St. Louis, MO | Vintage Vinyl on the Loop is a vinyl lover’s dream: Vintage Vinyl is a large record store located on Delmar Boulevard in St. Louis. While located in a shopping strip, Vintage Vinyl stands out amongst the other stores. Upon arrival, there is a large sign that looks like an old movie theater sign that reads “Vintage Vinyl,” along with a silhouette of a man playing a saxophone. A cool feature is the graffiti of various song artists on the right side of the store, which adds a unique flair. As I walked into the store, I was greeted with smooth jazz music playing that truly added to my vinyl searching. The walls were filled to the brim with posters, stickers, CDs and other vinyls. It was the kind of record store I would imagine in a movie. While browsing, I was amazed by all the options available.
St. Louis, MO | Record Exchange worth the hours and allergy medicine: On Hampton Avenue in St. Louis, Record Exchange is a must-visit for music lovers of all ages—just remember to bring some allergy medicine if you are allergic to dust. As a certified over-collector of vinyls, Record Exchange is my favorite record store in St. Louis. With a massive, maze-like collection of affordable, used records, CDs, turntables and stereo systems, if I’m looking for anything pre-2000, this place has it. Because all the products are used, they are cheaper than other places in the area. Buying used records might be scary, but the records are placed at a reasonable price depending on how scratched they are. Every vinyl I’ve bought from Record Exchange has been usable and in excellent condition. My only complaint with Record Exchange is the dust. Because the building is so massive and full of products, it’s obviously difficult to dust. Despite this, I still enjoy wandering around the store.
St. Louis, MO | Planet Score Records is a Maplewood classic: In the Maplewood neighborhood in St. Louis, Planet Score Records is in a brick building with large, street-facing windows. The interior of the shop is small, but they make great use of the space by displaying their CDs and vinyl records in compact, alphabetized shelving units. They have a decent variety of artists and genres available to browse through. I was thrilled to find albums by Joni Mitchell, Phoebe Bridgers, Sinéad O’Connor, Norah Jones and Chappell Roan. Their collection of options is nothing extraordinary, but they will likely carry any classics or popular releases one might be looking for. The employees were friendly and accommodating. The man behind the counter helped me search for Florence + The Machine CDs. Unfortunately, they didn’t have any available at the moment.
Milltown, NJ | ‘Heartbeat of the community’: How a Milltown record store became a gathering spot: Two thousand records. That’s how many Darren Revilla bought in 1995 for $1,000 in his first attempt to make a living by selling records. It did not go as well as he hoped. When he tried to sell them, he quickly learned that the records weren’t worth much at the time. After all, most people by that time had abandoned traditional vinyl for compact discs. “I realized halfway through my day, ‘This was a mistake,’” Revilla said. “‘These records are terrible. This isn’t what I should be doing. This is all junk.’” If you go into Revilla’s record store, Grooves and Gears, in Milltown today, you wouldn’t know the business was a bust. With a constant flow of customers and more than 100,000 recordings, either on vinyl or CD, filling the store on North Main Street, you would know that Revilla made the right decision in 1995.
Austin, TX | New Austin vinyl shop opens for pride month, cultivates sense of community: After more than 10 years in the tech industry, Luca Kisielius felt the need for a career change. Six months later, Sunshine Vinyl opened its doors and Kisielius turned their passion for music into their livelihood. According to the Sunshine Vinyl Instagram, this “Queer-owned record store” focuses on contemporary music, live events and local art. Sunshine Vinyl, located on East Fifth Street, held its grand opening on June 15. Kisielius said the store proved meaningful to them in a myriad of ways. “I want to do something meaningful to me, that has purpose behind it,” Sunshine Vinyl owner Kisielius said. “I’ve always loved music and want to be able to share music with people. I want people to come in and feel welcome in the space.” The grand opening started at 11 a.m., with music blasting from every corner. Kisielius said people trickled into the shop throughout the day.
St. Augustine, FL | Return of vinyl in the St. Augustine Record Fair this September: The St. Augustine Record Fair will make its return to the St. Augustine Amphitheatre on Sun., Sept. 15. As part of the Sing Out Loud Festival, the record fair is where music lovers and collectors can find limited-edition vinyl, 90′s tour posters, vintage rock t-shirts, and even cassette tapes and record players. Dozens of vendors will be participating. Attendees will be able to shop for on-site screen printing. Plenty of food trucks will be ready to feed the people and sets by DJ Papi Disco will be playing. This is an all-ages event and is free to the public. The Sing Out Loud Festival takes place Fri., Sept. 13 and 14 will off an array of free headliner performances and community events. According to the festival, highlights include performances by Pokey LaFarge and The Watson Twins.
Wolverhampton, UK | ‘I can’t stop buying vinyl!’ Wolverhampton man’s lifelong quest to rack up £20,000 record collection: A Wolverhampton man’s vinyl love affair that started with swapping a bag of marbles for a record as a schoolboy has led him to a collection worth a small fortune. The vinyl lover has thousands in his collection – which his partner isn’t best pleased about. Kevin Turner, 66, from Wolverhampton, found his love for music listening to his mum and dad’s precious Elvis and Beatles records when he was a kid. Then, in junior school a friend of his brought in a 7-inch vinyl to use as a Frisbee, which Kevin could not let happen – he eventually convinced his pal to swap it for a bag of marbles. After getting his first one when he was a nipper, his passion for music grew and grew until he was forced to sell his LP collection because there was no space in his house for them. But never losing his love for the valuable wax, he continued collecting 7-inch singles and now has a collection worth more than a house deposit – but admitted he would never sell them.
a-ha / Time and Again: The Ultimate a-ha released on vinyl for the first time: Features two bonus tracks. a-ha’s 2016 compilation Time and Again: The Ultimate a-ha, is being made available on vinyl for the first time. What was a 19-track collection is now expanded to 21 tracks and making this the only a-ha compilation to include songs from all 11 original studio albums. The bonus tracks are ‘This Is Our Home’ from 2017’s MTV Unplugged: Summer Solstice and ‘I’m In’ from 2022’s True North. The album was originally issued as a 2CD set (with bonus remixes on disc two) and has subsequently been made available on streaming platforms. Time and Again: The Ultimate a-ha is released as a 2LP vinyl package on 9 August 2024, via Rhino.
