Remembering Record Stores

[Bill B]

I had a Korvettes, Two Guys, Montgomery Ward, and Sears all within 2 miles of my house and they all had very decent (albeit generic) music departments. Pretty much all my earliest music purchases occurred at these stores. Then a wave of music specialty stores became the norm to go to buy music. Some of them were huge in size, almost unimaginable today. Then the internet came along. Now there are a couple of B&M stores within a 20 mile radius but they are all shadows of the former ones and I rarely go there because their selection is minuscule compared to the late 1900s.

 

[GilWave]

Korvettes and Tower Records were the most traumatic losses for me.

We had a great Tower Records in Paramus NJ - spent a lot of time and $$$ there.

In the '90s and '00s, we had CD World in Paramus and Totowa NJ. Well run stores with management that understood music lovers and audiophiles.

 

[Quad Linda]

I regularly shopped at five of six Chicago Korvettes locations: Arlington Heights, North Riverside, Elmhurst, Morton Grove and Oak Lawn. Four of them were Korvette City, with a full hi-fi salon in addition to a record dept and appliances/tv/small electronics dept. Korvettes even had a proprietary (house) brand of hi-fi called XAM. It was the backwards spelling of the electronics buyer's cat, Max!

Tower Records first opened in Illinois in the 90's. I shopped at all 4 Chicago locations regularly: Clark St., Downtown (formerly Rose's flagship), Schaumburg and Bloomingdale. Also shopped on multiple visits 4th & Broadway NYC, old and new upper west side NYC stores, Trump Tower, Tower/Good Guys (electronics) superstore in Vegas, New & Old UNLV stores and New Orleans.

Became friends with several Chicago area Korvettes and Tower employees. They allowed me to exchange ANYTHING still in print for full credit, no receipt needed. Lots of 2ch LP's of mine became Quad LP's for an extra buck! My LP collection was already a couple hundred when I was in high school. I was one of their best customers.

Began buying Quad LP's in college. That eventually grew to over 500 QLP's & Q8's. Korvettes had an entire gondola full of Quad LP's! 1st three QLP's I bought: Santana III, Stoney End - Streisand, and Hold on to Me - Bonnie Koloc. Didn't have Quad gear yet, but was already doing the basic DY speaker arrangement.

 

[Bruce00]

Wow, what a walk down memory lane. Thank you for all the pics
I only went to one record store in my hometown of Tampa, it was a private owned store ( Can't remember the name) and I was in there every Friday night after cashing my paycheck

 

[Quad Linda]

Could the Tampa record store have been a location of Spec's Music?

 

[Bruce00]

Could the Tampa record store have been a location of Spec's Music?

To be honest, my memory is shot. Thats why Iam amazed by people that have such a clear memory Maybe too much welding fumes
I don't think so because it was always the same dude behind the counter, its was in a small strip mall in south Tampa.
He would always order what I was looking for, but I normally never knew what I would buy walking in.
Buying a vinyl album, was the first step for my weekend every Friday night

 

[Bill B]

I really miss the excitement and anticipation of going to a B&M music store on release day (used to be Tuesdays back in the day). Before the internet, when there was no easy way to track upcoming new releases, you never knew what would show up on the shelves. Sometimes it was like Christmas morning.

The anticipation of a new release that you've already pre-ordered weeks before showing up in your mailbox, is still exciting but it pales in comparison.

 

[audiomaster]

How times change. I went by my Walmart yesterday. They now sell LPs! But the total bin size would fit in a phone booth. That is if you could still find a phone booth!
And, by the way. They are no longer $4.95 either!

 

[The Rang]

Korvettes and Tower Records were the most traumatic losses for me.

Yes, Tower for sure.
Being a west coaster I never visited a Korvettes, but if you miss them they must have been good.

 

[nikomen]

Sam Goody's on LI in NY!

 

[Sal1950]

I joined in 1971, as I recall the offer then was 3 free LP's for $2.00 with no obligation to buy anything more. My freebies were Five Man Electrical Band "Goodbys and Butterflies" , The Who "Meaty Beaty Big and Bouncy", and Three Dog Night "Golden Biscuits".

You either keep very detailed records or have an incredible memory for folks our age.
I CRS from back then. LOL
I'm pretty sure my first CD mid 1980s came from Chicago Digital, the first CD store in the ChiTown area AFAIR. I'm sure @Quad Linda knows where I mean. Now where and when I bought my first 45s and LP's sometime in the late 50s, God only knows.

 

[Bruce00]

How times change. I went by my Walmart yesterday. They now sell LPs! But the total bin size would fit in a phone booth. That is if you could still find a phone booth!
And, by the way. They are no longer $4.95 either!

LOL, funny you posted this, as I recently bought a couple albums from Walmart Online. Their shipping dept could teach a certain quadio shipper how to package their products so they arrive undamaged.
And No, I can't remember what I paid for them

 

[Bruce00]

You either keep very detailed records or have an incredible memory for folks our age.
I CRS from back then. LOL
I'm pretty sure my first CD mid 1980s came from Chicago Digital, the first CD store in the ChiTown area AFAIR. I'm sure @Quad Linda knows where I mean. Now where and when I bought my first 45s and LP's sometime in the late 50s, God only knows.

Thank you for letting me Iam NOT the only one with CRS around here.

 

[barfle]

Licorice Pizza, Tower Records,Virgin Megastore …

And thise are the ones from the 70s and 80s.

I’m pretty sure there were a bunch of independent record stores in the 60s, but the blank spots in my memory keep growing. I think I did most of my buying in thise days from places like Sears, Broadway, Robinsons, and a few other long-gone retailers. Oh, and the PX for a couple of years. The little town in Germany where I was stationed had a place that sold records for 10DM, which was $2.50 to the rest of us.

Edit: In the early 00s, there was a FYE store within walking distance of my office. Then the office moved, and the only thing close was Fourbucks coffee.

 

[GilWave]

Yes, Tower for sure.
Being a west coaster I never visited a Korvettes, but if you miss them they must have been good.

Whenever would go to LA for work or trade shows, I always made a stop at Tower Sunset. What a store!!

Now, it's Amoeba. I have friends in Hollywood and Studio City, they'd be like "hey man, you going to Amoeba? Take me with you" and I'd be like 'well, I'll be there for two or three hours or more, so if you're cool with that and won't get bored or restless, let's go'

So needless to say, I usually end up going by myself ;-)

 

[nikomen]

Peaches in Virginia Beach and Norfolk. They had a Ticketmaster right in the store.

 

[Bruce00]

Thank you for letting me Iam NOT the only one with CRS around here.

See I forgot to put **know**in my post

 

[Quad Linda]

You either keep very detailed records or have an incredible memory for folks our age.
I CRS from back then. LOL
I'm pretty sure my first CD mid 1980s came from Chicago Digital, the first CD store in the ChiTown area AFAIR. I'm sure @Quad Linda knows where I mean. Now where and when I bought my first 45s and LP's sometime in the late 50s, God only knows.

My first CD's were from Pacific Stereo along w/a Sony CDP-101. I had already left for repping, but still got employee price. Bought
Born to Run
Guilty
Nylon Curtain
Night Passage - Weather Report
Man with the Horn - Miles
Holst/Handel/Bach - Fennell (Telarc)
Mussorgsky: Pictures " "

I also still got employee price at the high end shop I had managed.
Japan CD's bought immediately after my Pacific visit:
Abbey Road Toshiba/EMI
Let's Dance
Dark Side
Tug of War - Macca
Wild Things Run Fast - Joni Mitchell

Then, to Record City, where I also got employee price. Owner Jimmy P. Staggs was a friend and a childhood hero: DJ & PD at WCFL.
several German bull's-eye CD's:

Rumours
Minute by Minute
Court & Spark
Al Jarreau
Avalon
Flesh and Blood - Roxy Music
Girl from Ipanema
Bodies & Souls - Manhattan Transfer

I headed home, hooked up the player and ROCKED.

My first record I bought was a 78 more than 25 years before.

Yes, I know Chris Miller at Chicago Digital. When they sold imports, I dropped a few hundred $$$/month there. Haven't visited in years.

 

[cbmmm3]

I really miss the excitement and anticipation of going to a B&M music store on release day (used to be Tuesdays back in the day). Before the internet, when there was no easy way to track upcoming new releases, you never knew what would show up on the shelves. Sometimes it was like Christmas morning.

The anticipation of a new release that you've already pre-ordered weeks before showing up in your mailbox, is still exciting but it pales in comparison.

I miss that thrill also. It was a magical era. The local FM rock radio would have commercials from the label on the upcoming releases. Whet the appetite.
And the day of excitement was going to the record store to buy that new release on release day

 

[Sal1950]

My first CD's were from Pacific Stereo along w/a Sony CDP-101

Which Pacific Stereo did you work for? I did a ton of business with the one on North Ave in Oak Park.
I do remember my first CD player, a Magnavox CDB-560 that had been so well reviewed as
the budget player to buy. The Sony CDP-101 was way out of my price range in those days.
IIRC my first CD was Dire Staits - Brothers In Arms and a few others I can't remember.
Wow, getting those first CD's were exciting times!