NYC LP Stores (New York City)*

A forum member is getting married this summer. His two best men (also forum members) are taking him to NYC this weekend for a bachelor party. We have decided to spend an afternoon looking for records that we have on our lists. Our tastes are all over the map. We have identified many record stores in the city but many have recently closed or changed hands. Does any one have any recent experience with which ones we should visit with our limited time?

Here are the ones we found on the net.

carmine (closed?)
academy
bleeker bobs
gimme gimme
generation
vinyl mart
fynyl vynyl
bleeker st
kims
stooz

Thanks for any help you can offer.

 

J&R's Music World has some vinyl...

 

I have actually been there, can't believe I did not put it on the list. Thanks for the reminder.

 

Pretty sure Kim's is gone. Skip Bleeker Bobs. Academy is great for Classical, Footlight is great for jazz, vocals and showtunes. Generation has good prices on rock. Other Music is good for alternative/out there kind of stuff. (Pretty sure they are all still there).

Hard to imagine Stooz is still there (haven't been there in years) I think they are an eBay only outfit now. Not sure about Fynyl Vynyl either (was never impressed with them anyway).

 

Is House of Oldies still open? Some good stuff but cranky owner.

The House of Oldies is located at 35 Carmine Street in Greenwich Village in New York City.

JG

 

I'd definitely do Gimme Gimme. I was surprised to find it was still open. The hours are Fri-Sat. 1:00 p.m. - 10:00 p.m. Sun. 1:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m.

Weird hours, I know, but worth it.

Bleecker Street Records is worth a look - 239 Bleecker St. @ Carmine

Generation Records is still good - 210 Thompson Street (bet. Bleecker & W 3rd)

And Kim's is, unfortunately, gone. I think they closed late last year.

 

In my few trips to NY Academy has been one of the best stops, and one that I love to visit is Rockit Scientist, they have some kind of rare and obscure vinyl and if the dealer out of the store is there, be sure that you'll find some nice stuff too.

 

I was just at academy this weekend (williamsburg and village), great selection, it spoils you to go to other cities.

 

Academy on 18th St. is classical. 12th Street is great for rock and Williamsburg location is much bigger (but I like the guys on 12th).

Kim's is gone. House of Oldies is still there but incredibly overpriced.

Go to Eat records in Greenpoint, Brooklyn (not far from Williamsburg). Great selection and they have great food and coffee as well.

 

I think Mr. Kim moved back to Korea. I used to work at Kim's Underground on Bleeker Street way back when (early 90s). I can still remember the smell of the place. It was, I believe, in the location that used to house Cafe A-Go-Go (although that was long before my time).

 

I can recommend Bleeker St and Generation records, and they are conveniently within walking distance. So is Bleeker Bob's probably but I never got there. I assume the Virgin megastore is now closed, but they had a good new selection. I wonder about Tower. Is that still on the West Side?

 

Tower (the whole chain) shut down a few years ago. I think the Virgin in Union Square is still doing their "going out of business" sale. They will probably be closed by the bachelor party though.

I guess some things never change.

 

I highly recommend Bleeker Street Records - I've just cleaned out their rare 45's but they are unearthing GEM unsold 45's everyday, much to my bank account's detriment. They have some good used LPs, but they KNOW what they have and are priced accordingly. Then again, if you're into 45's, they don't have time to sort through the boxes and boxes and boxes of em they have and for example, I scored the mono Magical Mystery Tour UK 7" EP there for a fraction what it's worth because they "didn't know it was mono." So....worth looking carefully!!!!

House Of Oldies is cool, I like it (NO CDS NO TAPES JUST RECORDS - remember the rear cover to "Check Your Head???" That sign is STILL there in the window!!) But, the owner is into doo-wop and 50's music and was grumbling about how "nothing but Beatles and Cream FLY off the shelves" It's a tiny and cramped store though.

Generation Records is ok, mostly new vinyl, punk, indie, etc....

Bleeker Bob's has some cool used vinyl to browse through, but not many gems at all. Their 45's are pretty bad too. They're good for rare cd's, for some reason....

Now Virgin Megastore at Union Square is going out of business but has just expanded their new vinyl section and it's actually half-way decent! I mean, some "Back To Black" issues, so-called "Audiophile Pressings," new albums on vinyl, interesting....but a bit over-priced at times....

 

I was just there this past Sunday. They had A LOT of vinyl!!!

New stuff, cutouts, audiophile, incredible stuff I didn't know existed.

I dropped a C note there myself.

Don't miss J&R!!!

 

A little off side note: J&R uses to have a nice selection of SACD's MFSL, DVD-A's and other Hi Fi CD's so if you like also about them it should be a great stop!

 

Another big vote for Academy Annex in Williamsburg. The most vinyl in one place to be found in the city these days.

 

They still do! It's on the second floor, near the Jazz department.

I haven't seen that many DVD-A's and SACDs together in a very long time.

 

If you want to trek up to Manhattan's Upper West Side, check out these guys:

http://westsiderbooks.com/

They have two locations, one on West 72nd Street between Broadway and West End Avenue, and the other on Broadway between 80th and 81st Streets. The 72nd Street location has a lot of classical LPs, and a good selection of jazz and vocals; the other location has a smaller record collection and focuses more on rock. Recent finds at 72nd Street include several Sinatra gray-label and 9-o'clock Capitols; the Beatles singles and EP boxes on vinyl; and a mono Columbia six-eye of the Dave Brubeck Quartet's Time Out.

Paul

 

I can recommend Good Records, at 218 E 5th St. In addition to nice vinyl they also have a machine that flattens warped records.

http://www.goodrecordsnyc.com

 

Footlight is long gone, by the way. Not sure if Stooz still exists.

 

I used to go to NYC once or twice per year and drop significant sums at Generation Records, Second Coming and Revolver on rare Dylan & Springsteen stuff.

With the proliferation of the Net and P2P, I wonder if these guys still are in the game. I know that Second Coming closed and I think that Revolver did too.

 

I don't think it was about the net in the case of Village record stores. After all, many record stores with good stock make out well on the net. But rents in NYC are phenomenal so even a business with a lot of revenue gets pushed out, and rents really skyrocketed in the last decade. For instance, Virgin Megastore is making good money, but they will make more on the real estate, according to the NY Times.

 

I was never crazy about Bleeker Bobs. I do like Bleeker Street Records, but some of the Beatles vinyl is over priced. A few months ago they had a German MMT on the wall that was priced over $200.

The owner of House of Oldies is one cranky dude!!

 

Kim's has moved to 1st Ave and is a shell of its former self. The new store occupies maybe a third of the size of its St. Marks location. Still worth checking out, but be advised that it is not what it once was.

All three Academy locations are a must. I rarely leave empty-handed. Especially at the 12th St. location.

If you check out Gimme Gimme Records (which I highly recommend) go down the street to Tropicalia in Furs. It is run by a Brazilian guy who gets some amazing stuff. He had Brazilian mono copies of Abbey Road, St. Pepper, and Ram at one point. Don't see those too often.

I've found good stuff at Other Music, Bleeker Street, and Generation as well. I can't say that I frequent the other stores very often.

 

This is all great information. Everyone has been extremely helpful. I will now make a prioritized list and we will forage until we run out of will, time or money.