Richmond VA record/cd stores

I come down to Richmond every Christmas, & always make a pitstop at Plan 9; is there anything else worth checking out? A few years ago I hit everything in the Yellow Pages & didn't find too much else. Has anything changed?

Thanks

John.

 

Not a lot has changed. The Plan 9 chain has grown. I drive up from Virginia Beach once a month to hit Tower for all the new Music mags and then to Plan 9 for the music I read about!!!!!

 

Plan 9 is the only show in town right now. The main store on Cary Street is the still center of my turning world. The second store on the South side of the river has closed, but there are now stores in Williamsburg and Harrisonburg, in addition to the two in Charlottesville.

L.

 

Don't forget there's Memory Lane Records a division of Record Finders.
It's a huge warehouse, but the staff is a little arrogant and not real helpful, which stinks since you have to basically tell them what you are looking for and then they will locate in the warehouse and bring it out to you.

 

I think I went there once, & found a bunch of great records, none of which were in good enough condition. Really disorganized, right...?

Plan 9 is a great store; remember in the early '90's, before they opened up the vinyl section downstairs? they had a tiny vinyl section off to the side, but I found some great records there, sometimes for 25 cents!

John.

 

Is that place (if I'm thinking about the same place) still over on Broad Street near Lombardy? I used to go in there from time to time but usually left frustrated and empty-handed. Do they carry any CD's or is it all vinyl?

On a side note: a few months ago I popped into a dingy little record store on Broad downtown near Jefferson Loan and found a big old pile of live GoGo CD-R's for $10 a pop. Picked up a Chuck Brown that was very cool. I've been planning to head back there and get a few more, but haven't gotten around to it. IF that's you cuppa, might be worth a visit. I didn't realize that there was this whole underground trade in live Go Go. Very funky stuff that's been flying just below the national radar for years and years! The older gentleman who was running the shop didn't know much about these releases, just said that there were a lot of fans around who liked to have these disks. Told me that Brown was one of the more popular performers (he was also the only one I had ever heard of), so that's why I picked it. I was not disappointed. I can't remember the name of the store, but if you go poking around on the north side of Broad near Jefferson Loan, you'll find it.

L.

 

God I miss Richmond and I really miss Plan 9. I've gotten a bunch of great vinyl when I went to VCU. I also discovered new music just from what they played in-store. On an unrelated topic, has Bottoms Up Pizza recovered from the floods? My wife and I met there when we waited tables there. I've had pizza in NYC and Chicago and that's still my favorite!

 

They are off of Staples Mill Rd on Sanford Dr, it is pretty disorganized and they have a lot of used stereo equipment in the front of the building. They do have a lot of new vinyl, or did the last time I was there which was nearly a year ago now.
I'm another that's in the same category as being a huge Plan 9 fan.
I will usually go over to Broad St and walk through Tower and then drive over to Plan 9 for my purchases, if they don't have it I'll go back to Tower and pick it up.

 

Bottom's Up is still in the clean up stage, but I've been told that they have a new place in the West End.

 

I grew up in Colonial Heights, twenty miles south of Richmond, in the Sixties and Seventies. Believe it or not, back then, there were not a ton of retail outlets of any kind in CH (it has since become one giant shopping mall, last time I checked ), and a big trip to Richmond for Christmas shopping was an annual event. Heck, I'm getting nostalgic just reading the street names again; keep the thread going!

-Sentimental Dave

P.S. - Back then, my favorite local record store was Gary's, a mall chain. I didn't get to do any serious record shopping unless I was on vacation -- a little store called Danny Teagarden's Musical Arts in Virginia Beach, Korvette's in Newport News, little places in Georgetown in DC...

 

Hi,

I scored a buncha LP's from Plan 9 in the early 80's. It was a small store w/ a buncha hip employees back in those daze. What's it like now?

Take care,
Jeffrey

 

It hasn't changed, but is a bigger store now, 2 stories, cds on top floor and vinyl in the basement. Employees are helpful and I've been turned on to a lot of new music that I would normally not buy, otherwise. And they have really good prices and I do mean really good.

 

As SuperMusicFan2003 just said, there haven't been that many changes. It's a bigger store and the employees are now quite friendly and helpful, while still maintaining their hipness and musical sharpnes--some terrific people on the staff over there (the place used to have a more grudgingly hip and exclusive feel when I first moved to town 15 years ago, and that had it's own charm, but over the years I think they realized that staying in business meant being more open and welcoming). They do a great job staying on top of music in the harder to access margins of the music world (the only real weak spot is classical, as they'll readily admit). Having the 5 stores--all in locations near universities--also means they get in a wide selection of used items, and the turnover is pretty lively. The other big plus is a "we'll open, and you can listen to, anything in the store" policy. They've got a few discmen in the back, and when they're not crowded they'll open even more than the three-at-a-time policy allows. They're also a major center for music information in this area, they have a terrific website and e-newsletter now, and a great selection of DVD's and videos (new and used).

I came to Richmond after growing up in the NYC area and 5 years in grad. school in Boston, so I was pretty unhappy to discover that this town had only one decent used record store, but I can truly say that Plan 9 has singlehandedly made a music collector's life more than possible here even by those big city standards. I'd hate to actually add up all the money I've spent there over the years!

L.