New York City Vinyl/CD Store(s)

I'm making a little trip to NYC/Manhattan this Saturday and was wonderig if any of our Forum members who are in residence there can recommend any stores to check out? I recall Elmer stating
that there is only 1 decent store left on the island, can that be true? They need to resurrect Radio Row down on the lower West Side again..call it Stereo Row or something. Any guidance appreciated as I should have some time to browse....used or new LPs/CDs. I don't expect to find a stack of ELP DVD-A's of BSS <I'm sure the Ebay scavangers have struck everywhere by now> but there must be a place a bit bigger than we have in York, PA. I can't complain too much though, my local store had a quad LP copy of Mysterious Traveller that I picked up last night. Last OT topic.... new sets of Exile On Main Street comes out next Tuesday in the US....supposedly the deluxe CD set has a DVD with it which includes stuff from the C*cks*cker Blues movie. Curiosity made me pre-order. John S.

Found this list. You might call and see what's there. Anyone from NYC familiar with these stores? CitiDex New York City: http://www.citidex.com/646.htm

Exile On Main Street: http://www.rollingstones.com/news/unveiled-exile-main-st-collectors-edition

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=pd_lpo_..._m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=1KR1NKGSE2QH7HW078YM

Exile on Main St. - Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exile_on_Main_St.

Google - "rolling stones exile on main street": http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&...snum=0&ct=broad-revision&cd=1&ved=0CEkQ1QIoAA

BTW - on TUESDAY, MAY 18, 2010 - Mick Jagger will be on Larry King Live. From CNN: http://larrykinglive.blogs.cnn.com/

Quote: "Rock legend Mick Jagger! The 'Rolling Stones' frontman sits down face-to-face with Larry. An unforgettable hour you won't want to miss! Mick Jagger on Larry King Live!!"

that has to be the most outdated list of stores I've ever seen.

Sam Goody went out of business in the 90's. HMV pulled out of the US in the earlier part of the decade.

what would you need from NYC? I was just at J&R this morning and saw the ad for Exile. Why we need another edition of Exile is beyond me, but gotta make that cash somehow.

DKA said:

that has to be the most outdated list of stores I've ever seen.

Sam Goody went out of business in the 90's. HMV pulled out of the US in the earlier part of the decade.

what would you need from NYC? I was just at J&R this morning and saw the ad for Exile. Why we need another edition of Exile is beyond me, but gotta make that cash somehow.

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Hi DKA,

John Svensson is asking what new or used LP/CDs / DVD-A / SACD stores he could go to in NYC to check out. Do you know of any that you would recommend?

Is this Google search any good? "record stores new york city" http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&...w+york+city&aq=f&aqi=g1g-m2&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=

The area around Bleecker St. in the West Village is home to a lot of shops that have been there since the Village was the Village Dylan used to sing about. Definitely some vinyl shops in the area. Some still good. Some have become havens for cut-out CDs that long ago were dumped there and collect dust. St. Marks Place in the East Village still has a couple of similar places, but those are dying out as well. I used to spend more time at them, but haven't walked into one for a while. A lot of the ones mentioned on your Google listing are the ones I speak of.

The first on your list, Other Music, is a wonderful anomaly that has held steady despite so many other music stores in NYC fading away. Other Music is unapologetically indie to the core, categorizing their music into categories that make little sense unless you're a regular, and carrying nothing that even comes close to the mainstream. The Tower Records right across the street is long gone, but Other Music still remains. There's also a couple of indie-leaning places in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, always a fun neighborhood.

There is tiny relic of a place called "Record and Tape Center" on 5th avenue, around 9th street, in Park Slope, Brooklyn, run by a stubborn guy who refuses to give in to the gentrification around here. Never been in there, but it could be a fun excursion if he chooses to get out there. A Yelp review of it is here:

http://www.yelp.com/biz/fifth-avenue-records-and-tapes-brooklyn#query:record tape

The only non-big-box store purely dedicated to stocking new and catalog items is a store you probably all know from its mail order audio and video busines.....J&R Music World. Tower, Virgin, HMV.....all long gone. Most ma and pa places......long gone as well. It's a shame. This is a city of over 10 million that can support restaurants that only serve meatballs. You'd think we could keep the business going a bit.

Hope that helps.

Also know this: everything has a following in New York City. It's very hard for something to slip through the cracks anywhere. There's always somebody looking for something out there. While you may get lucky, it's more likely that, if there's a rare item you've been looking for for years, there's about 150 other people hunting that same thing down with more time than you've got.

Going down to NYC, even in the '80s, was such fun for me, just hitting the record stores. There were so many stores that I've forgotten most of them. The King Karol's on 42nd ST near Times Square was awesome, as they had their stock up in shelves high above the floor. You could see the edge text on LPs, and finding COLUMBIA QUADRAPHONIC on the splines was quite easy!

There was another store down Broadway, probably around 50th that was fun to look through, although I can't remember it's name. I recall it had tons of sheet music, which it was known for.

Oh well, the older you get, the more you have to look back on and "wish you were there"! Even J&R in the '90s was great. I went in there and completely filled all of the holes in my MFSL Gold CD collection one day, getting most of the early titles that were impossible to find elsewhere.

The Times Square today is a very different Times Square from even the one around in the 80's. Recent news aside, it's an overly-sanitized tourist's wonderland now every local tries to avoid.. The kind of record store you saw there in the 80's, Jon, couldn't come close to affording the rent now, unfortunately.

I do remember my dad driving me around the area when I was a kid in the 70s (stop laughing, everyone) and driving by all the XXX cinemas and grindcore houses, the squeegee guys, etc. There was a charm to all that, but places evolve and there's all sorts of new, wonderful things to love about the city now.

I was just at J&R this morning. Found the 2004 pressing of David Bowie's "Outside" for $4. I'm not sure it's a slight remaster from the 1995 edition (hoping it is, as I find the 1995 disc a bit flat for upmixing), or just a reissue due to it going out of print, but there it was. Still a gem of a store, especially for reduced-price CDs.

JonUrban said:

...There was another store down Broadway, probably around 50th that was fun to look through, although I can't remember it's name. I recall it had tons of sheet music, which it was known for...

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Jon, the store you're thinking of is Colony Records - still there and one of the biggest sources for sheet music - they still carry some physical product but the selection is poor and the prices are high. I agree with DKA - best bet is J&R - right across the street from City Hall and right around the corner from the entrance to the Brooklyn Bridge. The last great record store standing in Manhattan. Other Music is pretty cool, but is very INDIE - if you're looking for a large vinyl selection then J&R is probably the best. There are plenty of smaller used record shops - Bleeker Bob's in Greenwhich village is also a good option (118 W 3rd St - about a block away from Washington Square Park), it has a large selection of used vinyl - prices are a bit high if you want mint condition but worth checking out.

Thanks to all, it looks like I will shoot for J&R and Bleeker Bob. Yes, I was in Times Square in October and was disappointed by the whole atmosphere..."I can see these restaurants and stores at the local mall". Growing up on Long Island, going in to the Big City seemed a much more interesting excursion back in the late 60's and 70's. Oh well, same has happened in Philly, there used to be a slew of record/CD shops around South Street back in the 90's...I think there may be one now. Colony Records..... any vintage 70's songbooks? Those are nice collectibles to go with favorite albums.... John S.

John Svensson said:

Thanks to all, it looks like I will shoot for J&R and Bleeker Bob. Yes, I was in Times Square in October and was disappointed by the whole atmosphere..."I can see these restaurants and stores at the local mall". Growing up on Long Island, going in to the Big City seemed a much more interesting excursion back in the late 60's and 70's. Oh well, same has happened in Philly, there used to be a slew of record/CD shops around South Street back in the 90's...I think there may be one now. Colony Records..... any vintage 70's songbooks? Those are nice collectibles to go with favorite albums.... John S.

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when you're at Bleecker Bob's, though, take a walk around. there's many similar shops in that part of the village. could make for a fun day. have some ice cream at Cones on Bleecker to top it off.

as for Times Square, that's what the tourists want. they can have their pick of any restaurant in NYC, but they'd rather spend two hours in line at the Olive Garden. we just made it easy for them and gave them the only locations in New York of any of those places all within a couple of blocks of one another.

DKA said:

The Times Square today is a very different Times Square from even the one around in the 80's. Recent news aside, it's an overly-sanitized tourist's wonderland now every local tries to avoid.. The kind of record store you saw there in the 80's, Jon, couldn't come close to affording the rent now, unfortunately.
.

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Toronto is no different. The Yonge and Dundas area that once offered some great music buying is all "mall" type stores. Only decent music store left in that area is Sunrise Records, and that's a stretch as well. HMV is now pushing books and games more than music. Not that it's hard to blame them as no one is buying music any more.

Thanks again guys, filled a few holes in the stereo SACD catalog at the very least...last Dylans, the Richard Thompson dual disc (DD 5.1 I believe), and the Stones "Hot Rocks". I've seen the last on Ebay with folks trying to get $45 for it.....J&R had a box of about 15 of them for $23 a piece. That's more like it. Some songs on there are very good with the Dolby PL, like "We Love You"...the real reason I bought it since 3 or 4 of these are not available on their other LPs. The Bleeker Bob is a bit pricey, quad LPs...base price $25, but they were in nice shape. Didn't find Cones, but found a relaxing bar named "Rogue" on 6th Ave. and the Brooklyn lagers went down smoothly. You know you're a tourist these days when you walk from Madison Sq. Garden to the Battery and back! John S.

John Svensson said:

Thanks again guys...You know you're a tourist these days when you walk from Madison Sq. Garden to the Battery and back! John S.

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You're welcome! The best way to enjoy the Big Apple on a nice day is on foot - good for you.

Sounds like you had a great time, John. I did think of your trip this weekend every time I walked by a "stoop sale" (that's Brooklyn-speak for you'd call a yard sale) and saw some vinyl for sale. Sounds like you hit some great spots and had one of our finer exports from Brooklyn Brewery.