I’m looking for a record store with a good selection for Christmas gifts this year. I usually come up with a theme, and I wanted to get people some CDs or Vinyl that make me think of them.
I’m in Essex Co, but recommend are welcome anywhere from Morris, Passaic, Hudson, Bergen or other northern counties.
Good vibes also taken into account
TIA 🤙🏼
EZ 2 Collect in Elmwood Park on Rte 4 is awesome. They have everything.
Station 1, Pompton Lakes
Small footprint combining music, books, movies, and games. Exceptionally curated intake means the New Arrivals bins are usually flush with good stuff at reasonable prices, but the size of the shop limits the actual amount of inventory.
Flipside Records, Pompton Lakes
Yes, it’s like 200 feet from Station 1. Been there since 1980, and to hell with footprint size— get ready for an eye popping, wall to wall digging experience. Loaded way beyond the gills with inventory, with stuff literally all over the place, this claustrophobia-inducing shop has some wildly good picks if you are up for the dig. Old school and a 180° on Station 1 in terms of presentation, but worth visiting both when in town.
Scotti’s, Summit
Good selection, kinda hangs in the rock/pop world with a little focus on jazz. Keep your eye on prices; sometimes they will have two of the same record marked differently if they got them in at different times.
Factory Records, Dover
New shop with deep pockets. They have a huge space and have a massive inventory for being a fresh business, but there is also a ton of middle-of-the road titles and some strangely off the wall pricing (like, they have some perception that particular albums are worth way more than their going rate). Large selection of hard rock / sludge metal. I want to like this place more than I do for a bunch of reasons, but they have a lot of titles.
Sound Exchange, Wayne
This longtime, small-footprint spot in a strip mall along Route 23 has recently undergone a complete revival— it used to be on par with Flipside Records for a beyond overstuffed store that was literally impossible to canvas through. Shoe-wide paths through the store, overflowing bins, records impossible to view without damaging other records; it was the best shot of finding a kickass punk or metal album that had been lost to time, but infuriating to visit. Well— that is all changed. Owners thinned the on-floor inventory and it is now a pleasure to sift through. Really great spot if metal, punk, hardcore are on your radar. Prices average.
…but, I saved the best for last—
The Second Saturday Record Show, Wayne
For over 3 decades, this show assembles on (you guessed it) the second Saturday of each month. It’s at the Wayne Police Athletic League— 1 Pal Drive, Wayne— and the next one is on 10 December from 10-3. Dozens of vendors and just a huge, huge volume of records and CDs; you can haggle prices with the vendors and dig through bins of varying organization to try to find something you’re looking for in particular. Pretty hard not to walk away with at least a few things, as it’s the best opportunity to find all sorts of used vinyl (there’s a couple vendors with some new stuff, but used and vintage are where it’s at.)
Fucking kudos to this. As a new collector writeups like this are fucking clutch. Saved!
This is a great list. I'd add Iris Records in Jersey City, Tunes in Hoboken, Music Connection in Elmwood Park, and EZ 2 Collect in Elmwood Park.
The first two are especially good for newer releases, but still have tons of older stuff. Music Connection has a huge metal selection, but also a pretty good variety of other genres. EZ 2 Collect has everything (EVERYTHING), but their jazz section is stocked.
Soldato books and records in Rutherford. Not the biggest store / collection but another option.
Sound exchange in Wayne is your best bet, tons of rare vinyl and cds, pretty sure the dude has a treasure trove of cassettes in the basement too if you ask, haven’t been there in a while but that was always my go to physical store especially since vintage vinyl closed
To your comment about thinning the inventory, this is happening all over the place. New vinyl is king again compared to crate picking used vinyl. Owners realize there's no reason to keep the complete works of Boz Scaggs at $1 a pop, when instead they can make the shop look cool and trendy. Those used crates got picked to death. Last few stores I've visited have nearly nothing used anymore, it's all new.
(* No real offense to Boz Scaggs, but if you've ever been a crate picker you know exactly what I am talking about.)
Vintage Vu in Belvidere. Great store and great owner. Just got a few records for $1 each on black friday
I don’t really agree with this, and your ‘thinning’ response wasn’t really in the context of Sound Exchange.
First, every one of the above shops, as well as the ‘King of NJ’ PREX, have more used titles than new. Princeton is probably the closest of balanced old vs sealed titles, but there are/were only a couple stores that are mostly new, sealed albums (Vintage Vinyl in Fords [RIP] was more on the new side, and small shops like Sweet Vinyl in Denville is more new-leaning).
For as much as corporations like Walmart and Target want to stick their fingers in the icing with 100% sealed records, the indie shops survive on having both used and new— both of which sell. Now, all of the above shops and most others from around the state will outright reject ‘thrift store’ titles (your Boz Scaggs, Perry Como, Humperdinck, etc.), but it’s all a crap shoot on what walks in the door for you to buy.
Having been to a lot of the stores in state, somehow PREX and Station 1 are magnets for kickass collections. It’s pretty incredible to see a tiny shop in Pompton Lakes within a month offer up collections of 60s Blue Note jazz, early 80s punk originals, and ‘dark ages’ 90s alternative originals. Places like Factory are less discerning, and generally accumulate common used stuff— but it obviously sells, to support that size space.
As far as Sound Exchange’s thinning, even in their worst days you would never see Boz Scaggs or Herman’s Hermits in there. It was just that the owner had no patience to throttle inventory– anything that came in, new or used, would hit the floor, and he was apparently ravenous about buying tons of new titles. The place was packed with quality stuff, but was so overfilled that you couldn’t even get to some of it. The thinning has likely been a combo of pulling stuff into storage, and giving less square footage to CDs so that the vinyl had a place to exist besides the floor. The type of albums hasn’t changed, just the ability to edit to improve the experience.
Oh, and it goes without saying to OP that a drive down to Princeton Record Exchange is a guaranteed win.
These are all great recs!!!!
It’s out of your geographical range, but if you’re ever in the area Jack’s Music Shop in Red Bank is great also. The front of the shop is packed with new records, cds, cassettes, and dvds along with some vintage band merch.
There are also quite a few crates and areas in the back with used records.
They also have a separate store in the back for sound systems, instruments, etc.
Medical_Penalty_7305 t1_iy6tnlu wrote
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