Trip to a Record Store - What's Your Latest?

[Quad Linda]

Record/CD stores are am endangered species. Like many of you, a large percentage of what I buy these days is on line. Yet, I have always loved trips to the record store. Soaking in the ambience, being introduced to a wonderful new act, finding something you've sought, and discovering titles you didn't know that existed are among the garden of delights which await.

We'd love to hear of your latest expedition. Here's mine:
Exclusive Company (say it with me!)
Greenfield, WI (a SW Milwaukee 'burb)
across the street from Southridge, WI's largest mall
sadly, Southridge has no record/CD stores, yet when it opened in '70, nine stores carried records & tapes
at least 4 of them carried Quad in its' heyday

This may be the best record store in either Wisconsin or Illinois.




for those partial to metal, it has its' own room:


Among my acquisitions on this visit were an OOP 2 CD UK ELP Pictures and a McCartney New promotional cube:

 

[atrocity]

We'd love to hear of your latest expedition.

Saturday morning I went to a garage sale put on by a guy who also runs a "real" record store. Every few months he piles up some of his less-than-stellar LPs and sells them for $2 each. I finally broke down and bought the CD-4 "Aloha from Hawaii", which has water damage on the jacket but nice-looking records. Don't know if/when I'll ever actually play it.

The only other quad I saw was a CD-4 of "Muscle of Love" with very bizarre damage that would be utterly impossible for anything to play ever. Difficult to describe...kinda like someone got it warm and bent about two inches of one part of it. Not a traditional warp by any means.

Also got my first-ever copy of John Baldry's "It Ain't Easy". How the HELL did I miss that all these years? It's the record that links "Tumbleweed Connection" to "Every Picture Tells a Story".

 

[Quad Linda]

11/19/13
Rolling Stones Norridge, IL


Hear My Train A Comin' - Hendrix Blu-Ray
New (expanded CD) - McCartney also got New buttons for free. Thanks, Jim!

I Robot (2 CD Legacy Edition) - Alan Parsons Project
Lost in You (promo CD) - Petula Clark

 

[timbre4]

A sales rep spiffed me $100 and I promptly spent it all there!

 

[Odys]

I used to live a couple of miles away from Rolling Stones Records. I spent many, many hours of my youth there. Thanks for the pictures Linda, glad to see it's still there.

Zia Records are thriving in Arizona and in Las Vegas. I just spent $307 at the Zia on Sahara in Las Vegas on Black Friday Record Store Day. Two new Zia's have opened in the Phoenix metro area in the last year. I went to the Zia by my work today during lunch, a very rare occasion where I didn't buy anything. I was really just curious to see if they had any RSD merch left, which they didn't.

 

[cupboy]

Found an old phone book from 2005 at work today. Shows 2 Exclusive Company, 1 FYE, and 2 Sam Goody stores all in Mad City. Guess how many are left?

 

[Quad Linda]

None, although "B Side" on State St. is alive and well. I was there in August and it's as good as ever. http://b-sidemadison.com/



There are still 7 Exclusive Company locations throughout Wisconsin. http://www.exclusivecompany.com/



It's ALL your fault, 'cause you didn't buy enough software!

Found an old phone book from 2005 at work today. Shows 2 Exclusive Company, 1 FYE, and 2 Sam Goody stores all in Mad City. Guess how many are left?

 

[Quad Linda]

Vinyl Frontier - McHenry, IL yesterday.

 

[Failed Muso]

I had a thoroughly depressing trip to the shops today.

I decided to take the family to the city so they could spend some of their Xmas money and gift tokens. I thought it would be a good idea because the city has a few decent record stores as well as two branches of the sole remaining high street chain here in the UK. Also, as I managed to resurrect my old turntable over Xmas, I thought I might treat myself to some new vinyl. Knowing that the aforementioned chain would only have limited stock of any vinyl, I decided to visit the few indie stores left, tucked away down some old medieval back streets, just off the main shopping district.

Sadly, all of these indie stores were closed. Yes, I know it's a Sunday, but it's the Sunday after Xmas and pretty much everywhere else was open. I know these guys are small but I felt a tad let down. So, I ventured to the big chain store, both branches too. The sum total of vinyl was about 80 discs, tucked away in a dim recess, in shoddy wooden crates. So, I tried to find some Blu Ray Audio titles but there were none. A scan though the CD racks threw up nothing but regular CDs and the stock levels were poor, the titles on display were barely the 'best of' an artists repertoire and the whole experience left me feeling depressed, nostalgic and longing for the days I could walk into a record store without any particular desire to buy anything and come out hours later with a bag full of new stuff, waiting to be discovered.

Googling and searching Amazon has become the crate digging of the 21st century and it sucks by comparison.

I have a dream to one day open my own record store, combining it with some kind of café experience (my wife is a former barista and coffee shop manager) but I fear that it wouldn't make enough to keep me and my family supported, or that it would likely fail in the current climate. I just want to do something about the whole sorry situation, even if it is purely from a selfish point of view.

Oh well, I guess I'll point my browser to some place where I can buy myself a consolation gift... :rollseyes:

 

[EMB]

The last 'cool' record store I visited was back in August when the bride and I went to see The Julie (Kathleen Hanna) Ruin in D.C. Since it's right next door (we found this out by taking a nice long walk and scoping things out) bought quite a few goodies here, below street level: http://somrecordsdc.com/


ED

 

[LizardKing]

Real Groovy - Auckland

 

[EMB]

Came back from a recent trip and I always occasionally sidetrack to this store in Raleigh NC (my wife is very fond of a buffet place called 'Sweet Tomatoes" which is a few miles down Capital Blvd.). Just passin' through the Triangle (a pain if you're familiar with what a pain that can be at any time!), but I always find something interesting: http://www.edmckay.com/

ED

 

[LizardKing]

I went over the hill today to Wonderland Records & picked up Marvin Welch & Farrar on SQ LP...
http://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/music/65989366/more-than-vinyl-laid-down-in-hutt-valley-store

 

[Franklin]

I have a dream to one day open my own record store, combining it with some kind of café experience (my wife is a former barista and coffee shop manager) but I fear that it wouldn't make enough to keep me and my family supported, or that it would likely fail in the current climate. I just want to do something about the whole sorry situation, even if it is purely from a selfish point of view.

What's it they say overhere? "You don't open a record shop to make money" or something like that. That said the record shop and food/coffee thing seems to be working in an establishment down south.

 

[Quad Linda]

A couple weeks ago, we were in Milwaukee. We got some fantastic sausages at Euro on Muskego. We also had great food & drink at Benji's Deli and Mad Dog Saloon. The highlights of the day were trips to two local record stores:

Musical Memories is a GREAT used store on the east side, just a couple block west of Lake Michigan on Kilbourn:






We also visited Exclusive Company on Farwell:




Although Mad Dog is up the street from Exclusive Company on 76th St., we couldn't fit that one in. We'll be back in a couple weeks to see/hear Florida/Georgia Line.

 

[Clement]

I picked up 11 beauties from Squeezebox in Evanston yesterday! Here are some shots of the store:

 

[Sonik Wiz]

I picked up 10 beauties from Squeezebox in Evanston yesterday! Here are some shots of the store:
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Proof positive old threads never die on QQ! Last post in 2015 by Linda and now today. I love it.

Anyways didn't you just have a musical shopping spree in Japan? And what goodies did you pick up at Squeezebox? Any CD's etc or strictly vinyl? Nice pics!

 

[Clement]

Proof positive old threads never die on QQ! Last post in 2015 by Linda and now today. I love it.

Anyways didn't you just have a musical shopping spree in Japan? And what goodies did you pick up at Squeezebox? Any CD's etc or strictly vinyl? Nice pics!

The first picture (upper left) is the used CD section (just booklets–cases and discs behind the counter). I'll post the LPs i scored in another THREAD, but i will note that i went in to buy Albert King's Born Under a Bad Sign, and left with an additional 10 LPs from the SALE bin! Yeah, i have a problem . . . but at least my problem has a killer soundtrack!

 

[Clement]

Visiting my daughter in St. Paul, so i stopped by cheapo records!

 

[The Rang]

My last record store visit was Silver Platters in Bellevue WA, June 23.
I used to be in record stores once a week