alex maiolo wrote:Our local here in Chapel Hill, CD Alley, is pretty much perfect, despite it's small size.

CD Alley is tops around here, though the size issue gets more absurd every day. The clerks are definitely the friendliest I've encountered.

San Francisco is my annual record (CD) shopping event. Between the Amoebas in SF and Berkeley and Streetlight (cheap used stuff and DVDs) in SF, you can get all kinds of stuff used. Aquarius has a good selection, but the prices are somewhat steeper.

Boston has had a ton of stores close in the last 3-4 years, especially in the Cambridge area.

http://www.scaruffi.com/music/usedrec.html has an old but handy listing of stores the world 'round.

NJ - princeton record exchange in princeton has a fantastic $1.99 - 4.99 used section and thousands upon thousands of used vinyls. they charge a bit over msrp for new stuff though. vintage vinyl is better for a wide selection of new records, but their vinyl section is (in my opinion) weak. they've got good metal and hardcore sections if that's your thing. that's in woodbridge or fords or something, rt. 1.

NYC - acadamy music on 18th (btw 5th/6th aves) is the single best 2nd hand shop i've been to with a great selection. they've got some vinyl but nothing really rocknroll, mostly classical or electronic. kim's has a decent used wall and a wide new selection, their vinyl space upstairs in the video section is quite nice. for vinyl (if you're a collector) there's a place called subteranean on cornelia st. in the west village has some incredible rare finds and a sweet import cd selection.

Ear-X-Tacy is fun in Louisville, I've been there and shelled out some money.

IL - reckless in chicago or dr. wax in evanston are the only ones i've been too but both were nice and fun.

StL - there are some places on Delmar Blvd whose names i cannot recall but I blew money in both.

Waterloo in Austin, TX was probably where I spent the single most in one day of record shopping in my life. Then I went next door and had an incredible burger and a nice cold pint of fat tire.

Amoeba in LA/SF are both decent if you've got hours to kill. any store that can break their USED section up into individual artists as opposed to just first letters has got way too much inventory. Aquarius in SF was a treat to visit and their used section was good. I love how they have these longwinded reviews on the cover of every album in the store. Reminds me of that book place in Seattle where every book has a review stapled to the cover.

On Grand Avenue in Billings there's a neat little record store that, if you can get past the HOT TOPIC vibe, has a good selection... for a record store in montana.

Drastic Plastic in Omaha is great.

I'm missing many more. Let me think harder.

slowriot wrote:Waterloo in Austin, TX was probably where I spent the single most in one day of record shopping in my life. Then I went next door and had an incredible burger and a nice cold pint of fat tire.

I was kind of dissapointed with Waterloo. It kind of reminds me of Twist & Shout in Denver. Very clean, with lots of books and magazines. I just wasn't overly impressed with their selection.

Twist & Shout is probably my favorite place in Denver. It used to be Wax Trax, but they can never seem to stock anything.

The SF Bay Area has some good record stores that aren't called Amoeba or Aquarius or even Streetlight.

There's Mod Lang in Berkeley, which focuses on indiepop and British stuff but has a great selection beyond those parameters.

There's Open Mind in SF, which would be the best record store in a lot of cities.

Try these places out next time you're in town.

you end up having to sift through a ton of unorganized shit most times, but encore records in ann arbor mich. has always bared some great finds. there's something i love about that "diamond in the rough" feeling you get when you stumble upon a mint 'flowers of romance' for 8 bucks after a half hour of flipping through shitty records by the police and pink floyd.

jazz record mart in chicago is fucking awesome. i was never that impressed by reckless, but there's some shop near there (i think) that seems to specialize in brazillian music. i love that one

time bomb in osaka is undoubtedly one of the most awesome record stores i've ever been to. we're talking multiple copies of every good chrome record, swans record, eistürzende...and a ton of other shit i can't remember. and it's all in mint/like new condition it seems. the problem is, like all things in japan, it's expensive. like this for example:


i've found some pretty great stuff at rockit scientist and rocks in your head in mannyhatty as well. i know there are tons of others but that's all i can think of off the top of my head at the moment.

I need to 2nd a few record stores posted here, namely:

Mod Lang in Berkley - terrific record store, and right next door to Comic Relief (Adrian Tomine did their T-shirts)

Wuxtry in Athens GA - gotta say this is my favorite comic shop in all the US (found more here than in Seattle, San Fran or NYC), as well as a good record store downstairs

Also, Criminal Records in Atlanta I think is a great record shop, but I may be biased because the girl who runs the comic section is totally cute, and knows as much about comics as me.

I guess maybe this is turning into a list of good comic shops that sell music too......

Turbo wrote:Louisville, Kentucky USA

ear x-tacy

http://www.earx-tacy.com/

Best record store in America. Don't even agrue.

'fraid I am gonna have to argue that one. These guys are pricks (for the most part), and most of them don't actually know too much about music. Working there is more for the cool status. Ground Zero was by far the best record store Louisville ever had, run by the unbelievable Ed Lutz. There is a guy who really knows about music. All of it. Sadly it's no longer around, so I guess Ear X-tacy is best simply by default. Kinda like going into Virgin Megastore nowadays though.

instant_zen wrote:

Rog wrote:New/New and Used/Indie: Mad City Music Exchange(Williamson St.)
B-side (State St.)

Used: Mad City, Sugar Shack (Atwood Ave.)

Old LPs: Sugar Shack, Resale Records (Commercial Ave.),
This guy's garage on Baldwin St. just down from The Crystal
Corner; open weekends when it isn't raining, Mad City.

i haven't poked around much on the non-campus side of town yet (for lack of a bicycle, mostly), but i'll second B-sides. for old (jazz) stuff, i've found the basement of the Exclusive Co. has a lot, and though i'm sure a lot of people on this forum would really hate Earwax (it's a kinda trendy place where fashion-core punks seem to hang around), i've actually found the staff there to be pretty helpful, although sometimes they're a little pricey (the records they sell, that is. not the staff members themselves).

that's what i've determined thus far.

Earwax is also a fine store, I just forgot about it, momentarily.
The owner was once in an outfit called Inspector 12.
I'm sure the fashion-cores are just trying suck up some
of his old school juice.

Bruce wrote:It used to be Wax Trax, but they can never seem to stock anything.

Wax Trax was extremely disappointing when I was there earlier this year. I had been there six or seven years previously, and was much more impressed.

Galaxy Records, Christchurch, New Zealand.

The perfect record store.

Dave and Tim are the closest thing to the guys from HIgh Fidelity I've ever seen.