I have to give a shout-out to my all-time fave local shop, Flat, Black and Circular in East Lansing, Michigan. Not a huge shop, but they have a fine selection of new vinyl and CD's, a great and constantly rotating stock of quality used stuff, a small but vital magazine selection, and Dick and Dave who run the place are 100% not crap guys who know their stuff backwards and forwards. FBC is the "hippie record store" Tesco Vee talks about in the liner notes of that new Fix compilation on Touch & Go ... I mentioned that to Dick, and he said, "Yeah, I read that and I was waiting for an ABBA reference to pop up. I wasn't disappointed!" A enormous amount of my record collection came from FBC, and I still find good music there as consistently as any shop I've ever visited. If you're in the neighborhood, check the place out.

http://www.flatblackandcircular.com/

Breadvan wrote:Spiller's records in Cardiff, UK. It's been around since 1894. There's a sign outside saying 'probably the oldest record store in the world'.

The staff are friendly. They know a lot of music and they can recommend things to you that you won't hate.

I can't really explain it, but the shop is arranged to satisfy the customers' taste. Not in some psychological scam kind of way, but in a more kind way.

I prefer to buy music from Spiller's records, rather than from Virgin Megastore or HMV.

Take a look at their website:

Spillers was founded in 1894 by Henry Spiller at its original location was in the Queen's Arcade, Cardiff, where the shop specialised in the sale of phonographs, wax phonograph cylinders and shellac phonograph discs. In the early 1920s, Henry's son Edward took over the running of the business and, with the aid of the popular accordionist and band leader, Joe Gregory, sold musical instruments alongside the pre-recorded music. In the late 1940s, Henry moved the shop around the corner to a larger premises on The Hayes, where it has happily remained and thrived ever since.

http://www.spillersrecords.co.uk/public ... tem_id=182

Spillers is a great shop. Another great one (not too far away) is in the indoor market in Newport. I can't remember the name but the guy who owns it also runs Cheap Sweaty Fun Promotions who've put on some of the UKs best punk gigs.
He sold me an original UK 1st pressing of Gone Fishin' by Flipper for £12.
Dude.

fantasmatical thorr wrote:Here in Birmingham UK, we have the wonderful....

You used to have the wonderful Plastic Factory, a shop so good that I got myself employed there...

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

I dunno, the opening hours piss me off there.

If anyone's ever in Florida check out Rock 'n' Roll Heaven on Orange Street (I think).
It's huge and cool and full of great orignal stuff, cool reissues, CDs etc. and they cover pretty much any genre that your heart desires.

evanrowe wrote:

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!

Yes. Great store. I've gotten some sickeningly rare, noisy, violent, semi-cheap shit there.

Gravity Records in Wilmington, NC has some excellent stuff sometimes. I stop by once to three times a week and just lurk like a motherfucker, most of the time finding SOMETHING CHEAP AND AWESOME. The guys that work there are really cool, not annoying and over your shoulder like other stores I've been into. I was in there today to drop a fitty, and I still saw a few records I'm gonna snag on the way home tomorrow.

The Tower Records in Westwood, California was the best I've been in. Once I heard someone literally threaten to break another's jaw because dude's girl had denigrated the Plimsouls.

Also:

If anyone's ever in Florida check out Rock 'n' Roll Heaven on Orange Street (I think). It's huge and cool and full of great orignal stuff, cool reissues, CDs etc. and they cover pretty much any genre that your heart desires.

Okay, Rock 'n' Roll Heaven on Orange Street in Florida. Can't be too many of those.

Dr. Wax in Evanston!

I've only been there once, ten years ago, but Rockin' Rudie's in Missoula, Montana, is perhaps the finest used vinyl outlet I've ever been to.

My favorite place to buy LP's on a regular basis is the Record Center in St. Louis. It's a converted library, absolutely huge, and it's well-organized, clean, and well air-conditioned. Shopping there is a joy, and the prices aren't too bad either. I am about to make my annual Labor Day stop there on the way back from the Ralph family reunion.

My favorite record store is in South Lake Tahoe. Last winter some friends and I stumbled into this little hut selling music. It was a disappointment until the clerk said to "check upstairs for our used stuff." There were thousands of records on the floor of the attic, and we spent a good four hours there going through every single one. They were a dollar each. I have no idea what the store was called.

Since the LP selection at the SF and Berkeley Amoeba has been dwindling, the further reaches of the Bay Area have revealed some great stores:

Village Music in Mill Valley - 40 years old, and going out of business Sept. 30. Amazing sale on tons of records.

The Last Record Store in Santa Rosa - They had 2 Guy Clark records in their new arrivals section. Outstanding.

Vitamin Planet in Petaluma - it's half a vitamin shop, half vinyl, and the guy there has good taste and great prices.

abcgroupdocumentation wrote:
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.


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.

Wax back in the day (early to mid 80s) was not merely the shit, but almost the only game in town. I say almost only, because Wuxtry was the alternative to the alternative. By the 90s, Wax was an unpleasant little grotto filled with sneering and arrogant staff. I haven't bought a disc there since maybe '92. Customer service and basic niceness count.

I'll ditto Criminal. A great hole in the wall is Records Galore in Clarkston. Real hit-or-miss. However, I found lots of twentieth century classical, electronics, weird 12"'s and novelty stuff there, along with decent jazz.