Las Vegas Record stores v.2016

Heading to Vegas in a few days and did a search but the last thread I found was from 2010 and the situation then was relatively bleak, all things considered. Any new stores that have popped up that are worth checking out?

Thanks in advance!

 

Zia Records is a very solid store. 11 street records on Fremont Street is a combo recording studio/record store. Pretty cool.

Also, across the street from 11 Street is the Beat Cafe, which has vinyl for sale and an excellent zine library.

Bonus tip -- If you're into punk and gritty rock & roll, get to Double Down saloon. Awesome place and the best jukebox I;ve ever experienced.

 

Well that's quite handy, we're going down to Fremont St to eat at the 4 Queens on the last night of our trip. May just have to go a little earlier now

 

The East Fremont St Area (away from the Fremont Street Experience zoo) is getting to be a very cool place. Bookshops, funky galleries, lots of street art, dive bars. It's a great place to hang.

 

eating at 4 Queens ? Which restaurant ?

 

I second that. Zia is my go to but I think that 11 Street has more quality used stuff. BUT you will pay a premium there.

 

There are two Zia Record Exchange stores (one on Eastern and the other on Sahara), Moondog Records on Maryland by the campus, two Record City stores (one on Sahara close to the Strip and one on Charleston Blvd.), 11th Street Records on Freemont St. and Wax Trax on Decatur. There's also a small record store on Sunset across the street from the airport. I don't recall the name.

 

Hugos. It's been nearly ten years since we last ate there. Will be the best "date night" we'll have for awhile I think Our nearly-2 year old is going on the trip with us which should be awesome to have her along but fortunately that night, she's staying with my sister and parents

Thanks DPM! Sounds like I've got my work cut out for me.

 

Just back from Las Vegas yesterday - here's my report! (also check out the more recent comments on the old Las Vegas thread here)

Started at Record City on Sahara, the location just behind the Strip near the Stratosphere. This one is probably the easiest to get to if you don't have a car for those staying on the Strip, it's reasonably close to the monorail station. Old-school record store with large selection of classic rock, 80s, classic country, jazz, easy listening, cds, 45s (didn't have time to browse these, too daunting!), but also a lot of new vinyl and Record Store Day titles. Pretty decent prices, everything meticulously alphabetized (a plus for me!), nice ladies who run the place, and they will let you use their restroom. Found a few cool things and my husband came away with a huge stack of jazz.

On to 11th Street (note: they don't open until noon but I think they don't close until midnight) on Fremont - which apparently has turned into kind of a hipster district? Nice selection of a variety of genres which are all filed together, lots of collector stuff, prices slightly high, separate section for budget-priced lps. It takes a long time to go through the stacks so give yourself extra time.

The last store we went to was Moondog, which is over by the university on Maryland Pkwy in a bizarre falling-apart 70s-era strip mall. This is a serious collector's store, amazing vinyl I've never seen anywhere else, really impressive selection of rock, punk, metal, and jazz. Again didn't have the patience to go through the 45s but it looked like all prime stuff. Prices were fair, if a little on the high side, but there were still some bargains. The guy who runs it was helpful and friendly. Worth a stop if you're looking for anything out of the ordinary.

I talked my husband down from a stop at Wax Trax - not keen on going to stores where nothing is priced. Didn't have time for a stop at Vegas Vinyl (south of the airport on Sunset), they have limited hours. Would appreciate a report if anyone's been there. If you want to do serious record shopping I'd recommend getting a car for a day, everything is pretty spread out.

 

So far I've managed to hit both Zia stores; got some new LPs but the only used album I've found that I didn't already have (based on my rather limited searches) was an Atreyu album. I would recommend them to anyone though, very easy to navigate and pretty fair prices for stuff in very good used condition. Hoping to hit Moondog today.

 

Went to Moondog today - should have just gone there in the first place! What a great store. The owner was there and was super helpful, he offered not only to play whatever I found (especially since I'm not a local) but also went back to his vault and pulled some stuff out for me to sample (which I bought) because I just don't know who's who when it comes to jazz. He had easily the biggest collection of MOFI, Stones, Floyd, and Zeppelin I've seen in a single store. Most if not all of it was quality. Prices were fair, if not a little high but you have to take that into account when you're just off the Strip and have to keep the doors open. He offered to mail everything I bought back home for free but I am just going to carry it all on the plane, should be fine.

Great trip overall, except for some shenanigans that happened back home while we were away. Oh well, it'll be there when we get back

With that said - we went to at least double the amount of parks for our daughter as we did record stores, so she had an awesome time!

 

I'll be there in mid April. What I am hoping to do, is this:

I am staying at the Luxor. I will take the bus down to the Stratosphere, then walk the rest of the way to the Record City location on Sahara. Then, I will Uber it from Sahara to Moondog over by UNLV. Shop there, walk to In-N-Out and eat some dinner, then Uber it back to the Luxor. Should make for a really fun Saturday night. The only problem I see is, the day I get there is Record Store Day, so things could be super crowded, but hopefully not by the afternoon.

The Zia's don't seem like they are worth it from what I am reading, at least to me. And I don't think I have time to make it to the other Record City location on Charleston since they are closed on Sundays.

 

The Zia's are where you could, theoretically, find a fantastic deal on a used LP. Theoretically.

If you want a sure thing, Moondog was great. I didn't make it to the others, maybe next time!

 

Absolutely correct. I found my Robert Ludwig mastered Led Zeppelin II at the Zia on Eastern Ave. for $9.99.

 

If you have limited time, skip the Zia's. Their selection of vinyl is weak compared to some of the other stores mentioned in this thread. For CDs, the whole town is kind of a wasteland .

 

I live here so here's my take .!

So Joey is extra cool at the Recird city at Charleston , his stock may not be as extensive as some of the others but he is very fairly priced and you never know what u may find ! Tell him Michael sent you !

11th street has excellent vinyl and selection a little higher prices than Record city but decent overall !

Moondog is completely overpriced IMO and I don't think the quality is any better than 11th street IMO and he is more th an 11th street IMO



Zia is very cheap and you never know what you may find !! I once found an original VG plus plus Lee Morgan 60s blue note for 12 bucks !!!

Recird City on Sahara is cool too

I've lived here for 36 years and thre are more Recird stores here now than in the last 25 years !!!

 

I was totally disappointed by Moondog. Prices were terrible and I didn't realize that they don't sell new records. Was totally bummed, and I only found the time to go to that one store.

 

Ya Moondog is not a good one IMO