Best record stores in the U.S...

[Lew Bundles]

https://www.spin.com/2021/06/best-record-stores-in-united-states/

[Kirk]

I've been to Amoeba in Hollywood. So many great ones have long-since closed...

[Michelle]

In Cleveland, Ohio we had the Sam Goody record stores,in the mid seventies to the 1990's. Eric was known to be spotted at the one in Lyndhurst very often. 

[Helen G]

I passed by one right off the beachfront strip in Daytona Beach a couple weeks ago, but didn't have time to stop in! I hope to be able to do so within a couple weeks!

[susie b]

THE original Great Escape on Broadway in Nashville was my favorite, and you never knew who might be flipping through the bin next to you.

Met lots of very cool people at that store and dropped a lot of cash.

It was an institution and had a culture that is hard to duplicate.

https://www.nashvillescene.com/news/nashville-institution-the-great-escape-closes-its-broadway-store-this-weekend/article_3ac0ab33-822e-5dea-9829-2c1188c8a51f.html

[James]

Seeing that first photo of the vinyl record store when I clicked on Lew´s link literally did make my heart start beating harder and faster. It was a lot of fun hiking down to the record store from my college dorm, a mile or so on Berry Street in Ft. Worth. It´s where I bought "Change of Heart", "Tuna Fish", Olivia´s Totally Hot in order to hear "Boats.....". I also believe it´s where I spotted the 45 of "She did it" and bought that 45 cuz it had "Someday" as its B side and I´d never heard "Someday". Tragically I´d probably have paid $50 (in 1977/78 dollars) to hear "Someday"!!  : ) I was loco for Eric Carmen music. P.S. I still think of "Someday" as a B side even though I love the song.

That record store  is where I bought "A Single Man" and learned Elton was starting to veer off in a direction that wasn´t toward the music I loved him for. It´s where I remember seeing the 4 Kiss solo albums displayed at the front of the store and thinking they´d really gone commercial.  It´s where I backtracked and bought Burton Cummings´ first solo after having bought and loved his 2nd solo the previous summer of 1977 in Columbus after hearing "Charlemagne" on Columbus´ FM rock station. It´s also where I discovered Status Quo´s live album, which can be argued is the greatest live album ever. Though nobody had ever heard of them in my world,...

Anyway, good thread Lew.

[Raspbernie]

Amoeba was big, and cool, but there was nothing cooler than Tower Records on Sunset back in the day. It was always one of my first stops whenever I visited (which was often).

In NYC, Bleecker Bob's was THE PLACE of find rarities, imports and bootlegs. The bootlegs was why Bleecker Bob's was regularly raided by the NYPD.

Then there was Cheap Thrills in New Brunswick, NJ, near Rutgers—a New Jersey vinyl institution! Vintage Vinyl near Edison, NJ kept its doors open until last year.

Back in the day, before the internet, you had to hunt down music. I remember doing quite a mad search for Raspberries albums once they were released on CD in Japan. Very hard to find here in the States, but I managed to get 'em all! Music lovers have no idea how good they have it today!

[Kirk]

Yes, Tower Records (they actually had two locations, Hollywood and I believe it was Westwood) was a regular hang out of mine. I didn't mention it because I thought I was the only West L.A. guy on here!