WORST RECORD STORE, EVAR!
RAJ
tenacious local 7,783 Posts
The award goes to GOLD MILLION RECORDS in Bryn Mawr, PA
It's right there on the main drag on Lancaster Ave. It must have just opened. It looks like they bought out all of the remaining terds from the now defunct Plastic Fantastic added some track lighting and some swanky rugs and plopped $15 price tags on dollar bin throw-aways. I seriously have no idea how this place makes any money. It's targeted at rich main line clientelle, but still.Anyways, it gets my Worst Record Store Evar award for their snooty staff. There were boxes of records and some out in the open in front of the counter. Must have been new arrivals not ready to be priced, but some had price tags on them... I started filing through when this holier than thou trustafarian dude looked down upon me and said "There's nothing that concerns you down there." I called him an asshole and bounced... It was a lot worse than words can describe. You need to see this store for yourself (or while it's still open).What record store do you give the WORST RECORD STORE, EVAR! award to?
It's right there on the main drag on Lancaster Ave. It must have just opened. It looks like they bought out all of the remaining terds from the now defunct Plastic Fantastic added some track lighting and some swanky rugs and plopped $15 price tags on dollar bin throw-aways. I seriously have no idea how this place makes any money. It's targeted at rich main line clientelle, but still.Anyways, it gets my Worst Record Store Evar award for their snooty staff. There were boxes of records and some out in the open in front of the counter. Must have been new arrivals not ready to be priced, but some had price tags on them... I started filing through when this holier than thou trustafarian dude looked down upon me and said "There's nothing that concerns you down there." I called him an asshole and bounced... It was a lot worse than words can describe. You need to see this store for yourself (or while it's still open).What record store do you give the WORST RECORD STORE, EVAR! award to?
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This is a tough one - reflex makes me want to say Nuggets,
a Boston "institution" that has been around forever, and still
has many of the same records in the bins that were there when
I was an employee, 18 years ago! Still, I took a chance
in there the other day and copped a few decent albums, like
a sealed Tyrone Davis OG on Dakar for $8, so I'll give them a pass...
...I'll have to go with "DISCoveries," which is a combo book & record
store out in Alston, MA - owned & run by an endearing but insane old
Filipino woman, she has piles and piles of trashed albums, puts
Bob Seger "Against the Wind" LP's on the wall for $12, slaps $20
price tags on beat up split open Martha Reeves & the Vandellas
"Greatest Hits" 70's pressings, and I have yet to find ONE ALBUM
worth buying in that morass ... in fact, I would love to hear just
one "I scored ***** at DISCoveries" story, if only to give me hope
enough to make it worth going back in there sometime...
Tough competition. This place is worth a thread all its own. That lady has completely lost her mind, and let's not get started on the "organization". It's like somebody turned a record and book store upside down and shook the contents out into another store.
and can someone tell these guys the
SMFH
as for the trustafarian...
-----
Bananas, St. Pete FL. This dude has records but I'm so tired of the "Japanese come here every month so I charge top dollar" look shit up in a catalog and then go get it for me wakkness.
2nd Hand Rose NY NY. Queen Latifah records for $40. Case closed. Has to be a front for something, there is no possible way they make any money on vinyl.
Night Owl Records Easthampton MA. I got a couple great records when they first opened, last time in it was extremely depressing, prices MORE expensive than NYC in small town Mass??? Condition was an issue on almost everything. Only good record in the place was "Do I Do" 12" marked up to high heavens with "INSANELY RARE" on the sticker. Seems like a nice fellow running it so I kind of feel guilty posting about it but the consigned collection is way too wack. If you're reading this tell the guy who consigned it to come back to earth! I will come buy more shit if it's not VG-- special for $15.
big al's record barn(san jose, ca)
the record man(redwood city,ca)
and
rasputins music(oakland/berk,ca)
while these actually do SOMETIMES have good things,the service is shit.
big al's(when it used to be on the el camino and have a seperat 45 shop) used to
be a pretty cool place,until they took closed down(threw away alott of there records in the dumpster) and decided to take over what was once "rowes rare records"
big al, since i have been a customer since i was 14(now 34), i can remember him saying(and to this day) saying"if someone only would give me a million dollars, i would give this place up instantly. though his counterparts are cool and al can be cool sometimes too, he tends to just be grumpy most of the time.and the 50% sale has been going on for the past 5 years now(or even longer).but he has been doing this for a longggg time, so i really can't blame him for being the way he is.(but then again..)he has a shit load of records in the attic and in the back, but just refuses to put it out.and when you do get to talk him into it, he brings it out and you do find things, he refuses to price it(sometimes)but it tends to be most of the time.in short, they have the same stuff..mothers of invention:UNCLE MEAT stereo records for 150.00(in g- shape)and incredible bongo band for a buck?!?!?!?(yes i found a i.b.b. for a buck and it was in great shape)
the record man has some cool finds..but they don't price anything and they use "the book" in order to reference everything!if the record is g to vg he will charge you nm to m prices.i found a eugene blacknell"getting down" 7in there and it was beat to shit.he wanted 100 for it.(just cause the goldmine book listed it for a silly amount)but if you get the wife or the daugter(which is rare when one is alone)they will hook you up.there used to be this british girl that worked there for a hot sec and would really hook up super cheap prices."the r man" will jack you and sometimes,even if you are not being a jerk, he will ban people from the store(he is pretty notorious for this)myself and a couple of other people were banded from the store for just having an opinion.but theat was several years ago and he has forgotton about that.i give it this, a great source for local,int'l and jazz recs!steve grossman zulu stomp 7in(33rpm) multiples for 2 bucks each.
i used to work for rasputins for several years and for those whom either worked there or made a chance to visit,it can be both a humbling and miserable experience.they can have cool records there(pretty rare most of the time), but again, the service is shit.it's not the cats that work there, it's the owner.ken is one of the most distraught people i ever have met.he is the type of person(and i have seen this several,several times)would just make something bad happen in order to complain about it(like throwing trash on the ground and saying this store is a mess)after being told that our store sales went up 15%he actally tried having me fired for putting him on hold(but my supervisor backed me)if anything, i felt for the people at the berkley store, concidering he was at that store 24/7(and it was his main office)syl johnson:is it beacuse im black(sealed boot for 180)
best come up was aposento alto : goodbye old friends for 3.95(my heart almost skipped a beat
anyone else experience things like this in the south or north bay or just in general?!?!?
peace and much respect
adrian
Exactly... I talked to the dude at the nearby Repo Records and I think thats what he said... I never went there though... but since you recommend it
I can't find records in San Jose to save my life! Streetlight occasionally yields one or two things but goddamn it's dry out there. I do recall Tony Tripledouble passing me several copies of Viva Brasil years ago out there and me listening to it and throwing it back cos I thought it sucked.
best rant in a loong time, so righteous!
Oh man, I got a kick out of this one! I lived in New Paltz for like 5 or 6 years so I know of what you speak. Was the guy you were dealing with named Rick?
I heard from some other Mid-Hudson Strutters that they found stuff like sealed Cymandes for 10 cents there, but I don't know if that was recently.
I probably need to cosign Rasputins being the worst record store. You can find things in there ocassionally, and there are definitely much worse stores as far as selection. But the thing is that place has so much potential to be good and yet it is so bad. For all the time I spend in Amoeba and Rasputins I very rarely find anything I need for my personal collection.
ps
Record Man in Redwood City is a dickhead.
my friend used to swear by, I heard good things...of course,
stores seem to have changed alot in the past few years, owners
realize they have been "giving away" records and it makes them
crazy & irrational, now they are afraid to sell anything
because they realize the Jimmy Clanton LPs that were so hot in 1973
are now worthless, and the "crappy black music" that they were blowing
out for decades can fetch big money on that there intranet thingy...
i could not agree more.
was it steve lee.korean cat.yeah he is super cool.he was my old supe.
i could not agree more!!
it's not that dry.maybe a puddle, but not dry
peace and much respect
adrian(age)
Definitely not recently... there wasn't a record in there marked 10 cents.
True, but I always find interesting records and good stuff for the shop, I think yall are spoiled, there's no record store like that in NYC at all.
while I found some good stuff in there (German raer for cheap and good czech stuff) when i was living in prague, I do understand your complaints. It's true that they don't give a shit about foreign customers, but i was there more frequently and they eventually let me listen to records (at least last year they had two turntables there)...Mr. Thing also pulled a couple of good finds from there and when I smiled they didn't smile back, but at least they let me live and go through the bins without doing the stasi moves behind my back. However, I do think it is a general thing in the inner city of prague, I mean it really is that way: sooo many bullshitty idiots from Germany, US, England, France, Italy - you name it- that flood the city and behave like Richie Rich meets Bad Lieutenant and just rush the city with their ignorant attitudes...after several experiences I could understand that people in the inner city area are fed up and ice grill you whenever they can...
in general, every store that charges 50 cents to listen to a record is not worth steppin a foot in...
and over here in my city, the award goes to "j??rgens musikladen", owned by a shitty guy who has tons of records in his store, but you cannot listen to them and he has his unique pricing system, in which he sometimes charges a euro for every year plus an amount x for condition...getting a record from 1976? Fuggedaboutit...I don't know how he makes money, but i guess he has all this old bastards like him that buy schlager over there and everytime i stepped in there, he ice grilled me and made me feel like i was not worth it to be in his store...seriously, I tried to buy that herp alpert with "last tango in paris" that downtwon science used for summertime and this guy wanted what, 25 euros? geez, I was ghost in a sec...everytime i pass this store i get angry...as has been mentioned, people like that need to leave the record game asap!!!
mis dos centos,
peace,
s.d.
There are worse record stores in MA... Boston alone has such a selection of shitty stores it's hard to know where to start. Skippy white's and Cheapos have had their day. It used to be pretty dope, even 5 years ago before places like record hog started going out of business. I can only imagine what it was like in the 80s.
But I fucking DARE you in 2006 to go to looney tunes on mass ave in cambridge. They make serious coin off of alston and harvard square teens spending $ on ironic purchases. Vinyl, man! The one near berkeley in boston has huge back stock, but it's the shittiest you've ever seen. EZ listening LPs and soca 45s for days. You will feel physically ill. A runner up is in your ear in harvard. Shifty longhaired clerk dude (not the strutter who used to work there) who won't admit something is a repress and sits there all day eating chips, looking shit up on on ebay and not making eye contact gets the bozack.
That said, I did find something unusual there last time I was in town, but it was a freak occurance. Previous to that point I can't remember the last time I bought something, anything, there. Probably five years ago.
Nah, bearded white dude.
sounds like most stores where I live in Australia...
Las Vegas - Wax Tracks on Sahara. The guy who runs it is a whiny assfuck who over charges and brags about bullshit thats pointless and not even enjoyable in a pathetic sense. I once bought $35 worth of stuff there with my credit card and dude had the nerve to say I shouldn't even be ringing you up since you didn;' bring cash. WTF?!?! He went on about this during and after the transaction.
Seriously why do you accept credit card if you don't want folks using it? Dudes full of himself and his sad imaginary record world of importance
The biggest dick I've met in a store. His wife's cool... what's she doing!?
I go there once every couple of months thinking maybe I'll find something misplaced that he won't price too high. Most of the time I regret the trip, but sometimes I come up.
Big Al's is cool. It's where I started digging so I have a bit of a soft spot in my heart for it. Just down the street a bit from where I went to college. I've come up there countless times, but never in a section a record should belong. It's like a time warp when you walk in. The staff is all old grumpy dudes listening to ball games on the radio and talking about rockabilly records. I keep waiting for the store to just morph into black and white as soon as I walk in the door.
I rarely fuck with Streetlight and Rasputin's except for new releases.
Yeah the south bay kinda sucks for records. I've been back down here for a year now and the majority of what I've found is local private press terds in thrift stores. I prefer paying the extra dollar to the SF dudes holding it down... Justin, Chris, etc. Although the Dig Dug is promising. Can't wait for the next one.
DJ Ferrari
You sure about that? I've heard word that Biz Markie bought all his good doo-wop
Haha... I go there with my mom a lot when I'm out visiting because she likes to hit the stretch of music stores right there looking at keyboards and such. The only reason I've ever left there with anything is because mom's paying
Man, fuck them hoes and their "internet market value". I should have charged THEM for wasting my time.
I should have bought his whole stock of high fidelity EPs. $30 a piece... long gone now.
wow, these guys need to learn what's reasonable...
on the flip side of this situtation are stores like recycled recs milwaukee. cool ass staff of ex-hippie liberals. once upon a time, the owner offered to let me in the storerooom, and of course i expected to reenact a 'true SS horror story'. after pulling Egg (on deram), mad japanese jazz funk, and a willie and the bumblebees he's like "it'll take me a few days but i'll have them priced soon."
ahem.
so the next week i'm up there expecting his price list to be off the fuckin rocker, but instead it was like 12$ for willie 20$ for egg and so on... while i have to agree that stores like rhino need to step up their game, it certainly helps my digging demeanor to know the places/people like recycled exist.
Hey, that's nice of you, to give some background on Czeck Ice-grillage. And of course you're right.
Well put. It's horrible, I agree. I can put up with the common inner city ice grill, but I have the feeling these chicks are instructed to be dickheads, that's why I am so angry about it. And I have proof that it's not only a spoiled tourist thing. I asked my Czeck grandmother once, who lives a block away from that store, to pick up some records over there and she did. She said: "Here are your records, but how creepy are those girls?!"
Dissing an old Czeck baboeska =