Record stores in New York

Discussion in 'Music, Movie and Hardware Store Guide' started by ekymetal, Mar 19, 2014.

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  1. Bobby Buckshot

    Bobby Buckshot Heavy on the grease please

    Location:
    Southeastern US
    Lol - on the docket already!
     
    drasil likes this.
  2. JuanTCB

    JuanTCB Senior Member

    Location:
    Brooklyn, NY
    No surprise, but OUCH. I won't lose any sleep over Other Music (always found them overpriced and pretentious) but Rebel Rebel was one of my first NYC haunts when I moved down here almost 20 years ago.
     
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  3. ralphb

    ralphb "First they came for..."

    Location:
    Brooklyn, New York
    Other Music was the little indy store that could. Opening when and where they did took guts, and the fact that they survived for 25 years, outlasting Tower in the process, is something to be celebrated.
     
  4. ubertrout

    ubertrout Forum Resident

    Location:
    Washington, DC
    Yelp has mentions of VP Records in Jamaica, Deep Cuts in Ridgewood, and Hifi Records & Cafe in Astoria. I've never been to any, but maybe an option?
     
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  5. ubertrout

    ubertrout Forum Resident

    Location:
    Washington, DC
    I usually go shopping for classical, but the places that are good for classical tend to be good for Jazz too. Check out the Academy location on 18th St. (I don't think the 12th St. location will be helpful), and give Westsider Records a shot if you happen to be on the Upper West Side.
     
    Shak Cohen likes this.
  6. jupiter8

    jupiter8 Forum Resident

    Location:
    NJ, USA
    NYC is now one of the worst places in the country to record shop. Can't believe I used to be able to kill my entire Saturday back in the 90s working my way from Virgin on 14th through the East and West Villages down to Tower and ending up at J&R.
     
  7. sethICE

    sethICE Forum Resident

    Location:
    NYC
    This really really sucks.
     
  8. jjhunsecker

    jjhunsecker Senior Member

    Location:
    New York city
    I totally agree. NYC is a dead zone for music buying, especially if you like a variety of musical styles....I used to hit all those places back in the day....now it's close to nothing. We need Amoeba to open up in NYC !
     
  9. csaudvid

    csaudvid Forum Resident

    Location:
    Texas
    Planning my first trip to NYC next week. Found this thread in anticipation...very sad news indeed.
     
  10. Marc Perman

    Marc Perman Forum Resident

    Location:
    Los Angeles
    There are a few places in Greenpoint, Brooklyn worth going to, especially Academy and Captured Tracks. On the east coast Boston and especially Montreal are record store friendly cities.
     
  11. hockman

    hockman Forum Resident

    Yes. There used to be so many interesting stores to look at records that you could spend a week in NYC without exhausting all the possibilities.

    For you, I would suggest going to Princeton Record Exchange. Princeton is a pretty pleasant place for a day trip. Your spouse/family can stroll around the beautiful campus and have a picnic lunch while you shop. It's a 90 min train ride from Penn Station with trains running all day.
     
  12. Zongadude

    Zongadude Music is the best

    Location:
    France
    Phew...
    In a few days I'm gonna be in NYC for the first time, (we're leaving on Friday), but this topic is soooo depressing. :(
    Is the place really that much a dead zone for record collecting ? I was hoping to get my hands on genuine US pressings of Zappa, Sufjan Stevens, Prince, Neil Young... Tell me there are still places in the Big Apple with this kind of stuff at reasonable prices, right ?
     
  13. drasil

    drasil Former Resident

    Location:
    NYC
    a few. you'll need to head to greenpoint, in brooklyn.

    five or six solid locations for used vinyl in the city seems a bit sad compared to how vast things used to be, but then I remember that we still have more than the one or zero found in most other places.
     
    bmoregnr likes this.
  14. joeislive

    joeislive Streets Ahead

    Ooof....you just described by weekends in high school little more then 10 years ago, although minus Tower, which I think was already gone.
     
    jupiter8 likes this.
  15. Izozeles

    Izozeles Pushing my limits

    A1 is still a great record store. Lots of r&B, funk, disco, rap, etc and a very nice stock of 12"s. It´s probably the only Manhattan record store that I still care. Second Hand Rose has a great selection, but it´s also very pricey.
     
    RTurner likes this.
  16. raq0915

    raq0915 Forum Resident

    Location:
    \New Jersey
    I went to a few back in November. Academy is good if you like rare-er stuff and if you don't mind digging a little. Its also great for classical music IIRC. If you know what you're looking for, go to A1. Very organized.
     
  17. Zongadude

    Zongadude Music is the best

    Location:
    France
    Thank you so much everyone for all your anwswers.
    Will definitely go to greenpoint in Brooklyn ;)
     
  18. Muggles

    Muggles Forum Resident

    Location:
    Midwest
    Three Academy record stores in Manhattan/Brooklyn:

    Manhattan West 18th - more CDs than records overall, but if you're into classical music they have a large selection of both
    Manhattan East 12th - all records, no CDs - also just a few blocks from A-1
    Greenpoint - much larger store than the other two - mostly records, but some CDs against the back wall
     
    Hep Alien likes this.
  19. tkl7

    tkl7 Agent Provocateur

    Location:
    Lewis Center, OH
    I did this as well, but usually in the reverse - J&R up to Virgin. Also remember when the UWS had both Tower and HMV.
     
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  20. hockman

    hockman Forum Resident

    So sad. I used to cruise the record stores all over Chelsea, Greenwich Village, East Village etc...while also taking in Tower on W Broadway and the Annex nearby along with J&R (for CDs). So many within walking distance of each other in each neighborhood. It would take me days to slowly explore each area and I'll end up with a huge pile of records and CDs.

    It's now a wasteland.
     
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  21. Marc Perman

    Marc Perman Forum Resident

    Location:
    Los Angeles
    Me too though I usually skipped Virgin. I also walked across the park a lot to the Tower at Lincoln Center and the HMV on W. 72nd.
     
  22. Marc Perman

    Marc Perman Forum Resident

    Location:
    Los Angeles
    LA has about three or four times as many record stores these days as NYC. The demand exists in both cities of course but NY's astronomical commercial rents make running a record store almost impossible.
     
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  23. Tommyboy

    Tommyboy Senior Member

    Location:
    New York
    I wasn't impressed with Second Hand Rose
     
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  24. drasil

    drasil Former Resident

    Location:
    NYC
    I know it. and residents of both places are absurdly lucky compared to folks who live in, say, the des moines suburbs. this complaint is aired frequently on reddit because the userbase is largely high school and college kids living in such locales. between asking what mono is and paying thrift stores $30 for trashed copies of the early beatles, they'll observe how they dream of a brick and mortar record store opening nearby. I'm not that much older than them, but we've clearly now passed even my point of reference, where every suburban shopping area had a stray used record shop or two, plus a chain location at the mall.

    anyway, back in the city, I'm still holding out for amoeba east.
     
  25. DigMyGroove

    DigMyGroove Forum Resident

    A trip to Permanent Records in Sunset Park, Brooklyn is worth your while. Their prices are overall excellent. I've found great records including UK pressings for under $5 in VG+ to NM condition. They used to have a proper store in Greenpoint but a rent hike caused them to move to less costly quarters. They are now at the back end of a work space loft on the 2nd floor. There is an A-frame sign on the sidewalk to help you find the door.
    permanent records brooklyn ny

    The East Village Academy Records is really good, bought a nice haul there at very good prices. The Westside Academy is better for CDs and is actually a separate entity from the East Village location.
     
    Hep Alien likes this.
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