Just noticed that Princeton Record Exchange was listed for the city guide feature. I have never been out to the shop, do they stock a nice selection of raers?
In all honesty, unless you're going to a boutique shop, or you find some old antique shop in the middle of nowhere, you're not gonna be swimming in raer, esp going to a shop in a heavily populated area like nj. Once people tell you about a record store, you better beleive you're not gonna be walking in there finding private press funk/soul/psych titles.
OK, it's not going to be brimming with "raer" but To*y's assessment goes against what I have been told in the past, which is that PRE is an excellent shop ... and I've been wanting to check it out for years ... can we get a second (and third and fourth and fifth) opinion?
Big_Stacks"I don't worry about hittin' power, cause I don't give 'em nuttin' to hit." 4,670 Posts
SoulOnIce said:
OK, it's not going to be brimming with "raer" but To*y's assessment goes against what I have
been told in the past, which is that PRE is an excellent shop ... and I've been wanting to check it
out for years ... can we get a second (and third and fourth and fifth) opinion?
Hey,
I've had some "come up" in there, but you gotta put in the work. :real_headz:
OK, it's not going to be brimming with "raer" but To*y's assessment goes against what I have
been told in the past, which is that PRE is an excellent shop ... and I've been wanting to check it
out for years ... can we get a second (and third and fourth and fifth) opinion?
Hey,
I've had some "come up" in there, but you gotta put in the work. :real_headz:
Peace,
Big Stacks from Kakalak
it's a big enough store w/ a quick turnover, you can get some deals...
also, one of the few stores to still put out things like rockabilly comps or 80's pressings of old chess stuff for 2.99...
so, even if you don't pull out heat, you at least get some decent stuff for cheap...
I think it's a pretty decent shop as far as record stored go. I've been to far worse. Sure, you're probably not going to find raer for cheap, but they do get a lot of collections in and they are, for the most part, priced to move. They had a lot of jazz raer when I was there a month ago: Billy Parker - Freedom of Speech, Pharoah on India Navigation, a ton of Sun Ra test presses, and Ndikho Xaba which I picked up. Sure, it's probably not what it used to be 10 years ago, but what is anymore?
i didnt realize stuff like that even hit the floors anymore. what were the prices on those, maru?
every time ive gone, in the 2000s, its been dryyyyyy. and all the employees ive met from there...often at record shows selling heat, told me that the clerks loooot shit.
but shit, i guess if you go regularly stuff should pop up.
nicest thing i got in the last ten years was ahmad jamal awakening for 3 bucks. not bad. but that was it.
In all honesty, unless you're going to a boutique shop, or you find some old antique shop in the middle of nowhere, you're not gonna be swimming in raer, esp going to a shop in a heavily populated area like nj. Once people tell you about a record store, you better beleive you're not gonna be walking in there finding private press funk/soul/psych titles.
peace,xavier
X,
The key to scoring in these types of places is being persistant and hitting them 1-2 times a week. You're right in the respect that I should not be able to go into a store in ANY major city at random and score unless I just happen to be in the right place at the right time. Locals keep places like this cleaned out, and they are probably scoring heat. I mean, I do pretty well in the D/FW area but if someone flies into town at random and does well, shame on me.
I frequent the spot and while Rockadelic and Big Stacks are correct, PREX also sells A LOT to dealers. Saw a Japanese dealer walk out the other day with $8000 of spiritual jazz that never made the stacks. Terrible. Terrible. Terrible.
i didnt realize stuff like that even hit the floors anymore. what were the prices on those, maru?
every time ive gone, in the 2000s, its been dryyyyyy. and all the employees ive met from there...often at record shows selling heat, told me that the clerks loooot shit.
but shit, i guess if you go regularly stuff should pop up.
nicest thing i got in the last ten years was ahmad jamal awakening for 3 bucks. not bad. but that was it.
they have a jazz raers section right before they start the "A's". that's where the Ndikho Xaba and Billy Parker were. Parker was $250, and Xaba was $200, both pretty fair IMO, especially the Xaba which could have gone for twice that somewhere else. then the rest are just sprinkled throughout the entire jazz section. Pharoah was something like $100, and the sun ras were between $40 and $100. i think the best i've done there in terms of bargains was a root down for $8, and a pyramids lalibela for $1.
not a bad shop but their lack of raer has always been a mystery. my mom lives a few blocks away so there were many years i went there once a week and i can probably name every decent record i've bought there and the ones i left behind. there is a psych dude on staff so he probably takes some, but all? i think every record over $20 gets a colored sticker thats easier on the sleeve.
I think I bought more records at Princeton the one time I went there than at any record shop I've been to on the west coast (more than a few). Maybe I'm just not that picky but it was very fruitful for me that day. Maybe I just got lucky.
Wasn't bowled over by this place about 8 years ago. But I was on some in and out ish, and am by no means a master digger. I think I pulled a rinked Toussaint Life Love and Faith, if I remember correctly.
unless you're en route to philly or ny from philly or around there in dirty jersz and you're like oh well i'm here, it is stupid to go. it's out of the way and akin to an oasis with very little water.
i used to go when my brother would have ice hockey games at lawrenceville but that was in like 1994 and i was happy to find all of the kraftwerk albums in the section marked kraftwerk for 3 bucks each back then. in recent stop ins i have only found 1 or 2 good things.
the last time i went there the fat ass clerk was eating a fucking gross looking sandwich and at one point he farted a silent death fart and i got really mad because i knew it was him with that nasty food and it smelled up the whole area and i straight walked out with thoughts in my head like fuck records and fuck this gross oaf that eats gross sandwiches and farts poisonous farts.
i don't know maybe you should go. all those fart tainted records need a home.
I frequent the spot and while Rockadelic and Big Stacks are correct, PREX also sells A LOT to dealers. Saw a Japanese dealer walk out the other day with $8000 of spiritual jazz that never made the stacks. Terrible. Terrible. Terrible.
well, "terrible" in the sense that if they dont have big cash japan man come in every once and a while then they might not still be open...a store needs a 8,000 to 10,000 day every once in a while to keep things moving. Stores cant stay open with timmy-dig-a-lots lookin for bargain braeks...just sayin'
Word. I didn't mean terrible business practice. I don't know the first thing about running a record shop. I meant terrible for customers like me.
FWIW, they initially said that they were going to put this entire spiritual jazz collection out in the stacks, to answer complaints that good jazz never makes it to the stacks anymore. They are well aware that people think their jazz section has fallen off. I've easily spent a couple grand there in my life, but with dealers, employees and employees' friends cleaning out the back room, I'm personally starting to find my record shopping time better spent elsewhere.
Isn't it possible that the staff had put the records out, or were preparing to, when Japanman swooped down?
There've been plenty of occasions that a nice collection got decimated within hours of it appearing. It's not always trickery afoot.
I've never found anything at P-Rex but never done anything more than stop in briefly. I always seem to do better at Hoagie Haven.
P-Rex was a dream when I was a youngster. I raerly had to go in to the city to grab new 12" or tapes, no matter how raer. I have a Criminal Minded that I bought there when I was a wee little Celray that has a label that will NEVER come off. I've tried everything short of a blowtorch. Same with my Low Profile LP. Like El Ralphster said, these days it is mostly a sideshow experience to the gastrointestinal main event that is the Haven.
Comments
peace,xavier
Hey,
I've had some "come up" in there, but you gotta put in the work. :real_headz:
Peace,
Big Stacks from Kakalak
it's a big enough store w/ a quick turnover, you can get some deals...
also, one of the few stores to still put out things like rockabilly comps or 80's pressings of old chess stuff for 2.99...
so, even if you don't pull out heat, you at least get some decent stuff for cheap...
every time ive gone, in the 2000s, its been dryyyyyy. and all the employees ive met from there...often at record shows selling heat, told me that the clerks loooot shit.
but shit, i guess if you go regularly stuff should pop up.
nicest thing i got in the last ten years was ahmad jamal awakening for 3 bucks. not bad. but that was it.
X,
The key to scoring in these types of places is being persistant and hitting them 1-2 times a week. You're right in the respect that I should not be able to go into a store in ANY major city at random and score unless I just happen to be in the right place at the right time. Locals keep places like this cleaned out, and they are probably scoring heat. I mean, I do pretty well in the D/FW area but if someone flies into town at random and does well, shame on me.
Rich
they have a jazz raers section right before they start the "A's". that's where the Ndikho Xaba and Billy Parker were. Parker was $250, and Xaba was $200, both pretty fair IMO, especially the Xaba which could have gone for twice that somewhere else. then the rest are just sprinkled throughout the entire jazz section. Pharoah was something like $100, and the sun ras were between $40 and $100. i think the best i've done there in terms of bargains was a root down for $8, and a pyramids lalibela for $1.
true, although I think after years of complaints they've finally fixed this
Damn I forgot about how bad them shits were. Fucking WORST...
i used to go when my brother would have ice hockey games at lawrenceville but that was in like 1994 and i was happy to find all of the kraftwerk albums in the section marked kraftwerk for 3 bucks each back then. in recent stop ins i have only found 1 or 2 good things.
the last time i went there the fat ass clerk was eating a fucking gross looking sandwich and at one point he farted a silent death fart and i got really mad because i knew it was him with that nasty food and it smelled up the whole area and i straight walked out with thoughts in my head like fuck records and fuck this gross oaf that eats gross sandwiches and farts poisonous farts.
i don't know maybe you should go. all those fart tainted records need a home.
well, "terrible" in the sense that if they dont have big cash japan man come in every once and a while then they might not still be open...a store needs a 8,000 to 10,000 day every once in a while to keep things moving. Stores cant stay open with timmy-dig-a-lots lookin for bargain braeks...just sayin'
FWIW, they initially said that they were going to put this entire spiritual jazz collection out in the stacks, to answer complaints that good jazz never makes it to the stacks anymore. They are well aware that people think their jazz section has fallen off. I've easily spent a couple grand there in my life, but with dealers, employees and employees' friends cleaning out the back room, I'm personally starting to find my record shopping time better spent elsewhere.
Okay, Drogba just entered the game. Gotta go.
There've been plenty of occasions that a nice collection got decimated within hours of it appearing. It's not always trickery afoot.
I've never found anything at P-Rex but never done anything more than stop in briefly. I always seem to do better at Hoagie Haven.
P-Rex was a dream when I was a youngster. I raerly had to go in to the city to grab new 12" or tapes, no matter how raer. I have a Criminal Minded that I bought there when I was a wee little Celray that has a label that will NEVER come off. I've tried everything short of a blowtorch. Same with my Low Profile LP. Like El Ralphster said, these days it is mostly a sideshow experience to the gastrointestinal main event that is the Haven.
When I'm in town, I always hit up Alfonso's down the 206 for some flavor.