I really miss the record stores!

[JerseyGirl]

There is no mall record/CD stores anymore. At least not around here. And the Sam Goody's, etc of the 70's and 80's was like a gold mine to a young impressionable like me. If there are still stores like that around, I'm sure they are nothing like they were back then. Don't forget, the mall was the place to hang as a kid, although I really wasn't a mall rat. It was record stores and pinball arcades that attracted kids to malls. If Sam Goody had the new release that I wanted, I was there.

 

[Riff Raff]

I hate when I go into a cd shop I get stuck sometimes and can't make up my mind on what album to get. Takes half an hour to decide.
I might next time go in knowing what I want next time, don't look at anything else. lol

 

[METALPRIEST]

That's the worst!!!

Going in for something and seeing something else.

 

[Nololob]

Another thing, I need artists being labelled.

Nolo will know this, if it's still going, but a little while back Sound Machine in Reading did away with their labels for their LP section. I really cannot be arsed to trawl through rows and rows of records to find something I want.

I imagine that sounds abhorrent to many on here, but I know what I'm looking for and want to be able to move from artist to artist rather than wade through thousands of LPs.

It depends. I go to Sound Machine quite regularly and mostly they have everything labeled apart from nearly 8 boxes, which LPs are mixed. But nearly 2 months ago they started to split into genres, such as jazz, metal, indie, punk and classical.

I think the thing I miss about record stores most is the choice. I mention Reading again, but at one time it had a Fopp , 2 HMV's, a Virgin [now Zaavi online], 2 sound machine stores [1 for CDs and 1 for vinyl pretty much] and another independent store called Rustys. All within like a 10 minute walk of each other!

Now there is 2 HMV's and 1 sound Machine unless Nolo can correct me.

One HMV, the smallest one was closed down due to cuts, The Sound Machine, Oxfam Music Shop near the bridge on the right from Broad Street towards Kings Road, Collectors Store in Harris Arcade however I strongly do not recommend this place. I found Nazareth's Rampant there in a poor condition and the guy didn't want go lower than £12 because "it is a £50 album" and most of the prices are ridiculous and Music Man on Oxford Road. Those are the record shops I know. Oh, and British Heart Foundation near Primark. But they don't have that much of good stuff over there (from rare stuff I only bought Greenslade eponymous album).

Nolo is busy with school and getting ready for his band's first real gig Powerage he'll be back next week. He told me he has had great luck over the years at "boot sales". We call those "flea markets" here.

It depends, you need to be on car boot sales frequently. I got 2 prog albums, Yes and ELP and my mum got me Rolling Stones ''Still Life'' LP. If you're lucky you might find something else and better.

Oh sweet, I wonder if he's playing a venue I know and if he needs a roadie

I only really buy second hand vinyls, never CDs as snobby as that might sound. Can get most of them brand new very cheap online anyway.

Hahaha, yeah. My step-dad became a roadie for one day, it was hilarious to get to Marlow. I need to get myself driving license.

And I stopped buying CDs since I became a record collector. Even though I have nearly 200 CDs I still prefer LPs.

 

[Garrett]

This used to be my one stop shopping from the early 70`s until a few years back....

Honest John`s Records and Tapes and Starship Head Shop at 11th & Delaware on Route 66 in Tulsa, Oklahoma. They both were bulldozed in late 2005 to make way for further expansion of TU. They were owned and operated by Matt Bunyan and Honest John Foutz, I knew both of them Gents and was friends with John.

​

 

[gcczep]

Yeah, it is nostalgic looking back standing there rifling through the stacks. Pasadena has Poo-Bah's. Then the other was Music Plus. I bought bootlegs, imports, promo pressings at the former and newer releases at the latter. Poo-Bah's has moved to another location for years now and I will have to step in there one of these daze. Back then it was $4.99 for a single and $7.99-$9.99 for a double.

All my other vinyls were scooped up at a swap meet held during the first Sunday of the month at a local junior college.

 

[opera races]

Wow, now that I think about it kind of blows my mind how many different places I've bought records and literally all over the U.S.A. and a lot of very cool places too. I could go on for way too long about some of the shops I went to "back in the day" for both new and used records, waxing nostalgic. That's part of the adventure for me, acquiring the vinyl and where, how, etc.

Amoeba ... yeah ... I have to mention I was at the one on Haight Street in San Francisco a little over 10 years ago. That store was impressive! But I was in the midst of attempting to do almost everything I wanted to do at that time in San Francisco in only one day, running across the Amoeba store was a surprise, and I didn't spend as much time at Amoeba as I normally would at a music store like that. I did manage to pick up a Queen CD I didn't have at the time and a few other items.

One place I keep remembering from time to time and this might seem weird but I think it was a chain and it was this hole in the wall looking store at a mall in the Milwaukee area called Galaxy of Sound. I think it was pretty much no-frills too, just had racks and racks of new (vinyl) records. The main thing my friends and I liked was Galaxy of Sound had the best prices even on non-sale items and older releases. But also in spite of its small and spare appearance I swear I usually found just about any album I was looking for there and even discovered some other albums and bands from browsing around.

 

[stepcousin]

I go to a record store and about 7 thrift stores in town to get my vinyl, as well as an occasional ebay, Amazon, or Craigslist purchase to get hard to find stuff. I have a mortgage and many bills to pay so I hafta be frugal in my purchases, I can't put my family in the poorhouse just to support my hobby/habit/addiction to vinyl, so I gotta be smart.

 

[Mr. Bob Dobolina]

Yeah, it is nostalgic looking back standing there rifling through the stacks. Pasadena has Poo-Bah's. Then the other was Music Plus. I bought bootlegs, imports, promo pressings at the former and newer releases at the latter. Poo-Bah's has moved to another location for years now and I will have to step in there one of these daze. Back then it was $4.99 for a single and $7.99-$9.99 for a double.

All my other vinyls were scooped up at a swap meet held during the first Sunday of the month at a local junior college.

The PCC Swap Meet, right? I'm right with you. I grew up in Alhambra. My friends and I would take the bus to Pasadena and hit Poo-Bah's every Sunday (this was before any of us could drive). There was also a great record store in Glendale called Neil's Records. Of course there were also the chains (Music+, Licorice Pizza and the Warehouse). Those were the days.

 

[Mr. Shadow]

I have three used record stores close by. One of them also sells new half-speed masters.