Birmingham, UK | The 8 best record stores in Birmingham, according to Google reviews: We’ve decided to take a look at the most popular record stores in Birmingham. Despite the advances in technology and the many ways to stream music in 2023, many music lovers still enjoy searching record stores to find classic vinyls. Many great record stores across the UK have closed down in the last decade, but there are still some brilliant ones out there to enjoy, especially in Birmingham. A number of shops also take part in Record Store Day every year – the day when over 260 independent record shops all across the UK come together to celebrate their unique culture. This year’s event was held in April. So, If you are a fan of records, looking to get your hand on releases from major acts, we’ve decided to take a look at the city’s favourite record stores. Here are the 10 record stores rated in Birmingham, according to customers on Google reviews.
Charleston, WV | West Side record store moving to new location: Elk City Records is on the move. At least it will be soon. The 311 West Washington St. used record store, which draws visitors from far and wide, will be relocating over the next few months to a new home at 601 Maryland Ave. That building currently houses C&B Blueprint, which has repaired and sold surveying equipment from that location since 2007. It has maintained other locations in Charleston for years, but decided to consolidate its Charleston location with its Huntington headquarters, says one of the store’s owners, Ron Copley. Elk City Records is so named for its location in what has become known as the Elk City area of Charleston’s West Side. Record store owner Phil Melick spent $225,000 on the C&B building for the space. The blueprint building is divided into halves, which will afford Melick a performance space for artists and a much larger retail space than he currently occupies. The new space is located two blocks west and one block south of the current store.
Alexandria, VA | Crooked Beat Records Reopens In New Del Ray Location: Due to developer plans to demolish the old location for redevelopment, Crooked Beat Records moved out of Old Town North. Crooked Beat Records has reopened in a new location as demolition of its old building in Old Town North is expected. …It is located at 2417 Mount Vernon Avenue below Cheesetique. Initial hours are 12 p.m. to 7 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday and 12 p.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday. Crooked Beat Records specializes in new and used vinyl records. The business cited the “pending demolition” of its former location at Montgomery Center in Old Town North. Developer Carr Companies is planning to redevelop the Montgomery Center, a building with business tenants. The redevelopment would include 327 multifamily units, ground floor retail, a music performance venue, underground parking spaces on two levels and two public plazas. The redevelopment gained approval from Alexandria City Council in April.
Auckland, NZ | ‘Overwhelming’ demand from artists for new vinyl record press: A record pressing machine described as the “best in the business” is about to start manufacturing vinyl records for some of the biggest names in New Zealand music. Auckland’s Stebbing Recording Studios is installing a Swedish-made Pheenix Alpha AD12 – a fully automatic vinyl record press – which will begin operation this month, about four months later than planned due to the Auckland floods. Artists such as The Feelers, Devilskin and Solo Mio’s Moses Mackay will be some of the first to have vinyl manufactured when the press is up and running. “I’m having to dampen down the enthusiasm because everybody wants it yesterday,” said Stebbing sales manager Murray Cullen. He said interest in the press had been “overwhelming” which was almost ready to go at the studio which was founded in 1946.
Auckland, NZ | Fair for lovers of vinyl records: Happily in a spin about the revival in interest for the vinyl record? Music enthusiasts can grow their collections and broaden horizons at the next Vinyl Records and Music Memorabilia Fair. It’s staged by East FM on Saturday, June 24, at the Howick Information Centre (Howick War Memorial Building), Picton St, from 8.30pm to 2.30pm. It’s the third vinyl event for East FM. The earlier editions attracted big numbers of happy recorded music fans. The tuneful gala added a pleasant note to the cultural experience that is the Howick Village Market in the adjacent town square on a Saturday morning. Sellers are a mix of local fans and from further afield, with a few new faces. All the spaces are booked up so there’ll be plenty of vinyl musical treasures.
New York, NY | A Stage Musical About Belfast’s Punk Oasis: ‘Good Vibrations’ at the Irish Arts Center takes a snapshot of life in Northern Ireland during the Troubles through its music scene. Of all the streets to open a record store, one nicknamed Bomb Alley might not have been optimal. Then again this was Belfast in 1977, when the nationalistic, sectarian violence known as the Troubles made retail perilous pretty much everywhere. The situation did not deter Terri Hooley, who welcomed warring Protestants and Catholics to the shop he had optimistically called Good Vibrations. “It was like a little oasis in a sea of madness,” Hooley, 74, said in a recent video conversation from Belfast. The story of a lone man bridging warring communities is the kind of feel-good tale you can easily imagine as a movie, and lo and behold, it became one: “Good Vibrations” (2012), starring Richard Dormer as Hooley. Colin Carberry and Glenn Patterson then adapted their own screenplay into a stage musical for Belfast’s Lyric Theater, whose current production of the show is running at the Irish Arts Center in Manhattan until July 16.
Edinburgh, UK | Vinyl ‘exclusives’ becoming bane of music sales: Avalanche hosted the Scottish regional Record Store Day debrief on Monday attended by shops, record companies and the Entertainment Retailers Association who organise Record Store Day. Rather than going over old ground of complaining there are too many releases and they are too expensive, the main point I wanted to make was that RSD was meant to be a day to bring people into shops and was not meant to be linked to limited vinyl. My idea was to have limited edition T-shirts and prints that could be ordered in advance and collected on Record Store Day. This meant that not only would the customer visit the shop more than once but the shops would know what were definite orders and could then add extra stock as they felt necessary. Both shops and ERA seemed to genuinely like the idea, while the record companies were more wary as it would generate more work for them, and given they do not always own the rights to the images, it would not always be straightforward.
New Orleans, LA | Community Records celebrates 15 years with block party at Tipitina’s: Fifteen years after starting Community Records, Daniel “D-Ray” Ray and Greg Rodrigue don’t have their feet on the gas pedal quite as heavy as they once did. That’s partly because both guys have kids, are married and have higher priorities now, but it’s also because they’ve done the work to build the DIY record label on a solid foundation. They can afford to be more limited in their releases. “Ten years ago, it was much more, ‘OK, we’ve got to put gasoline on the fire, we’ve got to push this thing somewhere,’” Rodrigue says. “Now, we still throw kindling on the fire, but it’s more like this thing just needs maintenance more so than us really catapulting it into a direction in order to exist.”
