N.E. Ohio - Blue Arrow Records - A new vinyl store *

Does anyone know if Shattered is still around and if there's still a decent selection? I heard a few years back that the owner was selling stuff online.

 

Good question, hopefully someone here knows. I had to pretend I was much cooler than I actually was to hang in that place, though (see also: Bent Crayon).

 

So I checked out Blue Arrow this afternoon. Stock was a little light (plenty of room to expand), but hey it's only their third day. Nothing totally out of the ordinary, but they seem to be striving to sell stuff in better condition than you might find elsewhere. Prices were OK; everything seemed to average in the $3-$10 range. Plus, they already seemed to be a magnet for people hanging out on a Saturday afternoon talking about old records, which is always fun to be around. Had some great 45's too.

I also hit The Exchange in Solon on the way home...what you guys were saying about the Parma Hts. store made me curious to see what was going on at this location. The vinyl bins were pretty small, nothing exciting there. However, the selection of CD's was pretty impressive still. I ended up walking out with a pile of proverbial "forum favorites", including some Japanese and WG discs, all for about $35.

 

Wow, great thread! Nice to see some local stuff here. I love the Record Den and shopped there way back when it was located at the Mentor Mall. I remember buying Boston's first lp new in 1976 for $3.99. They always had a great selection of import titles. Haven't been there in a while...must get back sometime. On rare occasions I find something at the Goodwill store or local thrift shops. Mmm, the smell of musty records!

 

It was actually the Great Lakes Mall (the Mentor Mall was across the street) and they were initially located inside Newbury's, which was a Woolworth-type five and dime store. In the late 80's they moved to their own space inside the mall and then eventually settled in a strip mall across the street from the Great Lakes Mall and have been there for over 10 years now. Same owners/clerks since the mid 80's too.

 

time traveler is still the best place for selection, but not for price. it is way overpriced, and i believe that is part of the problem, many times i have found things in there i would love to buy, but i know i can them much cheaper on ebay or amazon.

also, scott keeps anything and everything that is good for himself, or to sell on ebay, and he knows the market, so it has become increasingly difficult to find anything rare or unusual in the bins, especially his used bins (which aren't even worth looking in IMHO).

i really like the exchange store in chappel hill (by panera bread), excellent inventory and wonderful prices, and they don't know thier product that well. very easy to find rare and valuable things in there. and the prices range for $1 - $2.50 - $5.-- & up.

still want to get to record den in mentor, have onl;y heard very good things about it. how do pay for used items, in trade, cash or 2 separate prices, like the exchange?

renny

 

Frank uses the old store to run his ebay shop out of. He is selling mostly posters online. You are able to walk in on saturdays and check out what he has. It helps to talk with frank cause he always seems to have something that is really kick *** but hidden.

He is also doing special orders for folks, I just picked up the new Iced Earth on vinyl from him just this week. He still has a lot of new sealed vinyl in there that is mostly 80's releases.

Cheers!

 

Cash (or credit cards).

 

You guys are making me homesick. I grew up in Strongsville until moving here for college in 1990. Reading about Record Exchange in Parma made me smile. I bought hundreds of records from that place.

 

Awesome. Well, hopefully this thread gives you enough ammo to know just where to go next time you vist.

While we're talking about the West side, there's a couple that fall into the "What Ever Happened to?" category that I was thinking about:

Perry's Rockpile: Weird dude, but a very credible punk/metal spot from what I remember.

Repeat The Beat: They were more of a regional chain,right? I remember it being a Friday/Saturday late night destination (open til 12 or so?) for those of us that for some reason found it way cooler to spend money on prog rock imports than dating in high school.

 

Slightly off topic (but forever connected with WMMS in my mind)... Is Daffy Dan's still around?

 

As far as I know he's still down on Superior, yeah.

 

There were also locations in Mentor and Eastlake.

The Mentor location closed in the mid 80's, but the Eastlake location was still there as late as 1999 (the last time I was in Eastlake).

 

no, i guess i worded it wrong.

does record den in mentor give cash for used items, or store credit, or both?

also, do they give 2 different prices (cash and trade) like the exchange stores, or is it the same either way you decide to do it?

 

repeat the beat was the BEST used CD i have ever been in. they had everything, even better than time traveler, with better prices.

i was crushed the day i drove there and it was gone

 

I remember Perry's. I bought my first Velvet Underground lp there back in 1988 - he had the 1969 Live album for $2. It was the best $2 I spent that year. I loved shopping there. I remember when he first opened, there wasn't much of a selection but over the following years it grew to quite a vinyl collection. I always think of them when I drive past the intersection of York and Pleasant Valley (which I did yesterday, actually).

Repeat the Beat were great. They had the best selection of new and used CD's around. I discovered all sorts of wonderful artists there, for relatively few $$$. I remember they would occassionally have record release parties at midnight. I went to one of them but can't remember what album it was. I must have had a good time...

How about My Generation in Westlake? They were a bit of a drive for me, but well worth it.

But like I say everytime one of these threads come around, my favorite music stores were the Quonset Hut shops. I always got a good vibe when I walked in there - must have been the incense or something. I really miss them, especially the Parma and Chapel Hill stores. Music shopping hasn't been nearly as fun since they closed, though you wouldn't know it if you saw my credit card bill...

 

It wasn't midnight, but they threw a really nice Beatles At The BBC release party and gave away a bunch of promo items

 

In the late 80s I used to ride my bike from brooklyn to the Parma Heights Record Exchange. Hard carrying a bag of LPs (and usually a couple of the free posters) home but always fun.

 

It was the greatest when they were inside Newbury's, almost everything I could ever want was to be had there. Leaving Record Den with a certain neon green and orange color covered Vol.1 & Vol. 2 CDs right after release was the happiest I have been leaving a record store. Still a nice store today, often over priced until multiple copies of something have been sitting around too long. Then you have to be thorough and make sure you find the one or two copies that are marked down instead of the others that are left at full price.

 

You hit the nail on the head. There WAS a vibe in all of those places...whether it was the incense, the decor, the prices/selection, or (if you were a smoker), they'd happily hand you an ashtray to walk around with. I spent many a Saturday afternoon down at the Cuyahoga Falls store, which would inevitably lead to a trip to Digital Daze or Time Traveler while in the neighborhood.

 

forgot about digital daze, great store. ron, the owner, tried like hell to sell it but couldn't get any buyers. many great deals there, used gold discs were usually around $15.

 

I guess this is as good of place as any to post....

Time Traveler (in Cuyahoga Falls) is having a sale this week - 20% off everything in the store, but only if you pay cash. They've been having it all week. I loaded up on Wednesday, and then decided I needed more stuff so I went back today. I meant to post this earlier in the week but completely forgot about it, sorry.


The sale runs through this Sunday - May 17, so you have a couple days left.

 

Hey, better late than never. Thanks for the heads up. Did you garner any info as to any possible larger meaning to all this (perhaps getting ready to go all-Ebay?), or is he just looking to clear some inventory and get cash on hand?

 

They called it "our staying in business sale". I didn't ask....

 

Yikes...alrighty. I'll do my part.