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50 Best Record Shops in America — Episode 1
Do People Buy Records Anymore?
Welcome! A lifetime of research goes into this series, in who knows how many episodes. My teen years in the 80s and 90s record stores were an adolescent obsession. Music heads scouring bargain bins, new release end caps, ogled at the album artwork. We marveled at these little shrines to all things music. Often record shops lured their “victims”, I mean customers, by piping music outdoors for the passersby, who innocently had no intention to go inside.
Performing your “honey-do” errands your significant other bestowed upon you take second priority to just a quick look-see in the cool record shop. First foot across the threshold, breathe in the aromas. Plastic, cardboard and sometimes funky incense or other complex fragrances muddle the air. Let’s jump right in!
All right, to start we begin in my hometown, and shops in the vicinity:
1. 1–2–3–4 Go! Records — Oakland, CA
A perfectly named shop to kick off the series. Let’s hit it! A diminutive shop along the north Oakland thoroughfare, 40th Street. Streetside, there’s no mistaking the storefront for anything other than a record store. Handbills and local event posters fill the windows. A sign of good things to come. Inside, the green tiled floor is a happy distraction for a quickening…
