Greatest record store of your youth?

How I miss Stupeurs & Trompettes and Kaleidoscope! They were two record stores in the center of Marseille: the first one was specialized in avant-garde musics (from Rock In Opposition to industrial music, including free jazz); the second one was more... "generalist", but focused on alternative musics, would it be Heavy Metal, Punk, 70's Funk, Post-Punk, etc...
But they closed before I became a salaryman and get able to spend half my wage on records!

HolyMoly wrote: Finnforest wrote: To get to the gritty, cooler stores you had to venture into the city.  At least around here.  Saint Paul and Mpls had some decent ones.  A few were open late night so you could go out, party, and then hit the record store late before heading home.. That reminds me, there's a store in Athens GA ("Low Yo Yo Stuff") that's right next door to the 40 Watt Club, and they stay open late at night so people can hang out before and after shows.  The owner is a great guy too, ready and willing to talk for hours on end about anything music-related under the sun, a real walking encyclopedia.  I wish I got out to Athens more often.  He actually relocated to Atlanta for a couple of years, and I took advantage of that, then he moved back.

That sounds great!  Wish there were lots more of such opportunities for kids these days to have that music connection in a social venue like that

akamaisondufromage wrote: Ahh record shops of my youth!  I lived near Cambridge when I was young.  When I was a teenager I used to go into Cambridge to meet friends and hang around at record shops (or if my parents went shopping I would spend the whole time leafing through vinyl or at least the beautiful covers big and bold colourful covers aaah ! ) .  Probably not as cool as other record shops above, I used to hang around Andy's Records (AKA THe Beat Goes On) which was tiny (originally) and the basement was just sooo coooool (At least to a spotty teenager it was cool) and cramped, no room to get passed anyone.  Andy's also had a store on Cambridge Market which was also brilliant, always busy, I remember buying GonG live Etc from there.  The guy behind the counter was suitably sniffy about my purchase but I think he was a fan too.   There was also another record shop with individual listening booths  which was rare (old fashioned) then.  I can remember listening to Bill Nelson's Red Noise in one of them.  Listening posts came back again later on in the CD era.    Anyway, Record shops eh?  Aaah!  Record shops .........

Too bad we don't have a great record where my family lives but my new home has Mad Platter and Groovers 

Some great Prog sh*t is hidden in Groovers  some rarities and vinyls of Close To The Edge and A Farewell To Kings


Edited by ProgMetaller2112 - March 12 2013 at 22:06

Record and Tape Traders,a great Maryland chain.There used to be about 12 of these stores,now 1 is left.

Edited by TheProgtologist - March 13 2013 at 14:01

Back in Potters Bar, where I grew up, there was a music shop called Delmars which sold instruments & singles (no albums); I believe this was where at age 7 I bought my first ever single (Monster Mash by the Crypt Kicker Five).

Once the teenage years kicked in, it was either Harlequin Records or Harum Records in Barnet. Harum was a splendid shop run by an old hippy (he was probably 28 ) & it was here I started to build up my late 70s collection of heavy metal & prog - one great feature though was they sold 2nd hand records cheaply, so most Saturdays would find me perusing the 'used' section & then minutely inspecting the album for scratches before parting with £1.00 (single album) or £1.50 (double) - occasionally £2.00 , but that was for a mint version of Santana's triple live 'Lotus' (one of my bargains there was an orignal gatefold sleeve version of Hendrix's 'Band Of Gypsies' for £1.50)

We then heard of this legendary place in London's Oxford Street called Virgin, so we paid our £0.20 on the 134 bus (Potters Bar Station to London Centre Point) which dropped us virtually outside... we opened the doors to be confronted by a veritable cavern of Vinyl... whole aisles of heavy rock... a whole section of prog (plus half a floor dedicated to jazz, which we avoided like the plague - how little we knew, eh?) & staff who knew exactly what they were talking about. We had found heaven and this became my 3rd home for much of the early 1980s (my second home was, of course, Hammersmith Odeon).

Incidentally, next door was a place we'd never head of called MacDonalds (I think it was the first one in London) where we could get real American burgers!

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It's all a long way from Amazon "buy now with one click"

Edited by Jim Garten - March 14 2013 at 04:09

manic hedgehog down cowley road in oxford circa late '80's........even though at the time i was working in our price records i used to pop in on my day off.....the guy who worked there got me into the pixies and cocteau twins.....pretty much anything on 4AD records......used to always leave with some records.

^^^

I now have the song running around in my head

Dean wrote: I remember when Virgin was a tiny shop on Oxford Street, I seem to recall it was upstairs above another shop, but I could be wrong

The one we went to must've been just after the Megastore opened

And of all of them, Virgin, HMV, Our Price, Tower, Harum, Harlequin...

...only HMV remains (and that's only just)

Hi,

Edited by moshkito - March 16 2013 at 12:00