CD Shopping in Pittsburgh

What's state-of-the-art music-hunting like in Pittsburgh these days? I have a friend who's looking for imports, dance, trance, or just a good CD store. Vinyl is not an issue with him. Advice?

 

What does that mean, "Vinyl is not an issue with him."? Because vinyl shopping is one of the best things about Pittsburgh. There's a great used LP store in Squirrel Hill called Jerry's. 2136 Murray Ave, 2nd Floor Pittsburgh, PA 15217 Phone: 412-421-4533

There's a CD store adjacent to it called Dave's Music Mine. Same address.

There's a nice new CD and vinyl store called Paul's in Bloomfield. Paul's Compact Discs. 4526 Liberty Avenue. Pittsburgh, PA 15224. Phone: (412) 621-3256.

There may be other stores in other parts of Pgh. These are just the ones I know.

 

Has no turntable, for one thing. Has no interest in getting one, for another. Likes shopping at CD stores. Thanks for your help.

 

Is record-rama still in business in pittsburgh?

i haven't been there since they moved from atop the post office.

renny

 

Uh, yeah... it's still there. Terrible location.

I like Attic Records in Millvale. Lots of vinyl, cds, 45s, and 12". Paul's in Bloomfield is good too. There really isn't any "go-to" place anymore. There used to be a lot of places, just fifteen years ago or so.

 

Oh. Okay. I thought 'not an issue' meant he liked vinyl.

Future Sounds 2101 Murray Avenue Pittsburgh, PA 15217 412-421-3727 sells trance. I think it's at the corner of Hobart St.

There are a number of Exchanges around town. They have new and used CDs, mixed, locked behind glass cases. Look up The Exchange.

Also, a CD Warehouse in Oakland, 3609 Forbes Ave, Pittsburgh, 15213 - (412) 687-4715. Plus other locations. Google it.

And Record Village, 5519 Walnut Street. 412.682.1984.

http://www.eides.com/ is another place for records, but I don't go there, as it's not convenient from where I live. It's downtown.

That's as many as I can think of.

 

I've never been to it. Is it out in the North Hills now?

 

I'll second the recommendation for "The Attic" and "Paul's." If your friend has a car, these two stores are only five minutes apart.

 

Unfortunatly and your not missing much. I stopped going there a few years ago.
I second Paul's., I've been going there since before bought it and it was mostly vinyl. It's a very small store though.

There are only a couple CD Warehouse left, two on my end of the city have closed and a couple (Record) Exchanges.

Dave's Music Mine has some good stuff and I'm happy to hear they took over part of Jerry's space in Squirrel Hill. They originally took over his place in Oakland when he moved and went to vinyl only.

Eides is OK but I tend not to go there as much as I used to since it's on Liberty Ave in the Strip and finding a parking spot is a pain.

What section of town is Record Village, 5519 Walnut Street located? I have no clue where it is.

 

Record Village is in Shadyside. I want to say it is on the second floor, near the Max & Erma's.

Is Dave's Music Mine no longer in Southside(where Randy's once was)? Or is the location by Jerry's a second location?

To the original poster: I would say that Paul's (Bloomfield) and Eide's (downtown) would be your friend's best bets. Both have imports. Eide's is more likely to have a better dance/trance section than Paul's. Paul's has more helpful staff.

I would not bother with Record Rama - their CD stock is pathetic compared to what it once was (back when they were by the post office on McKnight Road). They have a TON of vinyl but it is kept behind a counter and they act like you are ruining their day if you dare to ask to see something. Prices are outrageous too.

Some of the Exchanges have surprisingly good selections, including imports sometimes. Last I knew (about a year ago), there were exchanges in Southside, downtown, Squirrell Hill, McKnight Road, and Monroeville.
The Squirrell Hill one is my favorite.

Too bad your buddy isn't looking for vinyl, Jerry's is just the greatest.

-George

 

Dave's is in two locations I believe. I forgot about that. The Southside location is about as good as the Oakland location. I forgot about Eides. I've been going there for over 20 years. They have books, dvds, imports, and some "imports". Regarding the other store mentioned, read my post here.

 

Thanks. After I posted I checked Google Maps for the exact location. I think I was there once or twice many, many years ago.

According to there website Dave's Music Mine there are only two. A few weeks ago some mention that Jerry cut his place in half with the other half now being a CD place. According to Jay it was Dave's.

I'm thinking of taking a trip in tommorrow to see for myself.

 

I'm pretty sure Dave's Oakland location is closed now, replaced by the Squirrel Hill one. Was Randy's Alternative Music a great store in the mid-90s or what?

There are also good Exchanges in Dormont and Robinson.

Eides was always a great import store, but I've only been in there a handful of times once they moved a few doors down. They always had some of the most colorful employees for better or worse, like the "Snorkelizer" guy from the early 90s, the rockabilly goth guy, and some others. Frampton Brother/PG critic Ed Masley was always hanging around there too. The owner was always barking at the employees from his upstairs office. It made for a fun lunch hour several days a week when I worked downtown. Oh, the nostalgia...

 

Yeah, you're right. I totally forgot. It's been awhile since I've been in Oakland.

They had a satellite store in the North Hills for a few years. I loved that place. Then I found out they had a real store on the North Side. That place was like heaven to my 13 year old self.

My mind is totally blanking on this, but does anyone remember the name of the place on East Street on the North Side. I used to go there every so often. They got in trouble a couple years back but I don't know what came of it.

 

OK, I'm the guy that "dilly" was speaking of in the original post. Will be in Pittsburgh for the weekend this coming one with my parents for a trade show (we have a family-run business). I don't get on the forums too often so thank you very much dilly for getting this going for me and thank you all for some great help!

If I may, let me further this by asking two more questions. I went to this same show a year and a half ago. While there, I went to Eides and one other store which wasn't too far away. I have been trying to figure out after reading your responses above if it was one of those but can't remember. It was a pretty small store located in sort of a city-ish location...on a hill from what I remember. It had a coffee shop across the street on a corner. From what I remember, it was all CDs (i.e. no vinyl). I remember going over a bridge that seemed like it was letting me off into the city area and this place was not far. Does that sound familiar to any of you? Was it any of these places?

My other question is this. Would there be any decent shopping near Paul's and The Attic. I need to find something for my parents to do while I go off on my record odyssey. Are there any decent shopping malls in the area? I looked and saw the Beaver Valley Mall and the Waterworks both look fairly close but not all that impressive (they're sort of picky, you know ). Anyone have a suggestion for that?

Thanks.

 

The place on the hill was Paul's in Bloomfield, just up Liberty Avenue when you come over the Bloomfield bridge. If you go to Eides, it's also on Liberty Ave. downtown - just stay on Liberty for a couple miles and you'll come right to Paul's. There's a big "Welcome to Bloomfield" painted on the side of the Bloomfield Bridge Tavern - you'll know you're a block or two away at that point.

Shopping for the folks? Send them to Shadyside - about one more mile further out Liberty - you'll see signs for the shopping district - and then left on Walnut Street. Lots of upscale stuff like Pottery Barn, J Crew, and boutique stores and restaurants along the street without being in a typical mall. If they need more, there are several large malls - Robinson, South Hills Village, Monroeville and Ross Park within a ~10-15 minute drive.

Have fun!

 

Stedeford's Records. Didn't they get snared in a bootleg/piracy sting?

 

If so, it's too bad. At one time they had a pretty good jazz selection, but I haven't been there for about 3 years.

 

Liberty Avene and Bloomfield end at the corner of Centre Avenue & S. Aiken Street. Bear right but stay straight and you'll basically feed into S. Aiken in Shadyside. It's another few blocks until Walnut Street. If your folks are stereo shoppers, there are two stores in this little strip mall on the right side of Aiken at Walnut. If not, turn left onto Walnut for the main shopping area.

There is another shopping area in Shadyside, on Ellsworth Avenue. Take Walnut to Negley and turn left, then right onto Ellsworth.

Here's a map: http://maps.yahoo.com/maps_result?addr=ellsworth+avenue&csz=15232&country=us&new=1&name=&qty=

LMK if you need any more help.

 

Yeah, that happened. I don't know anything else though. It was in the paper at the time. They had a lot of rap mixtapes, rap mix cds, and rap bootlegs. I don't if that was the problem. It seemed pretty harmless. I honestly can't think of any other reason to go to East Street. That place has been around forever. Almost everything else is gone.


I found an article about some of the record stores mentioned: http://www.popcitymedia.com/features/22musicstores.aspx

 

Stedeford's is where I got my Prince "Black Album" back in 1988.
-George

 

Thanks for the info on Stedeford's. I haven,t been there in years and was wondering if it still exhisted.

I made it out to Squirrel Hill today and it is indeed Dave's Music Mine that took over what was Jerry's Vocal's/Jazz/Etc. room. Also there is a small Head Together Video store it what was the Country room. The best thing is that they are all still interconnected. Also most of Jerry's stuff is still there just moved into the Big room.

 

Since many of you were so helpful with this, I thought the least I could do was report back in and let you know how I did CD shopping in Pittsburgh using the recommendations.

On Friday, I didn't really have much time to shop but I did make it to the Exchange in Monroeville (where we were staying).

Pluses -- extremely well organized and decent (though not too extensive) selection. I enjoyed the sections in the back, where they have $5, $2.50, and $1 CD sections. Some decent stuff there too. Friendly staff.

Minuses -- Why the heck do they keep every CD under lock and key? Of course, this helps with the organization (see above) but I really hate having to ask for cases to be opened for me and having the sales clerk stand there while I look at the CD. Makes me feel like a juvenile (OK, so we are not talking about the most adult activity, but...) Also, since I am not a juvenile any more and my memory sometimes fades, I found myself forgetting which cases I would ask him to open by the time I got towards the end of the sections.

Today, I had a bit more time to scurry off to the city. In fact, I thought I had oodles of time and could hit two or three shops near each other (Paul's, The Attic, etc.). I decided to set out for The Attic first since I had been to Paul's last time I was in town. Traffic from Monroeville was horrendous. It was supposed to take me 20 minutes (or less) and it took me over an hour. And I could see on the way there that at one point on the return trip, the two lanes on that side were reduced to one and it was going to be a pain getting back.

So after finally finding The Attic (not crazy about that neighborhood, I must say), here's my thoughts:

Lots of vinyl (which I don't go for any more). I was not initially impressed with the used CD selection either, though I did manage to pick out a couple of things. And crazy organizational system too (though it is well-organized). Also, the various sections are not marked well (i.e. Rock, soundtracks, etc.). I was confused by the CDs that were just the inserts (no jewel cases) mixed in with regular used CDs. I later found out that these were from CDs damaged in a flood a while ago. I heard a worker explain it to someone else and remembered reading how the store got flooded. Ah!

As I was about to leave the store and try and find another shop, I realized that the entire two back rows are CD-singles. I like CD-singles a lot so I was really liking things at that point. They had a ton of original 80s and 90s U.S. CD-singles as well as many newer and older radio-station one-tracks and two-tracks. And all priced at $3 -- not bad. I bought a bunch of those!

After looking over the singles for a lot of time and thinking about the trip back to Monroeville, I decided I better call it a day and make my way back. The trip back wasn't as bad, thankfully.

Anyway, thanks again for the recommendations above. I wouldn't have found out about either of these places otherwise.

 

Millvale has seen better days. It seems that everytime I go to The Attic, Millvale is a little worse. I think The Attic is probably the only reason people go there during the day. I keep thinking the area is due for rejuvanation, but it hasn't happened yet. The flood was a real devastation. When I saw the people in boats on the news that night, my thoughts were about The Attic. Yes, I thought first about The Attic.

 

Bumping this long-dormant thread. Any thoughts about the current state of used CD shopping in Pittsburgh?