Good used CD shops in New Orleans?

Discussion in 'Music, Movie and Hardware Store Guide' started by KeithH, Oct 28, 2003.

Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  1. KeithH

    KeithH Success With Honor...then and now Thread Starter

    Location:
    Beaver Stadium
    Can anyone direct me to some good used CD shops in and around New Orleans? I will be in New Orleans for business next week and may be able to get away for a little while to hunt for CDs. Although I will be staying at a hotel near the Riverwalk, I will have a rental car and will drive to the better shops if necessary. Thanks in advance!
     
  2. Chris M

    Chris M Senior Member In Memoriam

    Hi Keith, I reside in Baton Rouge (an hour from NO) but have spen some time in New Orleans looking for used vinyl and CD's. I scoured several shops and they all left lots to be desired IMO. I can't really recommend any of them. Maybe lsupro, SGB or JoelDF know of some I missed?

    Chris
     
  3. KeithH

    KeithH Success With Honor...then and now Thread Starter

    Location:
    Beaver Stadium
    Chris, thanks for sharing your experience. I would think that New Orleans would be a good place for music stores. Hmmm....

    Anybody have a different experience to relate?
     
  4. JoelDF

    JoelDF Senior Member

    Location:
    Prairieville, LA
    I'll be no help... I haven't shopped in N.O. for anything in several years now.

    I'd be interested in any places for just used vinyl, though.

    Joel
     
  5. Chris M

    Chris M Senior Member In Memoriam

    Yeah, you would think it would be but in my experience it isn't. There is a used vinyl store in a rundown part of town that bills itself as 'one of the 10 best record stores in the country' that's fair at best. Lots of Beatles but most of it was Capitol stuff in crap condition. There is another store that has some great used LP's but it's WAY, WAY overpriced and most of the vinyl is in crates on the floor. This one is easy to find if interested. Some cool stuff to look at least. PM me if you need their address.

    Chris
     
  6. KeithH

    KeithH Success With Honor...then and now Thread Starter

    Location:
    Beaver Stadium
    Chris, thanks again. Do these stores have any CDs? I am not a big vinyl collector...at least not at this point. :)
     
  7. Chris M

    Chris M Senior Member In Memoriam

    Very few used CD's:(

    Chris
     
  8. Kym

    Kym Former Resident

    I know you'll find some, Keith! Tear open the Yellow Pages in your hotel room and look under "Compact Discs"! That's what I do! YEAH! ;)
     
  9. KeithH

    KeithH Success With Honor...then and now Thread Starter

    Location:
    Beaver Stadium
    Chris,

    Thanks. :(


    Kym,

    That's exactly what I was planning to do if no one here knew of good stores. :)
     
  10. TommyTunes

    TommyTunes Senior Member

    Try Magic Bus it's down the side street from Tower. They have a good selection of both new and used. They always have a bumch of imports and gold disks priced cheap and even their new CD's are usually less than others are charging. Make sure you also check Tower they always have a lot of great imports (although not cheap). Rock and Roll Heaven is on the east end of Decatur st. , Lot a vinyl priced very high but come up with a reasonable price and they will usually agree.
     
  11. MikeP5877

    MikeP5877 V/VIII/MCMLXXVII

    Location:
    OH
    These shops are primarily vinyl but I think they may have some used CDs:

    Louisiana Music Factory on Decateur.
    Magic Bus on Conti.

    Louisiana Music Factory has turntables set up so you can try before you buy. Last time I was there I had the entire upstairs to myself and spent about 3 hours shopping and listening.

    Both shops have fair prices and they will ship to your home.
     
  12. Larpy

    Larpy Active Member

    Location:
    USA
    I was in N.O. this summer, and I was a bit disappointed in the record stores. I, too, figured it would be heaven, but it's only so-so, not as good as Chicago, San Francisco, or even Denver.

    Louisiana Music Factory and Magic Bus are places I'd go back to (especially for New Orleans music), but neither is really outstanding (though I did spy Alex Chilton selling some of his CDs to the guys at Magic Bus!). Both shops are in the French Quarter, within easy walking distance of the conference hotels.

    Rock 'n' Roll Heaven / Collectibles is also in the quarter, but it's exclusively vinyl (as I remember).

    I did make it out to Jim Russell's Rare Records, but what a mistake! It's essentially a pawn shop situated among a decrepit, forgotten record shop where the records are little more than an ironic backdrop. Yes, there are a lot of LPs, but most are in frisbee condition, and very little is priced. If you're interested in something, you take it up to the counter and, I kid you not, they look up the price in a price guide. And the day I was there, they didn't know how to use the price guide (when I suggested I look at the guide and explain to them that the record I was holding in my hands was NEITHER a first pressing NOR in Mint condition, all I got was a shrug).

    A terrible, terrible place. I imagine it might have been a real vinyl haven 20 years ago, but now it's just sad. Maybe for locals it's a pawn shop and only a record shop when the occasional tourist walks in looking for music—maybe they just assume tourists expect to be fleeced.

    Larpy
     
  13. KeithH

    KeithH Success With Honor...then and now Thread Starter

    Location:
    Beaver Stadium
    Thanks all the information, everyone. I will make notes of these stores. Getting to the French Quarter will not be a problem for me.

    How about record stores in the New Orleans suburbs? As I said, I will have a rental car down there.
     
  14. TommyTunes

    TommyTunes Senior Member

    That's a very strange store but careful checking does unearth a gem or two a couple of years ago I found a M- Blue/Black EMI Columbia of Piper at the Gates of Dawn and a Mono 1st Doors album. Paid $25 for each and this year I picked up a Quad Eat a Peach also M- for $12. It was excellent in the mid 80's.

    Magic Bus get's it's fair share of vinyl collectables' and "Limpy" the owner will always work with you on the price.

    In the late 80's NO was a record heaven. I picked up almost all my MOFI's there AFTER they were out of print for no more than $8-$20. At the time there was a record store of Decatur called Record Ron's. The place had almost everything ever made.

    Here's quick story on Record Ron, when you met this guy you would swear he crawled out of the Bayou. He had a ZZ Top type beard and long greasy hair coupled with the deepest southern drawl that you'd ever heard. So one day we got to talking and he asked me where I was from, I told him Brooklyn. He turns and say's me too! It turned out he was from my neighborhood and knew some of the same people. He only had moved down about 15 years earlier. Sadly he passed away from cancer in the 90's.
     
Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.

Share This Page

molar-endocrine