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.

Ha! I did that exact thing a few weeks ago at a store on North Lincoln in Chicago (between Addison and Irving Park) called "Dead Wax". I will not say this is the best record store in town, by any means, but almost every time I go in there, I find something great -- a real bargain. Yes, I got a M/NM copy of "Flowers of Romance" for, like, $6.99. The time before, I picked up a NM copy of Polvo's Shapes for about $5. Good times!

And let me say that I enjoy Dave's Records on Clark (just south of the Weiner's Circle) for new (I mean non-used) vinyl.

Chad's Records in Chattanooga, TN, is great for all sorts of obscure and classic rock stuff. He also has bunches of early to mid 90's vinyl indie classics that are cheap.

Full Moon Records in Atlanta is my favorite store in town. The owner is cool as shit and sells 99.9% of his catalog for 10 bucks or less. In fact, the records that end up on “the wall” are his expensive records…all of which wind up being 10-15 bucks tops. He's great for older 60-70's stuff. He has an excellent knowledge of pscyh, garage and classic rock. He also knows tons about jazz and makes great recommendations.

Wax N' Facts is an Atlanta staple that's been here for over 30 years. Biz is tough for them and all record stores but they're the ones you go to for everything. They need to improve their special order deal.

Wuxtry Records is good for jazz and most things indie. Their jazz selection is not riddled with represses. I don't care about originals but most jazz buffs do.

Eat More Records is north of Atlanta and can be great if you have patience. It's the most disorganized store in the world but when you find stuff, it's hot.

Criminal Records is great for CD's. They're the best store in town and have a variety of employees who make great recommendations. Their comic book selection is a comic book geek's wet dream. They recently started carrying new vinyl and repress stuff. Their prices are the shit. I dig this store.

I love Academy in NYC because every time I go in there there's something so inexplicable to be found.

Like that Brian Eno WORKING BACKWARDS box set which appeared to have never been played, ever, for $30.

Like an unopened copy of Roland Kirk's NATURAL BLACK INVENTIONS (which was my personal Holy Grail of records for 10 years) for $5.

It's the place all the rock critics dump their promos, so you can get the newest stuff cheap. They have so much odd/good stuff I often wonder if people actually spend the time looking through the racks, because if they did, there wouldn't be anything for me to find.

I also love Other Music. I used to spend entire paychecks in there, and would enjoy the occasional phone call from them informing me that there was a lot of stuff that would be hitting the used bin that I might like to look through.

i was going to mention Other Music in NYC. One of the owners is an old friend/acquaintance of mine from Ann Arbor. We worked at Schoolkids together, 20 years ago when it was a good store.... Jeff's store is cool, and they have tons of shit that I have never heard of. A whole section of "kraut rock" another whole section of "electronica" . Nice folks who know their stuff...

Get dog costumes wrote:

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.

I third this. Any and all bands reading who come through the triangle should visit this store.

I still do my shopping there despite the fact I've moved to Durham. The staff is helpful and smart and not at all the stereotypical indie-record-store-snob.
Salut, Sean and CD Alley! You are tops in NC!

My favorite record store is called soulseek.
They have everything ever made by every band ever, and it's all free.

justin, you make it sound like aquarius is nyc when it's in san francisco. new yorkers always trying to act like anything they like is in new york...

in philly, for vinyl, i recommend the store i now co-own! 9th St. Records (soon to be Roundabout Records on 9th), on 9th and christian (border of the italian market) has a bunch of cheap vinyl and a few more pricey collectibles. 33, 45, 78, all genres, and a small cd section (about 75 discs) and a small tape section.

for new cds, jaz sound (above sound of market) around 11th and filbert is good. big selection, two floors. one floor is hip hop and r+b, the other is rock and jazz.

aka music, at 2nd and marker, is good for new and used stuff.

beautiful world syndicate, on passyunk, has a lot of used cds.

philadelphia record exchange on 5th between south and bainbridge i believe, is good for used cds and vinyl.

Encore records in Ann Arbor is pretty good. Wazoo is cool too. I do miss the old Schoolkids though.

I used to like Charley's Records a lot in Albuquerque when I lived there. The staff is very friendly and has practically encyclopedic knowledge. (They don't have as much vinyl as they do CDs). Actually a lot of the music stores there have more friendly staff than in Michigan.

As someone who worked at/with record stores for over 15 years, some of my favorites are below (in large part for the people who work there –especially knowledge/helpful/friendliness factors). That said, there are so many great record stores still fighting the good fight against homogeneity. They should (mostly) all be commended.

Aquarius (S.F.)
Othermusic (NYC)
Dusty Groove (Chicago)
Relative Theory (Norfolk VA)
Above Ground (Martha's Vineyard)
Rush Mor (Milwaukee)
Sea Level (LA)
Shake It (Cincinnati)
B-Side (Madison, WI)
Good (Dallas)
Sound Exchange (Houston)
Horizon (Greenville, SC)
Planet of Sound (Chicago)

Tower (NYC) - just kdding!

There's also a really great old-time music website store called venerable music. They have everything from the 78 era.
http://venerablemusic.com/