Used record stores in Philadelphia

Can anyone recommend any used record stores in Philadelphia? Mainly the western side.

Also any Towers or other stores that might have SACD or DVDA.

Thank you.

 

If you have half and hour to drive up 95, you can hit Princeton Record Exchange. They price things weird, but not usually too high, and the selection is often quite good.

 

There's a Tower Records in King Of Prussia, one of the northwestern suburbs. I haven't been there in a while, but have been meaning to go do the browsing thing lately.

Harry

 

Harry, that Tower at "King Of Prussia" is NOTHING like it used to be! The old "Classical"/"Easy Listening"/"Jazz" rooms are now gone. They put up a wall and those old rooms are another business now!


Chris C

 

Good used record stores in Philadelphia area with lots of vinyl:
Shady Dog Records, Route 30 in Berwyn
Gold Million Records, Route 30 in Bryn Mawr
Philadelphia Record Exchange, in the city on 5th St, half block south of South St.
Book Trader, in the city at 7N 2d Street (just north of Market St)

 

Guess that shows how long it's been since I was there!

Harry

 

Shady Dog. The guys there are ethical and will not rip you off. One of the ones on the list above is run by someone VERY untrustworthy.

 

Instead of just saying one of the stores is run by someone VERY untrustworthy why don't you tell us so we don't go there and get ripped off! I too am looking for some used record stores and I sure as hell don't want to be hosed by some unscrupulus owner! You owe it to the community, LOL!

 

I've heard that publicly stating such things can lead this site and me to legal hassles. If you're interested, pls IM me.

 

All of the stores I listed are stores where I've shopped for several years with zero problems, either at their current location or a prior location in the area.

 

I'll second the vote for Shady Dog. They have a web site and also do business on ebay,so you might not even have to go to the store. Prices? I don't know if you'll find any bargains,but these are reputable guys and love music. My last visit to the Book Trader was a sad experience-a shadow of what was once the best used media shop in Philly when it was on South St. Nothing to get excited about at Phila. Record Exchange,either, but it has been two years since I've been there. But then,my last visit to the South St. Tower was sad but not as pitiful as the KOP satellite store. If Trans World sucks up Tower's assets,the KOP store will be history in days.
I have to say,there is an interesting little used store just around the corner from where I live here in downtown Allentown(or,as my son residing in Portland,Or. calls it,Stinkytown),called Double Decker. Located on Eighth and St. John St.,it is a bit chaotic-the store has its roots in punk music and culture. You could waste an hour there if you were passing through town. Unfortunately,they are closed on Sundays,so if anyone would be going to the quarterly record show at nearby Merchants Square on a Sunday,they couldn't hit both spots on the same day. Mac

 

A friend gave me a bunch of CDs that he bought used a while ago from a Philly-area place called "Plastic Fantastic", but I'm not sure if the store still exists.

 

Gone about 2 years ago.

 

Book Trader on 2nd Street finally opened it's back room full vinyl, mostly classical with some jazz and popular. If you're into classical, they're well worth visiting once again after these past couple of years since their move from South Street.

A block further up 2nd Street from Book Trader is AKA Music, which has a fairly large selection of both new and used vinyl in the back.

 

I was walking last week on 2nd or 3rd street, just north of Market and there was a very large music store, I think was called "AKA Music", with vinyl. Why they closed at 8, I dunno.

 

Thanks for all the good suggestions.

I have only 1 night in Philly, so searching through these shops will keep me off the streets, so to speak.

 

Noise Pollution on 4th Street,near South.

 

Just an FYI -- Gold Million is owned by the guy who used to own Plastic Fantastic. He closed up shop in Ardmore and moved down to Bryn Mawr. I went to Gold Million not long after it opened. The owner told me that they were basically getting rid of all of their CDs and concentrating on vinyl. FWIW, I didn't think their vinyl selection was all that great and was mostly overpriced.

 

I always seem to find out about those shows the week after they occur. Do you know when the next one is scheduled? Is there a web site with dates?

 

When I was a first year freshman in college (in Phoenixville, PA), about two and a half years ago, I was told to check out the Philadelphia Record Exchange, so a friend and I drove to Philadelphia to find it, we found the street, and we located the address we had been given but it was a boarded up building. I later emailed the company and then they told me that it was their old address and they had moved a few doors down, and were still open when I was there.

What's worse? I had a psychology final exam that night and we got stuck in massive traffic. Of course, I missed the final, which shocked the hell out of all of my friends in the class (i needed just a D on the final in order to get a 60% in the class to pass it) and I was able to make up the exam and passed it with a B....i had a lot of time on the ride back to study! I never did make it back to that place, though. However if you're in Maple Shade, NJ do check out The Album Hunter who has his shop on main street. Lots of good stuff in there.

 

First off, thanks to Jimac51 for posting about that. I'm new to this area and wish to visit those places too!

jkauff, I googled it and came up with:
Merchants Square
610-797-7743
1901 S 12th Street
Sept 23-24, 2006

I'm not sure if both days are for records, I plan on calling to find out.

 

As for the Merchant's Square shows,the Sunday show is always the one where CDs,bootleg videos and whatever constitutes as music related stuff is allowed. Since I'm never able to attend the Saturday shows,I believe that they are exclusive RECORDS,and that may be 45s and 78s only,though I would suspect that a kind of show like this would allow LPs. The Saturday shows are supposed to be more for the intense collector. In any event,gettting on their mailing list gets you a one dollar off discount for admission and/or the local newspaer,the Morning Call, runs a 50 cent off admission ad the Saturday(a full week) before the shows. If you find the buy of a lifetime,stay away from the ATM inside the Mall;there are plenty of ATMs from real banks within a few blocks. Also,there is an OK greasy spoon diner a couple of blocks from the place,the Queen City,that will give you a breakfast you will never forget because your digestive system will keep reminding you about it. Ahh,the beautiful Lehigh Valley.... Mac

 

If anyone in the vicinity of Allentown,Pa. is interested,the guy who runs those quarterly Record Expos is holding an LPs only sale next weekend,July 21-22,from 9AM till 4PM each day at Merchants Square. Don't expect any collectable stuff,but he advertises over 10,000 LPs of all genres priced no more than 3 bucks each. Free admission. A way to blow an hour or two. I think it's been a while since he held one of these blowout sales,but at one he had some promos from a local AC radio station which had clensed its library-scored some nice A&M and Project3 stuff,as well as where I found both the Tommy Flanagan/Hank Jones' "Our Delights" and "More Delights".

 

Thanks for the tip. The 22nd is my birthday--think I'll head up from Doylestown to pick out some presents for myself on Saturday.

 

same store that used to be at 5th & south?