New/Used Record Shops

[John72953]

I went shopping for some vinyl with two of my friends yesterday, and we decided to go to a place called Ric's Recollections in Port Credit (Mississauga, ON). I discovered this place about a year ago and have been a frequent visitor ever since. Ric just moved into larger premises, so I invited the boys along for a visit. We spent about 2 hours browsing and each of our wallets is now a little lighter.

Ric's shop is immaculate! Everything, and I mean everything, is perfectly categorized and alphabetized. Each of his albums comes with an outer poly sleeve, which is a nice touch. Most places don't let you keep them, so kudos to Ric for that extra-special inclusion. Since I have a sizeable collection I find myself reaching out for more and more audiophile pressings, but do come across the occasional standard release of something.

During yesterday's excusrsion I picked up the new MOFI "Sinatra At The Sands" 2LP set, along with used copies of Ry Cooder's "Crossroads" soundtrack and Bruce Cockburn's "Inner City Front" LP. I was going to listen to them last night, but I was exhausted from lack of sleep the night before, so I crawled into bed rather early.

Anyway..here are a few shots of Ric's place.






We are very lucky here in the Toronto, ON area as there are literally dozens of used vinyl shops. Additionally there are a number of Record Fairs that make the circuit every year, so there is never a lack of availability.

John

[audioguy]

Fantasy Land Records in Atlanta. Been around a long time. Great place

[vinylphilemag]

Sigh... I wish Kelowna had as much choice for record shops as other places like Toronto. I guess with a population of only about 100,000 I should be greatful we have ONE decent record shop...

[MylesBAstor]

Sigh... I wish Kelowna had as much choice for record shops as other places like Toronto. I guess with a population of only about 100,000 I should be greatful we have ONE decent record shop...

Could be sadder. Could live in NY where the number of vinyl shops is shrinking to nothing. (and anything of value or desirability never makes it onto the shelves with the advent of Ebay.) And Princeton Record Exchange, one store that used to carry tons of vinyl, is but a shell of itself. Seems their main interest in selling used DVDs now What was four isles of classical is now two boxes. What was an isle of jazz is not four boxes. The only area that has stayed roughly the same is rock, though the quality is not what it once was.

[DWR]

I guess we are lucky here in the southeast Michigan area we still have some record shops to shop at and I'm sure Kachi 22 will chime in here at some point. Two stores come to mind for me right off the bat. Encore Recordings in downtown Ann Arbor, this place is the opposite side of the coin of the store John posted pictures of, that store is nice and neat, Encore is packed wall to wall with vinyl and cds with the emphasis on vinyl, the aisles are narrow and it gets kind of tough to move around in there sometimes but I find that to be part of the "charm" of the store, they have thousands and thousands of used records there. The other store that comes to mind is Solo records on Woodward in Royal Oak, it is a much smaller store than encore but they have a good selection of high quality used vinyl, I picked up some near mint condition Zappa records last week for $3 a piece.

[DWR]

John, Let us know how you like that mofi edition of the Sinatra at the Sands, I have a mint dead silent copy on reprise records. Also its good to hear from another Bruce Cockburn fan Inner City Front is one of his real good ones, I have quite a few of his recordings also. Those are the kind of titles you find at the good used stores.

[Jay_S]

Ric's shop does indeed look like a well-organized and inviting place. I wasn't aware that "Toto" had such an extensive catalog!

[Ocean56]

I guess we are lucky here in the southeast Michigan area we still have some record shops to shop at and I'm sure Kachi 22 will chime in here at some point. Two stores come to mind for me right off the bat. Encore Recordings in downtown Ann Arbor, this place is the opposite side of the coin of the store John posted pictures of, that store is nice and neat, Encore is packed wall to wall with vinyl and cds with the emphasis on vinyl, the aisles are narrow and it gets kind of tough to move around in there sometimes but I find that to be part of the "charm" of the store, they have thousands and thousands of used records there. The other store that comes to mind is Solo records on Woodward in Royal Oak, it is a much smaller store than encore but they have a good selection of high quality used vinyl, I picked up some near mint condition Zappa records last week for $3 a piece.

I've gotten good recordings from Solo too!

There is also Street Corner Music on Greenfield Rd. in Oak Park.

And this is a little farther away, but Flat Black and Circular in East Lansing is another good outlet.

[John72953]

John, Let us know how you like that mofi edition of the Sinatra at the Sands, I have a mint dead silent copy on reprise records. Also its good to hear from another Bruce Cockburn fan Inner City Front is one of his real good ones, I have quite a few of his recordings also. Those are the kind of titles you find at the good used stores.

The Sinatra At The Sands is phenomenal. I've only had a listen once, but it's a fine, fine pressing from what I can tell. I hope to have a chance to listen more leisurely in the next day or two as I'm off. I also like Reprise and the pressings they're doing. The Neil Young Massey Hall 1971 is superb and dead quiet.

John