C-Mart

I went to Amoeba Music in LA yesterday with my friend. This was my fourth or fifth time there, and I have to admit that it is a great music store. Now, I know that when my friend gets in this place, we are going to be there for a LONG time, so I try to prepare for it... I set time limits and such, but I still have to basically drag him out of that store. I could understand this, and even partake if I had a couple hundred extra dollars that I could spend on music/movies in one lump, but I don't, and I know that my friend is in a fairly similar financial boat. When I go in there, if I have no money to spend, I hardly bother looking, and that is why I get bored, and as a result annoyed at my friend because, if left to his own devices, he could probably spend an entire day there, from when they open until they close. I usually find a CD or two, maybe a DVD and leave, and this time I ended up spending about $30... which, unless I am completely broke, is about average. My friend on the other hand spent close to $100!

So, basically, I could go in there and spend an hour comfortably, maybe two if I had extra $$$. And usually I spend about $30.

My friend could spend a day, like it was Disneyland or something, and on average spends $60-$100.

How about the rest of you?

Oh, and this is about a 45 minute drive for me.., I would probably spend more there if I lived closer.

-CM-

fallow

There is a pretty good indie store, Fantasy, about 5 minutes away from my home. I used to go there once a week (after pay day) and get at least 2 cds, and usually 3.

Now that I'm at college I go to a different one - Blue Dog. I actually like it more because the management is a bit more friendly.

Anyway, I can spend anywhere from 5 minutes to an hour and a half. It depends on if I know what I want to get or not. I like to search around though.

hawk

i go to a local indie record shop near where i work and i can easily spend $100-200 there at one time[they sell imports and such]

hawk

the stores name's vintage vinyl btw[www.vvmo.com]

RevLiver

I have been known to drop well over $100 most times I visit Vintage Vinyl in Fords, NJ (not affiliated with any other Vintage Vinyl). Imports, rarities, lots of indie labels, used, large industrial and electronic sections.

http://www.vvinyl.com

Last week I was there twice, spent $130 the first visit, $70 the next. It is my favorite record store.

stevevt

The only indie near me is lame/small/pricey.

In my town, I shop exclusively at the used-only place.


When I go to New York or Boston (or Madison, WI, or Montreal, or Chicago, etc.), I'll typically buy between 10 and 20 cds ($70 to $250) during a one-week trip, depending on what my list of stuff to buy looks like. I spend less than an hour in each store, unless there's a huge used section to pick through.

From everything I've heard, I'd love to check out Amoeba. Probably not gonna happen any time soon, though.

Joshua

C-Mart,

I can relate to your situation. I live about 10 blocks from Amoeba. I have to limit how often I go there and how much I spend because it adds up quick. I used to think that Aaron's records had a huge selection, but Amoeba just blows everything away. My friend has the largest personal cd collection I've ever seen. It's massive. He goes to Amoeba a lot more than I do and spends a lot more on cd's than I'm able to. We call each other Amoebaholics.

Ralph Wiggum

When I drove up to SF last summer I went to each Amoeba and spent just under $300 total.

Around town I usually go to pick up a specific CD and end up getting several more. I can easily spend $70 on a whim at a Zia in Phoenix.

Penny Lane

I could spend plenty of time at Charlemagne Records here in Birmingham, because they have lots of cool stuff no other stores have. There are a few others in Birmingham, but I almost never go to them because they're all so expensive. So what I cannot get at stores I often order online.

BenFolds

What exactly is great about Amoeba? Cheap, friendly, what?

ChrisKnudsen

I usually go to this place in Lawrence called Love Garden and I blow tons of cash there. DO NOT go there after you get your student loan, I repeat DO NOT. Oh christ, there goes my education.

ChrisKnudsen

I went to that Vintage Vinyle site, aren't the prices a little expensive. I didn't pay that much for my Add N to (X). $26! Wow.

C-Mart

The place is HUGE! I would say the actual size of the building is about 3-4 Warehouse stores, including an upstairs section where they keep the Soundtracks, DVDs, VHS, and laserdisk. Probably a good 2/3 of the entire store is used stuff. Most popular used stuff can be found for $7.99-$9.99, but there are the occasional rare finds where you find something great for a few bucks. They have a clearance section too, where if you get 4 cds, the cheapest one is free, and I almost always find 4 cds in there. It gives me a good opportunity to pick up something that I probably wouldn't have at a higher price, and check out music that I have never heard of. This time I picked up 2 cds from artists that I had never heard of, Atticus Fault, and Sofia Loell for $2.95 each. I also picked up the Signs soundtrack for $7.95 and I broke down and bought the Spirited Away soundtrack at full price, $14.99. Their DVD prices aren't much to speak of, but there are a few good finds every once in a while. A lot of the older used cds can be found for $4-5, so if you want to complete that artist catalogue, it is a good place to start. They also have a large section of various world musics, broken down by country, and a large hip hop/rap section. I have never tried to sell a CD there but my friend asked how much they would give him for the rare Scarface DVD, which they had for sale at $75 I think, and they would have only given him $15-20.

I used to love to go to Rhino Records in Claremont because they had a $0.99 section, where you could almost always find good stuff. I found a lot of great CDs there, including the Stir cd before it was even released. Now that section is $1.99 and it is harder to find that stuff.

Most of the indie stores are higher priced on their new stuff, and though most of the used stuff is too expensive, if you look long and hard enough, you should be able to find something that you would consider a great find.

On a side note, we went to Aaron's records after Amoeba, and my friend found a Papa Roach cd that supposedly goes for $30-40 on ebay. He got it for $7 I think.

ChiTownAbs, Inc

I went to Amoeba for the first time about two weeks ago -- this was the Haight St. store.

Great store ... too bad it's about a 4 hour flight from me

RevLiver

At first I thought you meant the Fords NJ Vintage Vinyl, but I know I didn't pay that much for the new Add N to (X) there. It's only 12.99 on their site.

In addition to Vintage Vinyl, when I go into NYC I can easily drop a hundred or so at Other Music on West 4th St and Mondo Kim's on St. Mark's. Then there's all the used CD places on St. Mark's. And Generation Records on Thompson St.

Some indie places can be extremely overpriced, for example, Jack's Music in Red Bank, NJ (the CD store featured in Chasing Amy). They had the new Aphex Twin cd last year for 19.99 when everyone else had it for 13.99-14.99. If I'm wandering around Red Bank, I'll browse in Jack's, but unless it's used or a rare find, I won't purchase there.

One day I hope to make it to Amoeba. Whenever I travel, I make it a point to seek out the indie record shops. Penguin Music in Toronto, Spaceboy and Digital Ferret (formerly Digital Underground) in Philadelphia, Sound Garden in Baltimore, Princeton Record Exchange in Princeton. I'm just a CD junkie.

DrRingDing

when i lived in LA, if/when i went to amoeba, i always spent over an hour there. there was only one time (when the new tanya donnelly cd came out, i think) that i was in and out of that store.

to add to what C-Mart said, Amoeba is BIGGER than 3 or 4 Warehouses - my guesstimate would be 6, at least. it's beyond huge. it is enormous. they have a huge back room that is about the size of one warehouse with just classical and jazz (for the most part). they have a phenomenal world music section separated by REGION and THEN COUNTRY specific. it's ridiculous.
and separate electronica and hiphop sections. pretty much every musical style is segregated out. they even segregated the Ska section from the Reggae section. it's insane. i never thought a record store that good was possible. now i'm 2000+ miles away. thank goodness. i'd be broke otherwise.

their dvd prices suck (as C-Mart said), but there are occassional gems. one time i went in there and found a few copies of Nat'l Geographic's Africa DVD boxed set. all used. one was priced at $79, i think. the one i bought was priced at $35-ish. and it was in excellent condition. i had been interested in the set for so long, but it was always so expensive. then when i saw the one at Amoeba, i didn't second guess myself and bought it without questions.

i MISS amoeba SO MUCH. the selection was phenomenal. i didn't think that my cd collection would increase as much as it did when i was in LA. the only reason it did increase as much as it did was Amoeba. frickin' amoeba. i had/have a love/hate relationship with it, too. i love going there and getting my music. but it always drains me at least an average of $100.

oh, and i never thought i'd see a place with multiple copies of both Traveling Wilburys albums.. at one point, amoeba had three copies of vol. 1 and two copies of vol. 2. ridiculous. they were priced at $35 and $45 respectively, of course.
-di doctor-

hawk

vintage vinyl in evanston does charge a bit more but most of what they have is worth the price imho

C-Mart

Oh, and this last time there seemed to be a lot of Oscar and Emmy screener DVDs which usually run at $10. I almost got Last Castle for $7.99 and an Emmy screener for Life According to Jim, ???, and Scrubs. (I can't remember the middle title.) The only reason that I didn't get it was because I was already running over my limit money wise.

-CM-

grrrah

I love amoeba but the two are about an hours drive from me. I get most of my music (cds) from Rasputin which has more stores, but is a bit smaller.

I get most of my vinyl from smaller record stores.

jayjordan

Well I have a brother in oc and have went to second spin which I thought great (and is good) but, amoeba was awesome there selection was outstanding easily could have spent more than the $100 I spent. Only bad thing is when I got home(WI) I bought a Springsteen DVD the one from NYC it was a PAL(region2?) disc and not a NTSC (region 1). I'll plan to spend more time and $$ next time.

Ergyu

I go to everyday music here in Portland and usually leave about 60 bucks in the hole.


The most I've ever spent was at Rasputine Records in Berkley which was something like 200.

dave w

i live about 15 min from the great vintage vinyl in woodbridge,i used to frequent the original store in irvington in the early 80s.i try to get there at least once a week.v vinyl has also had some great instores in the past couple years--queens of the stoneage,supersuckers,donnas,bomboras etc--
ive been to amoeba as well and it is indeed the king of indie stores----a trip to the very cool rhino records is a must as well------------dave from jersey

C-Mart

Rhino Records is great as well. I used to live about 4 blocks from it. Now I am not too far, but it is still a trip. Rhino isn't as good as it used to be. They used to have a $0.99 section and I always picked up a couple of random CDs, as well as the occaisional good find. Now they are $1.99. Also they used to have a great selection of 'Live' cds, but they stopped. There is also Mad Platter in Riverside that is pretty good. They still have the 'live' CDs. (They are owned by the same people as Rhino) Amoeba is still the King though.

-CM-

The Bus

Whenever I get near cool music stores I usually drop a couple hundred dollars. When I went to Amoeba I bought almost their entire Badly Drawn Boy catalogue (not any duplicates that I had).

In New York City, I will say I am a sucker for Virgin Mega Store on Times Square. Their gigantic import section is amazing, and I will continue to go there until someone else tells me where I can get, for example, the Indonesian SVCD 2-pack of Oh, Nelly! for a more reasonable price. I also shopped at Kim's, where I found a double mini-CD of Money Mark's Love Stains: A Demo which I am listening to right now...

Starlover

Soundgarden in Baltimore is my favorite indie record store. Their prices on cds and Dvds are outstanding.

I also like Schoolkids records in Raleigh and Chapel Hill, NC.