Seattle's Best Record Shop for Collectors?

Discussion in 'Music, Movie and Hardware Store Guide' started by StevenC, May 21, 2019.

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  1. His (Moerer) listings with no pictures and the most abbreviations I've ever seen for a record.

    Artist: X
    Title: XX
    Condition: WOL, CO, BSP, WOC, SM, PH, IDK
     
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  2. Raunchnroll

    Raunchnroll Senior Member

    Location:
    Seattle
    Its true - Denver Goodwill & thriift store LPs are priced lower than the LPs for sale in Seattles record shops. Duh.

    I've bought a lot of records from Moerers. Very conservative grading, bulletproof shipping, always good quality as well as good service. Well worth it if you want that LP and want it now. The minute price difference keeps the scroungers away too.
     
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  3. Chee

    Chee Forum Resident

    Location:
    Denver
    Try to find $6-$8 commons in Seattle like Joni Mitchell. In L.A. that's impossible. Denver prices are always cheaper than anything on the West Coast. True, if you want that LP Moerer will have it, great grading, strong boxing......but you'll eventually find it if you look hard enough and much cheaper. He had an airmail cost that was under actual cost of shipping for years. The rate never existed at USPS but looked good to Angus in Ireland buying a Bobby Goldsboro album at book price. Budget airmail or something like that.
     
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  4. bug2362

    bug2362 Forum Resident

    Location:
    West Seattle, WA
    Re: Seattle prices- considering our minimum wage, rents, and business
    Taxes- it only makes sense they would be higher! This has become one of
    The most expensive cities in the country recently!
     
  5. While all of that is true, Seattle prices have been higher than other areas for many years, well before the housing market, rent, taxes, etc..went up.
     
  6. bug2362

    bug2362 Forum Resident

    Location:
    West Seattle, WA
    Yes we do have a couple stores that highlight rare/collectible LP’s for inflated
    Prices (displayed on the wall) but over the years I’ve found lots of great bargains and treasures especially before the recent hipster vinyl resurgence...
     
  7. GentleSenator

    GentleSenator what if

    Location:
    Aloha, OR
    i really miss the days of walking into Easy Street and buying used vinyl at reasonable prices. i also miss the queen anne location.
     
  8. bug2362

    bug2362 Forum Resident

    Location:
    West Seattle, WA
    Back in the late 80’s I lived in a $350.00 nice studio, worked downtown and walked home often stopping at that Import store in Belltown and Easy Street...those were the days!
     
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  9. Blair G.

    Blair G. Senior Member

    Location:
    Delta, BC, Canada
    No kidding, the Queen Anne location was way better than the current one
     
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  10. Spitfire

    Spitfire Senior Member

    Location:
    Pacific Northwest
    For sure. Went there quite a bit
     
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  11. davers

    davers Forum Resident

    I rented on Queen Anne Hill in the late 80s so would often hit the import store in Belltown as well, plus the record store across from the Uptown Theater in lower Queen Ann.

    Easy Street didn't actually open their lower Queen Anne location until some years later when they took over the Tower Books location. That was a great store though, no doubt. I remember reading an Interview with Peter Buck (REM) when he lived in Seattle saying he'd walk to that location every new music Tuesday to pick up new releases. (I think he's since moved to Portland, which has some excellent stores as well!)
     
    Last edited: Jun 9, 2020
  12. bug2362

    bug2362 Forum Resident

    Location:
    West Seattle, WA
    Was that lower Queen Anne shop called Park Avenue Records? Before Tower Books,
    It was Tower Records- I bought my first ever new release LP there- Heart-Little Queen....and my first ever used LP purchase was at Cellophane square where I purchased the core of my collection in the early 80’s
     
  13. davers

    davers Forum Resident

    Park Ave sounds right...I used to visit it a lot in the late 80s.

    Tower Records was several blocks to the east at 5th & Mercer where it had been since opening in the '70s. Tower Books was a later stand-alone annex near Bartells; the same location that Easy Street eventually took over after Tower shuttered the bookstore annex.

    Cellophane Square was a classic and one of my all time fave Seattle record stores. Surprisingly, it was also one of the first to shutter as music downloading was taking off - I wonder if they had pre-existing financial problems as they had been a Seattle mainstay for 30 years.
     
  14. bug2362

    bug2362 Forum Resident

    Location:
    West Seattle, WA
    I have heard that Hex Enduction Records and Books is a great hidden gem
    In Lake City. Haven’t been there because I no longer have a record collection...
     
  15. LordThanos1969

    LordThanos1969 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Phoenix, AZ, USA
    Eh, PDQ in Tucson is permanently closed as of December 2019. The owner died, and then the city forced the store to close due to eminent domain. They had a going out of business sale, but there was not much left to buy. All the good records behind the counter were purchased by one individual according to one of the employees.
     
    Last edited: Oct 13, 2020
  16. Chee

    Chee Forum Resident

    Location:
    Denver
    PDQ never had much to buy in their regular racks.....their sealed up bags were just ridiculous. I wonder where all that CD-45-LP product went?
     
  17. troggy

    troggy Papa-Oom-Mow-Mow

    Location:
    Benton, Illinois
    I just spent a week in Seattle. Whew, what a great bunch of record stores. I'm not even sure which ones to single out but would be glad to give recommendations from an out-of-towner's perspective.
     
    davers likes this.
  18. StevenC

    StevenC SUEDE > Both Oasis AND Blur. Thread Starter

    I was the thread starter on this.. I would love your recommendations. Looking for record stores that offer more than new vinyl and vinyl re-issues and focus more on the collectible used titles...
     
  19. troggy

    troggy Papa-Oom-Mow-Mow

    Location:
    Benton, Illinois
    What kind of stuff do you collect? A lot of the stores I went to had used stuff in great condition.
     
  20. StevenC

    StevenC SUEDE > Both Oasis AND Blur. Thread Starter

    used originals...mostly rock with some funk stuff (Funkadelic, Gap Band)... Ideally, 70s stuff like original Bowie and Queen... 80s like original pixies, etc., 90s, originals in britpop, etc.
    What I don't care about is seeking out sealed re-issues you could buy at Urban Outfitters or Amazon...
     
  21. troggy

    troggy Papa-Oom-Mow-Mow

    Location:
    Benton, Illinois
    Right, I get what you're saying. Well, I can't speak as much to specifics as I can in general terms but there were several shops that had loads of good, used albums and singles. I found Seattle to be terrific for things like 70's-90's punk, garage and power pop, all of which I look for when out record shopping. I bought almost exclusively used while I was there.

    My favorite stops were:

    Daybreak
    Jive Time
    Sonic Boom
    Fat Cat
    Wall of Sound
    Singles Going Steady
    Neptune

    That's a lot of places but all of these had an abundance of good used records. And I got the impression that all of them get in used stuff on a regular basis. Even the record shop in the lower level of Pike's Market, Holy Cow Records, had a lot of interesting used stuff.
     
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  22. bug2362

    bug2362 Forum Resident

    Location:
    West Seattle, WA
    I’d suggest Daybreak as they focus on used vinyl almost exclusively.
     
  23. troggy

    troggy Papa-Oom-Mow-Mow

    Location:
    Benton, Illinois
    They'd be my first choice too. Wall of Sound was also really great, focused on used and had a lot of eclectic stuff. They're a small shop though, so not quite as many records.

    Another cool thing about Daybreak is that Jive Time is within easy walking distance and the walk is pretty much entirely downhill.
     
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  24. bulletinwbw

    bulletinwbw Forum Resident

    Location:
    North Carolina
    Huge +1 to Daybreak. The owner, RJ, is a super awesome guy. Also one of the best sandwich places in the PNW is just right around the corner if you want a Caribbean-style sandwich.

    Jive Time is very meh, always overpriced and the owner is kind of a jerk. But there's a cool used bookstore literally right next door.
     
  25. nancybrooke

    nancybrooke Not quite Senior Member

    Location:
    Seattle, WA, USA
    Jive Time has less used stock ever since they started carrying new vinyl - a lot of the cheaper stuff gets put across the street in the "annex" (downstairs at the Fremont Vintage Mall, across the street). I've found a lot of good stuff there, if you're willing to dig. Since they have a very small selection of some genres at the main store (folk, country, vocal, international, classical) much of it ends up here. Also there's a ton of classic rock.
     
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