Magnolia Thunderpussy in Columbus, OH.

Great selection of all genres in Cd &vinyl. T-shirts, videos etc too.

Website: http://magnolia.thunderpussy.com/

Not in the metro areas of NY or LA but the best record store I have ever been to is Shake It Records in Cincinnati. I lived in Cincy for 14 years and this place has it all. Great 70's, early 80's punk and 60's garage punk selection(not just American garage punk but rare British,Aussie, NZ and Dutch as well) great rockabilly and Americana, jazz, funk and soul and many hard to find "turntable" artists such as DJ Shadow, Cut Chemist, Mr. Dibbs, Qbert etc and even a "difficult listening" section. Lotsa imports as well. These dudes have great taste in music and it shows with their super selection. Great selection of vinyl- all genres. I still do mail order with these guys even though I have relocated to Savannah. They have a website,
shakeitusa.com but I believe their full inventory is not up yet, just their own Shake It label. Sign up for the e-mail list and you will see their great selection.

Close second is Vintage Vinyl in NJ and Criminal Records in Atlanta is pretty strong especially for imports/unusual dvd's as well, but they have no vinyl. Princeton Record Exchange is awesome as well. Schedule a full day in that place to unearth some rare vinyl gems.

In the Chicago area:

Val's Halla Records in Oak Park about 20 miles west of the city
Rolling Stone Records in Chicago

I 2nd the Good Records, in Dallas, TX. It's great to have a Indie record shop w/in walking distance - or is it?

Joe's Records - Rockville, MD
CD Depot - College Park, MD
Record & Tape Traders - Frederick, MD
Orpheus Records - Arlington, VA
Kemp Mill Music - Various locations, usually not very good, I only mention them because they are all closing down soon and their entire stock is 80% off at the moment.

ear x-tacy - louisville, ky

http://www.earx-tacy.com/

Ear Candy Music
624 S. Higgins
Missoula, MT
59801
great people great store the vinyl is always in exceptional shape with reasonable prices.

DCCD in Adams Morgan neighbourhood of DC is a great place to pick up the latest indie discs and 7' vinyl

Olsson's Books and Records (various locations but Dupont is my favourite - since I have worked there and at the now closed Georgetown location)

Smash - in Georgetown

CD Depot - in Georgetown (caters more to used and 'dance' cd's has a good small selection of CD singles)

Everyday music in Portland is a pretty good in town chain. I think they have 3 stores. They have a pretty large selection, but you have to live with the "I'm and indie record store clerk, I'm better than you" attitude from their employees.

These are the only 2 stores I buy my music from (cds). I occasionally go to sam goody just to check if they carry what I am looking for while walking around the mall, they never do, and when I ask them to look it up, they find it and say it will be a couple weeks to special order it, while rasputin or amoeba will have several in stock. I usually buy records from the smaller shops or online.

San Diego, CA:

Off The Record in Hillcrest has a great indie selection.

Lou's Records in Encinitas is better though, if you're willing to make the short drive up north!

My favorite when I was living in Northern VA was Now Music & Fashion. It used to be in Clarendon, but then moved to Old Town Alexandria on King Street. It's original location was across the street from my former job, which was nice. They moved to Old Town after I left the area (and the new store is only a few blocks from my old townhouse, which would've been nice).

In Richmond, VA, it's all about Plan 9 in Carrytown. I always hit that up when I go back to visit the fam.

Plan 9 is really great. They just got a location in Williamsburg, which is even better because it's closer to my home-town.

Rev, before hitting NYC you should stop off at Tunes in Hoboken (assuming you PATH it into the city). Granted the store has moved more mainstream in recent years but they have always stocked a good assortment of non mainstream CDs, mainly in the indie rock genre, though you can find a decent selection of industrial and IDM at times. The other good things is you can get tickets there for the shows at Maxwells in Hoboken, my favorite club to see bands in. I believe that there is one more store in NJ of Tunes, but I don't know for sure.

Arizona -

Stinkweeds - Tempe

Zia Record Exchange - Local Chain - all over

Eastside Records - Tempe

There's actually a few locations, mainly in south Jersey. I've been to the Tunes in Voorhees and the one in Marlton and was less than impressed. Never been to the one in Hoboken. Looks like it's only a few blocks from the parking garage I use, so I'll check it out next time I go in.

Amoeba Music in San Francisco. The largest indie/used record store I've ever been to.

Amoeba... The one in SF > the one in LA.

Plus, there's that other place right down the street from Amoeba in SF.

Sadly, Val's Halla Records never seems to turn up anything that I'm actually interested in. In my 7 years in Chicago, I may have purchased one or two items from her store. Love the Elvis shrine/fountain though.

And the better of the two Rolling Stone Records is actually at Harlem/Irving. The one in the Loop has a much more limited selection and the prices on most discs are usually $2 - $5 more than their Harlem/Irving counterparts.