Spend a reasonable amount of time reading this stupid blog, and sooner or later (usually sooner), I’m going to start waxing rhapsodic about a long-since-vanished Manhattan record store. Hell, I did it as recently as six posts ago. Not to laboriously beat that very dead horse, but the single greatest element of the New York City of my youth that I sorely miss is invariably the once-thriving network of little independent, mom’n’pop record and disc shops that covered virtually all points of the map (not just downtown). To take that a step further, I also miss the big chain music outlets like HMV, Virgin, J+R Music World and — oh do please wait for it — Tower Records. Time was when if you were looking for a specific record or disc or cassette and it couldn’t be found in Manhattan, there was a very good chance that said record/disc/cassette simply did not exist. Suffice to say, this is no longer the case.
I’ve been writing weepy paragraphs like the one above for as long as this blog’s been in existence. A week or so back, however, a good friend of mine who lives in Canada said he was coming to New York in May and was looking for recommendations for some good record stores. In response, I sighed wearily and prefaced with the usual tragedy-sodden preamble about how the greatest of these concerns — notably shops like Rocks in Your Head, Mondo Kim’s, Second Coming Records, Venus Records, Other Music, Rebel Rebel, NYCD, Subterranean Records, FreeBeing, Bleecker Bob’s, Route 66, Lunch For Your Ears and It’s Only Rock N’ Roll, to name a small few — were all but a memory.
Compounding that, earlier this week, there was Record Store Day -– an event that many longtime readers (if they, once again, actually exist) might remember me initially championing, back in the day. I can’t put a date on when I soured on the idea, but after a while, the concept of RSD seemed to get co-opted by frantic record labels who used it as an excuse to rush-release limited-edition product out to participating record stores. These artifacts would shortly re-appear on eBay for way loftier sums that the initial asking price. It basically turned into a crooked crock and a brazen cash-in. Moreover, a record store cannot survive strictly on the revenue of a single day, even if, on that one single day, there’s a line to get in the door.
As I’ve since been laboriously keen to assert, if you’re serious about your music, it’s not “Record Store Day,” it’s fuckin’ RECORD STORE LIFE, goddammit!
…but I digress.
With my Cannuck pal in mind, I dutifully started whipping up a list of shops, emporia and other similarly inclined ventures that are still in business. I decided to take advantage of the situation and turn the composition of that list into a post for this here stupid blog, and endeavor which found me, over the course of a couple of days, darkening the doors and perusing the aisles of many of the shops cited below.
Broken down by neighborhood, here are my citations and candid takes about each concern – and be warned, in some instances, I don’t pull my punches. I’m citing them to give my friend the widest possible array of options, but if I’m being honest, some of these shops don’t necessarily get me where I need to be, so to speak. If possibly, enjoy…
By the way, this list is in absolutely no way comprehensive, so if I leave something out, don't have a hissy fit.
GREENWICH VILLAGE
Generation Records
210 Thompson Street
Arguably one of the last, true strongholds for pretty much precisely the variant of music I’d ever be looking for, Generation Records has held its perch on Thompson Street for at least a few decades, by this point. It’s gone through a few changes, over the years, and absorbed a lot of the stock from since-shuttered Bleecker Street Records a few blocks over, some years back, but it remains true to its original incarnation, that being the place to go if you’re looking for punk, hardcore, metal and each camp’s ancillary subgenres. They currently boast a wide selection of new and used vinyl (with more downstairs, including an enviable selection of 7” singles, many of them relatively rare), but the compact disc selection – should, like myself, you still carry a torch for that arguably dying medium – is getting weaker by the day. They also sell a lot of cool ephemera downstairs, like posters, DVDs, pins, and t-shirts, should you be in the market for that stuff. If I was looking for albums by bands like Venom, DOA, Agnostic Front or The Clash, I would definitely put Generation at the top of my list. If you’re searching for more left-field or exotic fare, they might not have you covered, but they’re certainly worth a visit.
Village Music World
197 Bleecker Street
I’m not going to lie – I fucking hate this place and have never bought a thing here. It’s a cluttered mess. They have no idea what they have. It’s messy, shoddily organized and a chore to try to find anything therein. I don’t frankly know how they’ve survived.
Record Runner
5 Jones Street
I have a real soft spot for Record Runner, despite a few factors. For a start, they don’t seem to be open very often. Secondly, their stock skews fairly exclusively towards `80s/early `90s pop. Back in the day, they were a must if you were searching for, say, CD singles from British Indie bands like the Senseless Things or Blur, or if you were in need of rare Duran Duran, U2 or Madonna singles. Here in 2023, the shop almost seems like it’s preserved in amber. I popped in recently and things hadn’t changed in the slightest, on the inside. But I’m glad it’s still there.
CHINATOWN
Downtown Music Gallery
13 Monroe Street
I’ve written about the strange journey of Downtown Music Gallery here several times before. It hopscotched around the Lower East Side for a little while before settling in a basement-level bunker on a relatively remote byway in Chinatown. But even if you successfully locate Downtown Music Gallery, it seems to be often closed, these days. If you do manage to get there and find them open, DMG is indeed a roiling hotbed of music options, but don’t go there looking for the latest bullshit pop drivel currently seeping out of your local radio station like sewage from a broken pipe. DMG trades almost exclusively is super-esoteric, far-lung, way-out and unwieldly variants of sound. If you’re looking for avant-garde free-jazz freakouts, crazy experimental music, listener-hostile contemporary classical noise and/or rarified, out-of-print deconstructionalist skronk, Downtown Music Gallery will excite you to the brink of pants-soiling ecstasy. If you’re looking for, like, the first Motley Crue album or a Destiny’s Child CD, you’ll be, as they say, shit out of luck. I make it a point to buy something there every time I visit as a show of support, which has led to me purchasing dusty King Crimson bootlegs, out-of-print ROIR compilations and a pricey Japanese import version of DNA (Last Live at CBGB).
Love Not Money
42 Eldridge Street
I wish I had more to say about Love Not Money, but they’re a relative newcomer that stocks only vinyl and, as something of a lark, used cassettes. As a show of support comparable to my efforts at Downtown Music Gallery, the last time I was at Love Not Money, I sprang for the cassette version of Songs from the Victorious City by Jaz Coleman and Ann Dudley. In any case, they have a mixed-bag sort of selection, but they’re staffed by knowledgeable music nerds who are all too happy to chat. I wish them all success.
UNION SQUARE/CHELSEA
Academy Records & CDs
12 West 18th Street
Another old standby, Academy has been holding court on West 18th Street for some time, now, specializing in used CD’s and wide selection of jazz, classical and soundtracks. They’re super-informed and the stock is well presented, if unpredictable. I’ve found some great stuff here, over the years, but the odds of them having something you’re specifically searching for are slim… unless you just get lucky. Still, always worth looking around in.
MIDTOWN WEST
Rough Trade
NYC 30 Rockefeller Plaza (facing 6th Avenue)
This one’s a genuine heartbreaker. When Rough Trade first came to New York City, they occupied an airplane-hangar-sized space in Williamsburg that featured both extensive vinyl and CD sections, a robust book selection, a performance space and, I believe, a coffee bar. It was a fucking destination, and they had GREAT STUFF. Then, they moved to Manhattan. Hopes were high that they were going to take over the iconic Tower Records space on lower Broadway, but they moved to … a boutique-sized space in 30 Rock (y’know, the NBC building), a teeny, little shop that doesn’t even begin to touch the majesty of their former incarnation. I can’t even.
ADDENDUM: And, of course, I put my foot in it. A good friend of mine with a vested interest got in touch to rightly take me to task for my swift dressing-down of the midtown Rough Trade, pointing out that I spend the entirety of my summation lamenting its former iteration and not giving a single sentence to the admittedly great, wide selection and meticulous curation of the stock in the current shop. While I stand by my sniffy dismissal of the new shop’s diminutive size and flagrant disregard for the demographic that still buys compact discs (hurrumph!), I am entirely remiss in not pointing out the gold hidden within those ailes, specifically in the vinyl LP section (which is most of the shop). I was there just prior to my son’s birthday and picked up several choice titles that he hungrily started spinning immediately. It should also be noted that Rough Trade has a great book section and a fine selection of t-shirts. The staff is also super-friendly and refreshingly informed about the music they have on offer. I just wish it wasn’t nestled in the belly of the fucking beast (i.e. 30 Rock, literally right under where I used to nervously toil at TODAY dot com before I got the chop), sharing a wall with a fucking Magnolia Bakery. It also bums me out that a shop which stocks amazing records by a wide spectrum of far-flung artists is predominantly patronized by hordes of confused tourists looking for Taylor Swift records. But, I retract my snide put-downs of Rough Trade. I stil go there and spend my money … a lot, so I’m a fuckin’ hypocrite.
NEW JERSEY
Tunes
225 Washington Street in Hoboken
It seems crazy unlikely that my Cannuck friend Leigh is going to hump it over the Hudson River via the Path Train to Hoboken strictly to check this place out, but I feel duty-bound to cite it. Tunes isn’t really anything crazy special, but they do have a respectable array of CD’s, vinyl – both new and used of each. It’s basically an old-school record store than doesn’t skew towards any single demographic.
EAST VILLAGE
Stranded Records
218 East 5th Street
Another vinyl-only shop: Crisply appointed. Prices can be formidable, but it’s hard to argue with their great, wide selection and finely presented stock. At the very least, it’s fun to browse in. Last time I was there, I got sucked into a detailed discussion about David Sylvian’s post-Japan releases.
Ergot Records
32 East 2nd Street
Another vinyl-only spot and relative newcomer. Geared towards “crate diggers.” Cool selections, from obscure New Orleans Creole music through Black Metal by Venom. Got in a strange discussion, last time I was there, about how sample/beat-friendly an album by the Alan Parsons Project might be, to which I did not have a credible answer.
Limited to One
221 East 10th Street
Tiny, vinyl-only (well, they do have cassettes, too) space, but lovingly curated with some cool, esoteric fare. A bit precious, but it’s nice.
A-1 Records
439 East 6th Street
Strictly vintage (i.e. used) vinyl, with a big emphasis on funk, R&B and hip-hop. It’s cool, but I don’t believe I’ve ever spent a thin red dime in this spot.
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