This past weekend I had a few hours to kill. So, with that time I do what I usually try to do when trying to kill some time, I go record shopping. On this day, I was lucky enough to be able to hit two stores I had never been to before.
These will be short little reviews. I didn't spend a whole lot of time in either store, so I am just pretty much going by quick impressions.
First up was Mile Long Records in Wheaton, Illinois.
Case in point: My buddy found Tesla's The Great Radio Controversy, one of the "hot items" from a Record Store Day of last year. That thing is now fetching some pretty high prices on eBay and other sites. But, here they had it priced still at the RSD price. We noticed this with a few items. The prices do seem to remain.
That being said, the prices are retail priced. Deals only really come around with the new items that remain priced as they were upon initial release. They don't have cheaper prices than anybody else, and Amazon seems to be cheaper. Plus, their used prices were pretty dang high. I actually stopped looking for used after being frustrated by seeing too many ridiculously priced items that you find everywhere.
Purchased: The Damned - Grave Disorder, The Damned - The Rockfield Files
Reason to buy from here: Instant gratification.
Next up on my run was Scratched Vinyl in Barrington, Illinois.
This store was once known as Rainbow Records, and they were fairly legendary once upon a time.
Now, they are a tiny little store located in downtown Barrington. Upon walking in I was hit in the face by Ozric Tentacles playing. This is always a good sign. A shop owner playing fairly obscure bands is always a welcome sign, as it shows they person dives into music and is also not content to just spin the same old stuff.
Glancing through the fronts, one also sees right away that you are in a shop with some unique stuff. This isn't garage sale fair, nor estate sale fare. This shop seems to be a carefully pieced together collection of merchandise. One that is trying to be a step outside of the norm.
The prices were a little high, but the merchandise also begged for that, as it wasn't run of the mill. I don't know why, but the prices didn't seem to bother me as much as the prices at Mile Long. I think partially because there was more variety in the prices. One of the things that irks me is when a shop prices things exclusively by Discogs prices. I get the impression that here at Scratched the Discogs prices are checked, but then the question of "but what price will more this?" comes into play. I saw a few items with pretty good prices on them, as well as a few prices on the higher side.
The owner was friendly enough, especially when checking out. As I was leaving he showed me the Ozric album and the printing error on it. It was a quick little conversation that brought back memories of the hours I would spend hanging out in record shops just talking about music.
Purchased: Budgie - Impeckable, Let's Active - Every Dog Has His
Day, KTel Hot Tracks, The War of the Worlds radio play
Of the two stores, I will become a regular at Scratched Vinyl for sure. I am looking forward to my next trip there and trying to decide when that could be.
Mile Long I will visit again, but it won't be a destination shop. It will also be a shop to buy new from, not used.
No comments:
Post a Comment