone. He's now operating in Hamtramck (Jos. Campau nr. Caniff) as Record Graveyard. It's the first place I head for vinyl if I don't feel like Ann Arbor. I went to school with Jeff and usually get stuff way cheap.

I think rjstauber may have been referring to the Dearborn Music that used to be in the strip mall at Ford & Lilley, where Outback is. They moved. The main Dearborn location was far better anyway. It's where I go for jazz CDs.

 

That was Music Music, formerly Foxhole Records. Owner Bob Alford used to photograph Stars' Cars for Creem Magazine. The place is now a front for his photography business. It was at Ford & Henry Ruff. The original (1981-1986?) Desirable Discs was next to a place called Frankie's Lounge, at Ford & Merriman, before moving down the road to the K-Mart mall.

Melodies & Memories is another good place to get jazz and (especially) R&B CDs, but I don't have occasion to drive to that side of town much since moving from Utica. Sad to hear about Car City. I used to spend hours there going through their collectable jazz LPs, and they used to have another room behind the register with more vinyl. Car City is the place that sold me the Tim Buckley "Starsailor" CD for $8.

 

Go to Ann Arbor!

Head down I-94 to Ann Arbor for a real treat. All the shops I'm listing are in downtown Ann Arbor: Encore Records (one of the best in the U.S.), PJ's (great selection and guys that run it), and Wazoo (still lots of vinyl- listed on the Record Collectors Guild start up page). One final one that sells lots of new vinyl is Underground Sounds. All shops are within 5 minutes of each other. I feel lucky to have these kind of choices.

Also check out Overture Audio in downtown. Lots of two channel hi-fi stuff. Not many shops like this around any more.

 

OK, that makes sense...I haven't seen them around in a few years.

Yep, they moved down to Ford @ Canton Center, in the same strip as Leo's Coney and Bailey's Pub & Grill. I agree--selection is so-so there.

The name doesn't ring a bell, but the location sounds right. I'd only been in there one time, and it was probably the mid 90s, when we first moved out here.

The current owner of Encore (Pete) in Ann Arbor used to own Car City Classics back in the 80s--he sold it out to start another business, but it apparently didn't go anywhere. He then bought into Liberty Music in Ann Arbor, buying out his sister's partner, then buying her out, and at some point it was renamed Encore Recordings. In the meantime, Car City expanded into two storefronts under the new ownership. Don't know what happened, but Pete visited Car City a year or so ago and was a bit disappointed that the store had condensed back down into one storefront, had only the owner and one part-time employee, were running on a month-to-month lease, and that there was open floor space. He got the impression they were hanging on by a shoestring. Sad. In its day, Car City was great. I worked about a quarter mile from there, up through early 1999. Very dangerous. Melodies & Memories was always close enough for a lunchtime run, too...

 

are there still "repeat the beat" stores in detroit?

we had one in cleveland for a short time, and they just picked up and left in the middle of the night.

renny

 

They had one in Royal Oak, Plymouth, and Dearborn. I used to by a ton of gold cd's
from them. They have all been close for many years.

 

I too was a big customer at Repeat The Beat. I guess due to the internet, I have not gone into a CD store for years. Does anybody know what happined to the Repeat The Beat Stores in Michigan. I used to talk to the owner once in a while when he was in his Dearborn location. Very nice guy, ( I think his name was Roman) He used to give me promotional CD's and Posters. I believe there was an article about him and his business in the Detroit news about 10+ years ago, At that time his personal collection of CD's was over 5,000 discs

 

I think the market just changed and places like Best Buy have made it very hard for
small mom and pop stores to make money. I now buy just about everything on line
because I do not see the stuff I like such as SACD or the new Audio Fidelity Gold
cd's for example in the stores.

 

...and who could ever forget the late, great Sam's Jams in Ferndale?

I'll echo all the previous posts, and also add the last-standing Harmony House store (once the biggest area album/CD chain before falling on hard times) on Woodward Ave. in Berkley.

 

At Harmony House you can get the Audio Fidelity Golds, SACDs, as well as the MFSL releases. Audio Fidelity stuff can be found at Memories and Melodies on Gratiot as well. Don't buy online when you can support the local retailers, I say.

 

And Memories & Melodies has an unbelievable "oldies" section...lots of hard-to-find import stuff. You could spend an hour in that section alone.

 

Rudy, thanks for your post. Brings back great memories!

Yes, the store I meant was Schoolkids' Records. Too bad they more or less closed down. Was a great store.

I pulled out my photo album of '94. The other store I meant was WhereHouse Records on 1140 South University (above Good Time Charley's). I have a picture of the store in my album, plus the business card. Is that store still around? The outside of the store had a lot of wood paneling. I always liked that store.

The German friend I had in Canton (Cherry Knoll suburb) moved back to Germany last year. My wife still has a friend in Canton.

All the best.

Roland