Record stores in Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island & Connecticut!!

Discussion in 'Music, Movie and Hardware Store Guide' started by panicproject, Dec 28, 2017.

  1. zbarbera

    zbarbera A stereo's a stereo. Art is forever!

    Location:
    Massachusetts
    Indeed. Years ago they only had about 1/4 of the vinyl they carry now.

    Oh. And you meant AV Therapy. I just assumed because as far as I knew AV Therapy didn’t have records. Do they have records? I’ve never been in even though I often stop in the Savers next door.
     
    roverb likes this.
  2. cdash99

    cdash99 Senior Member

    Location:
    Mass
    When I was last there two summers ago they had a small section of Mofi titles. Not a vinyl department by any means, but something to take home and play on a newly purchased toy.
     
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  3. Jim0830

    Jim0830 Forum Resident

    Since I started going there in 2017 they always had a small low browser just behind the front window where they had mostly MoFi LPs.

    They now have a smallish room on the second floor with browser bins running along the two side walls of the room. Many more records than before, but not a huge room. I would guess that this room was once a 2-sided walk-in closet when the building was a house. Most of the records are used with a few new high quality or audiophile LPs mixed in. There were quite a few classical titles when I visited back in July.
     
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  4. zbarbera

    zbarbera A stereo's a stereo. Art is forever!

    Location:
    Massachusetts
    Cool. I have to be up that was in 2 weeks for our mandatory 3 days in the office, so maybe I'll stop in and take a look.
     
  5. roverb

    roverb Forum Resident

    Location:
    603
    oh! i was just there a few weeks back and i missed this!
    thanks for the tip, i will have to visit soon
     
  6. Jim0830

    Jim0830 Forum Resident

    I can usually find a few LPs I want/need. I think it is the type of thing you probably won't drive out of the way for, but if you are in the area or at the store anyway it is probably worth a quick look.
     
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  7. zbarbera

    zbarbera A stereo's a stereo. Art is forever!

    Location:
    Massachusetts
    I’ll definitely be hitting the Savers next door at least one of the days I’m up in the office. So, I’ll be right there.
     
    action pact likes this.
  8. roverb

    roverb Forum Resident

    Location:
    603
    do you find any decent records at that Savers?
    the one in Manchester is not that great
     
  9. zbarbera

    zbarbera A stereo's a stereo. Art is forever!

    Location:
    Massachusetts
    The one in Manchester sucks. I've found a small handful of things there over the years but I never go out of my way to stop there. I believe they have someone getting to stuff before it gets out on the floor. I've done far better at the Goodwill down the street. Just earlier this year I found a mint copy of Hilton Felton - A Man for all Reasons there.

    The one in Nashua is an odd case. I know from the media guy that the manager is a record collector. I've heard that he intercepts rock he wants before it gets out. Nonetheless, I have gotten good rock there. And it is where I got one of the best single day scores I've ever had (back when they were still $1.99). A mint Clifford Brown Mosaic box (seriously looks like it was never played), Clifford Brown - Memorial Album (early repress. label is still 161 Lex), a first press The Fabulous Fats Navarro Vol. 2, 72 reissue of The Magnificent Thad Jones, and an absolute mint Sketches of Spain (so clean that when I showed Bob at Garnicks my haul he asked me to name a price for it, but I couldn't. I've wanted a copy so with me it stayed), Benny Golson - Just Jazz and Joe Newman with Woodwinds. I even left behind some other not as good jazz albums. But I've only been there a handful of times in the past couple of years since we have been fully work from home until earlier this year. And even then, because of a snowboarding back injury I have not gone back into the office. In a couple of weeks I have to start going up again.
     
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  10. zbarbera

    zbarbera A stereo's a stereo. Art is forever!

    Location:
    Massachusetts
    So, was in the office today and hit Goodwill, which was a quick strikeout and I realized Infectious Groove was just a couple of minutes up the road so decided to go check it out. On the pro side it is well laid out. A lot of records in a small space. And the owner seems a nice guy. And everything is cleaned and put in a clean sleeve if the old sleeve is worn (and the ois is included). But , yeah prices on most things were just eye-watering. With a decent amount of digging, though, I turned up 2 things I've been after that were not outrageously overpriced. Grateful Dead - In the Dark and Tom Waits - Swordfish Strombones. The Tom Waits is only VG but it's really my least favorite album (I don't listen past Big Time) so I'm fine with it.
     
    Last edited: Dec 8, 2022
  11. rangda

    rangda Forum Resident

    Location:
    MA
    I've been there 3 times. First time I walked out with a few records. Second time 1 12" single. Third time nothing. By and large you are right the records are overpriced for what they are. And while there are a lot of records in the store there is a lot of filler records with $20-$30 prices.

    The one thing I can say is if the store has any funk/soul it will be more reasonably priced. I'm guessing that the owner isn't into it and thus it gets priced cheaper. (I frequently find the best bargains in the bins for the styles of music that the store owner doesn't like.). That was most of my haul the first time.
     
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  12. zbarbera

    zbarbera A stereo's a stereo. Art is forever!

    Location:
    Massachusetts
    Oh. Good tip. I only gave the quickest of flips through the under $10 bin. I’ll give it more attention next time I’m back up that way.

    And I dig soul, so I’ll check there more next time too.

    I did see a Burning Spear album that I was going back and forth on. Maybe $10 overpriced so not outrageous. But I already had the other two in hand.
     
  13. hobbes4444

    hobbes4444 Forum Addict

    Location:
    Massachusetts
    Went there yesterday on a half day trip to see Dar Williams at Jimmy's Jazz Club in Portsmouth. Nice venue btw, provided you have seats in the main seating area. Anyway...

    Owner of Skele-tone was nice guy. Cool personal Clash collection on the wall in the CD area. Large selection of vinyl. But IMHO, overpriced. There's a lot of stuff on consignment too. He had a used sale of 1/2 off $18 and under and 20% off everything else. Even that didn't help. Half off everything would have made it worthwhile tho. I didn't have a lot of time and probably could have found some stuff to buy in the end. But I saw "rare Columbia House pressing" on several LPs and then some Japanese pressings of run of the mill LPs for $100-$150, and we're talking common stuff, things I paid like $12 for on ebay (e.g., Piano Man (which uses a bad tape with a drop out or two FWIW)). So for me, it wasn't worth a lot of time. I know used LP prices are creeping up, but this was sticker shock TBH.

    Bill moose was having a B2G1 sale on vinyl. Don't know if it was new and used. New inventory was decent. But their used stuff was overpriced. Not as high as Skele-tone, but like $18 for used Jackson Browne LPs that I used to see in the $1 bin??
     
    Last edited: Dec 9, 2022
    cdash99 likes this.
  14. CaseyJames

    CaseyJames Relaxed Fit Jeans Vibe

    Location:
    Maine
    Skele-tone used to be hella good for used stuff. But now, everything is almost always overpriced. And the consignment stuff, while good titles, is always at beyond HIGH Discogs prices. It bums me out, honestly. I used to hit that place all the time when driving from Maine to see my family in NH. But the last half dozen times, I've just driven right by.
     
  15. Chee

    Chee Forum Resident

    Location:
    Denver
    "everything is overpriced now" is the line for about every record store. Wax Trax in Denver you'd have to go every single day it was so great, now maybe twice a month.
     
  16. MAP

    MAP Forum Resident

    Location:
    Boston, MA
    Same here. I used to buy a couple desirable items every month, now I might buy a couple of cheapies, if I can even find them. Then of course, there's the gas to factor in, and lunch... And it ain't getting any better...
     
  17. CaseyJames

    CaseyJames Relaxed Fit Jeans Vibe

    Location:
    Maine
    Thing is, my local spots here in Portland are almost always reasonably priced and there are still great deals to be had. But prices edging towards higher than Discogs median and beyond seems to be the rule and not the exception.
     
  18. Chee

    Chee Forum Resident

    Location:
    Denver
    In Los Angeles Rockaway and Record Surplus and Arons and Freakbeat would drain my wallet......Rockaway nope, Record Surplus prices stink at the "attic" $1 section is just beaters, Arons is gone and Freakbeat is okay. Most cities have record stores with high prices and the better stuff online.
     
    Marc Perman likes this.
  19. bresna

    bresna Senior Member

    Location:
    York, Maine
    I found my RL Led Zeppelin II at Skele-tone for decent money before the word got out that it was the cut to get. I used to find 3 or 4 records for most of my visits but as the years went by, I stopped finding anything and then the prices went through the roof so I stopped going. I bet I haven't been in there in 4 or 5 years. It sounds like I can continue to skip it.
     
  20. Jim0830

    Jim0830 Forum Resident

    That actually mirrored my experience. I was very enthusiastic after my first visit. I found some grails both on the wall and in the bins. I made 4 trips and on the last one walked out with nothing.
     
  21. Chee

    Chee Forum Resident

    Location:
    Denver
    That's like all over. I'd come into Las Vegas a day before to hit the record stores, no more, there's the sign I-15 South.
     
  22. Thesmellofvinyl

    Thesmellofvinyl Senior Member

    Location:
    Cohoes, NY USA
    In case this helps anyone, that Newbury Comics stopped selling used CDs; and yes, the swag content outweighs the music.

    I went into rpmNH one Sunday night recently (stays open until 9) and found a handful of CDs for $5 total (best-of sets from Dave Edmunds and Nick Lowe; and Richard Thompson's
    Mock Tudor). The one LP I might have bought was a copy of ELO's Time that looked like it could be a contender for VG+ for $15. Left it.
     
    Barnabas Collins likes this.
  23. Barnabas Collins

    Barnabas Collins Senior Member

    Location:
    NH
    How much vinyl was in rpmNH? Mock Tudor is a good RT album, btw. Definitely worth the 5 bucks alone!
     
  24. Thesmellofvinyl

    Thesmellofvinyl Senior Member

    Location:
    Cohoes, NY USA
    No doubt about RT; been playing that one since release day!

    The night I was there, he had about 14 milk crates of LPs he said had just come in (minus about 150 from that lot he said had sold recently). He had a similar amount in UHaul boxes he had yet to price; didn’t get to see any of those.
     
    uzn007 likes this.
  25. cdash99

    cdash99 Senior Member

    Location:
    Mass
    From their Facebook page, Bull Moose is relocating their Sanford location to Biddeford by spring 2023. For those in the area, it’s 2-3 doors down from Target, in the same strip mall. That’s a higher profile location than normal for them and should attract some casual customers in addition to the diehards.
     

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