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Philly Record Store Day fail

In Philly for the holidays, thought I'd check out Record Store Day offerings while here. My experiences:

(1) The place I used to go to on Record Store Day -- a shop called AKA Music -- is now permanently closed.

(2) Milkcrate Cafe & Records -- which used to be a pretty unassuming shop with a decent and varied selection -- is now apparently too hipster-ized to participate in record store day. Saleperson's quote when asked: "We don't participate because the releases aren't up to our standards." (meaning, I think, insufficient punk or obscure electronica). Flipped through the bins, literally nothing whatsoever of interest to me.

(3) Third stop: Beautiful World Syndicate. People raved about this place when I lived here and I checked it out a couple of times, but was always deeply unimpressed, both with the selection available and dismissive attitude of their (also hipster) staff. They also don't participate in Record Store Day, and the few minutes I spent browsing the used bins reinforced that I truly never need to go there again.

(4) Liquid Vinyl Underground: Closed on Black Friday.

(5) Bridgeset Sound: Did not participate in Record Store Day. Otherwise, a small but good selection (nothing I didn't already have, though) and a nice staff.

(6) Final stop: Repo Records. Not much there is to my personal taste, but they do have a high quality (if small) jazz selection. Picked up an original mono copy of Coltrane's Ole and a couple other things.
chipcarterdc
bifwynne
2,206 posts
 
You missed the gold mine guys. Here's THE place to go, which is located in Bryn Mawr, a close suburb of Philly.

Gold Million Records
http://goldmillionrecords.com/
851 W LANCASTER AVE, BRYN MAWR, PA 19010, USA
610-525-4500

I've bought many an LP there. The selection is great and the store does a very good job of screening its vinyl. If on the rare occasion, a bad apple gets through, the store is pretty good about refunds/exchanges.

Good hunting.

P.S. -- never asked because I live close by, but I wonder if they would ship records to customers. You'd have to call and ask that question.
sbank's avatar
sbank
3,378 posts
 
Gold Million is okay, but the record store in the Philly area that is tops according to many members of our local audio club is Jupiter Records in Wilmington, DE.

Heard good things about Beautiful World Syndicate in South Philly on Passyunk Ave. too, but I haven't been there myself.

Cheers,
Spencer
President, Philadelphia Area Audio Group
oregon
820 posts
 
Hey guys,
I will be in NY City for 4 days at Christmas time. (Visiting my son).
I hope to have one day to look for some good vinyl- Jazz, Bluegrass, Rock, Soul.
Suggestions?
Thanks,
Oregon
barrysandy
192 posts
 
Might also want to try the Mad Platter in West Chester PA
chipcarterdc OP
22 posts
 
Oregon,

Two suggestions:

(1) Jazz Record Center, 236 W. 26th St. Note: there's no external signage for this store: you have to go to the street address, press the buzzer for their suite, and ride the elevator to the 8th Fl. First time I went here, I expected it to be a hole in the wall given its relatively unmarked location. I was overwhelmingly positively surprised upon entering. Be prepared to spend significant time and money there if you like jazz! Large selection, a mix of new and used. One of my three favorite record stores in the country (the other two being Jazz Record Mart in Chicago and Jerry's Records in Pittsburgh).

(2) Bleecker St Records (note: ***** it's no longer actually on Bleecker St.,**** it's now at 188 W. 4th St. If you're googling and find an address for them on Bleecker St, be aware that that's the old address. Just wanted to point this out, since the location change but same name might be very confusing as an out of tower).

Great selection, many genres, I always managed to pick up at least 2-3 nice records there each time I go.
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