Arizona and New Mexico record stores

just got back from revolver's in TEMPE AZ ON S MCCLINTOCK.a little disappointed in the vinyl selection.
did pick up a couple of nice records though but i thought a little overpriced.
on my way back home did see a new ZIA'S opening up it TEMPE.taking applications online if any interest
will have to check it out later.

 

Zia is closing down the store on University to move to the new location because the existing store is too small. The new store will carry a wider variety of product, including books. They are starting to compete with Bookmans and Half-Price for that market while filling a void that Borders and Tower left.

 

Charley's grades very conservatively. I've been going there for years. If you see VG then it's in great shape.

 

A new record store named Double Nickles has opened in Tempe, Arizona off of Southern Avenue near the Yucca Tap Room. It is a record store collective in that it features stock from a number of stores in the Phoenix area, including the old Eastside Records, Stinkweeds, and Record High. The store is quite large, and there is a decent amount of inventory. I didn't find anything I couldn't live without, but YMMV.

 

Just vinyl?

 

There are some CDs there, but the selection is minimal.

 

Yes but their selection isn't that great IMO,not what it was once upon a time,and a lot of their prices are kind of high.I wish we had more of a choice as far record stores here in Albuquerque.

 

The FYE on Broadway and Rural in Tempe, Arizona is going out of business. One of the clerks said the reason the store is shutting is that the landlord will not renegotiate their lease, even though they have been a tenant there for 30 years. I have no idea if that is true or not, but I do not think that store has been very busy for at least the past year, and it is facing quite a bit of competition.

They are having a 30% off sale to start. I went there tonight and could not find one CD worth purchasing. It won't get any better, as they are not buying there anymore. Their vinyl selection was awful from the day they started selling vinyl again.

 

Although they had not been long term tenants as FYE this is essentially what happened to Hoodlums. The landlord wanted such a lengthy term to renew and at a hefty price it simply put them out of business.

Another factor for FYE is they reopened a (smaller) store insides Arizona Mills Mall just four or five miles away.

 

I had heard that was going to happen, but no one mentioned the opening of a new store and there were signs up pointing to the Longmore store for selling items. I remember the out of business sale FYE had the last time they had a store in the Arizona Mills Mall...

 

That's a shame - that was the one FYE I would visit when I made the rounds! Guess I can cross it off the list - if you didn't see anything worthwhile now, it ain't gonna be better when I'm out there...

 

A friend of mine who is a Beatles fan lives in Albuquerque. What are the best record stores (and bookstores as well) in the city, both for new releases and second-hand stuff as well?

 

Have you read many of my posts?I have posted a lot here about how this may be the worst place in the whole US to buy records,and maybe collectible CDs,too,but I only buy vinyl.

A year ago I would have told you the clearance bins at Goodwill for were the best place in town to buy records,but they started pulling the vinyl after they moved in August.

We have two record stores in Albuquerque,Charlies and Nob Hill Music,period.See the comments upthread.These stores both suck.Poor selection and high prices galore.The used bookstores are not much better.For the last six or seven years,I have done 99% of my buying online.

Now what I really want is to find someone around here who can restore my old tube console stereos from the early 60s.

 

I guess I should have been reading this thread. I had no idea that branch was closing.

Well, the fye on Longmore in Mesa is still there, isn't it?

 

In case you're wondering about some of the stores that used to be here,like Merlin's Record Workshop it closed in 2003 if I recall.It was all very sudde,I believe the owner died Bow Wow a couple of years later.Andy left town in a hurry,a few months later,there was a big blow out sale of all of Andy's stock,including his choice stash of rarities,all dirt cheap. http://bowwowrecords.bigcartel.com/about Krazy Kat was raided,and shut down,by the RIAA for selling thosands of "illegally duplicated" CDs. http://alibi.com/blog/24088/Krazy-Kat-Raided.html The store was reopened in 2011,and it was a fraction of the size,and mostly videos rather than music.Natural Sound moved several times,the final location being the smallest,before finally closing it's doors in January,2012. http://alibi.com/music/40221/R-I-P-Natural-Sound.html Christy,the downtown store that never sent back any 45 since the 1950s,and ran a local Spanish Music label had an out of state buyer come in one day years ago,2000 or so,and bought all their vinyl.

That covers most of the record stores of note around here.Not counting Sound Warehouse and,if you go back even further,May's.May's was this incredible music/record store,from the 1930s.In the early 80s,they had unsold 78s.early 60s blues LPs,and bins full of quarter 45s,with a fair amount of 60s New Mexico garage 45s. I still have a most of the records I bought there.They had sheet music and school music books going back to the late 1930s,old art deco wooden listening booths,and these great paintings on the wall of jazz and big band musicians from the 1930s.

They closed a few years later.

 

According to their website, yes - but they also still list the now-closing one in Tempe, so I have no idea if the Mesa one's days are numbered, too...

 

Thanks for the info. Happy Xmas!

 

I'd bet the Longmore store won't last another year. That area is a basically a ghost town these days and inventory has been uninspiring the last few times I've been in. The Gilbert Rd. store still seems to do a steady business and I've even found some nice OOPs and other rarities at that location from time to time.

 

Crud - I wish I'd thought about that! I learned from experience to avoid Phoenix-area FYEs except the soon-to-be-defunct Tempe store, so I don't know if I EVER bothered with the Gilbert Road one.

And I was just ON Gilbert Road today to see a movie - I shoulda stopped!

 

I'll have to check out the Gilbert Rd. store.

I agree. That whole section of Mesa had been a virtual ghost town since 2005. If it weren't for the mall, it would be a wasteland.

 

If I had known you'd be in the area, we could have had lunch or something.

Next time you are visiting your parents during a non-holiday, all of we area people could do a little meet. I know of at least four other area Hoffman members. A couple of Tucson members could also come up.

 

At one time you could spend hours near Fiesta Mall looking for music. You had Werehouse Records on Longmore (current site of FYE), Rockaway Records on the NW corner of Alma School and Southern and Tower Records on the NE corner. I think at one point there was a Sam's in the mall. That's a lot for about a two block area.

 

Yeah, whenever I'm in the Fiesta Mall area now I always think back to how thriving it was 15-20 years ago. It's almost shocking to me to see how barren it is these days. I don't see how the mall survives still. Well at least there's still a Bookman's down the road on Country Club -if you don't mind crazy high prices on piss poor selection.

 

I found two DCC Gold titles in there about a year ago for $8 each. I find a little oddity blues album every now and then that's about it.

 

I haven't been to that Bookman's in years. I forget it's there.