Vinyl lives! 10 great record stores for a musical treasure hunt
At a time when smartphone users can access hundreds of thousands of songs in an instant, stores selling music on vinyl are still flourishing. "There is the excitement of the hunt and chase. You just don’t know what's going to come next when you flip through records,” says Amanda Petrusich, author of Do Not Sell at Any Price: The Wild, Obsessive Hunt for the World's Rarest 78 RPM Records (Scribner, $16). "Going to a record store is a physical experience in a way that acquiring music online is not." And most shops are interested in buying old albums too. She shares some favorite stores specializing in vinyl records with Larry Bleiberg for USA TODAY.
End of All Music
Oxford, Miss.
Not only does this college town have Square Books, one the country’s greatest book stores, but it has an equally amazing record shop, Petrusich says. When she last visited she had to leave a sweatshirt behind to make room in her luggage for all the albums she purchased. The staff often features bands from the storied Mississippi Delta region. theendofallmusic.com
Bop Street Records
Seattle
Owner Dave Voorhees helps make this one of Petrusich's favorite stores in the country. "He has a crazy encyclopedic knowledge of music in all its forms, a human Pandora algorithm that can synthesize your taste and tell you what you may like," she says. "Give yourself some time. It's a big store and it has a huge collection." bopstreetrecords.com
Amoeba Music
Los Angeles
This West Coast giant, with additional locations in San Francisco and Berkeley, Calif., is routinely called the nation's best record store, based on its sheer size. "There's something in there to indulge any weirdo proclivity you have or may have had. If it exists, it has probably passed through Amoeba's at some time," Petrusich says. amoeba.com
Philadelphia Record Exchange
This small store in Philly’s Fishtown neighborhood is a great place for treasure hunting, stocking 78 records and cassettes, along with LPs. "They have really great and weird taste. You can trust that anything you find there is worth a spin or two," Petrusich says. philarecx.com
Academy Record Annex
Brooklyn, N.Y.
Petrusich's local record shop stands out for its knowledgeable staff. "This is a town that loves music and there's such great music generated. It's a great place to go and chat with employees," she says. academy-lps.com
Jerry’s Records
Pittsburgh
The store, one of the few in the eastern U.S. that stocks 78 records, made headlines several years ago when a 1936 Robert Johnson blues recording, I Believe I'll Dust My Broom, was discovered here. "It's extraordinarily rare. It's always really exciting when people find these intact playable records," Petrusich says. Earlier this year, the store made news when it gave away 20,000 records to customers in sealed boxes of 100 albums. jerrysrecords.com
Jackpot Records
Portland, Ore.
It's no surprise that the hipster capital of the Northwest would have a great record shop, Petrusich says. "Portland is the kind of town that has a particular sort of affinity toward any kind of archaic or outmoded technology that can be re-interpreted or re-appreciated." Last year the shop bought a collection of 125,000 records and has slowly been putting them out on the floor. jackpotrecords.com
Vintage Vinyl
St. Louis
One of the country's oldest operating record stores opened its doors in 1979, back when a Walkman was considering cutting-edge. Now it supplements its brick-and-mortar shop with an online operation. "They have a big web presence so you can order if you can’t make it to St. Louis in person," Petrusich says. vintagevinyl.com
Grimey’s
Nashville
It's not hard to find music in Music City, but this shop makes it especially easy, hosting band appearances in its main store, and running a full-on rock club in the basement. "It's an off-the-beaten track venue. They do the most rad insider stuff," Petrusich says. grimeys.com
Princeton (N.J.) Record Exchange
With its dollar bins and constantly updating inventory, Petrusich considers this the best record store in New York, even though it’s 90 minutes outside the city. "Serendipity is in the air here. You never know what you'll find," she says. "Leap on the new arrival section. That's where you'll find things that haven't been sorted. They might have been dumped there just an hour ago." prex.com