Trey T.
Yelp
Walking into the small quaint record store it seemed like a pretty neat shop. The space is clean, open, and modern--a breath of fresh air from some of the overstuffed and dank record shops in the Valley. The oddest thing though about walking in was the complete lack of any noise or music. Silence in a record shop? An older gentleman sitting behind the counter welcomed us and after a few minutes began playing records over the speakers inside of the joint.
Going through the individual records I was immediately taken back by the organization of the records. No genres, no sections (excluding soundtracks/classical), rather everything was grouped together in several rows simply organized in alphabetical order. For some it is a blessing, especially when there are often albums that could belong in different genres sorted out by whoever it working that day, but for people who are browsing with specific genres in mind it can be a real pain. Regardless of preference however, the albums are very organized and the few genres that normally are aside from the lot (such as spoken word) are placed on their own. This is a matter of perspective, but something to think about nonetheless.
After a good few minutes making a few selections, I brought them up to the front and asked to look at the conditions of the album. The gentleman working seemed short with me, as if the request was an unreasonable one and told me to be extremely careful. Several of the records I had pulled were listed as "very good" condition, yet had several deep scratches in the record itself--enough to make an unpleasant noise whenever the stylus crossed its path. Now, this is not a dollar record store like Zia or a thrift shop, and as such the expectation is that with a higher premium come records in better conditions. It was during all of this that I saw a record sitting, unsleeved, on the floor maybe giving a hit of just how well they maintain their inventory.
After setting a few aside from their abysmal condition, I asked if I could sample a few of the selections both to make sure some of the scratches were not audible, and to hear a few albums that I was unfamiliar with. With the store being completely empty in the midday, the store clerk gave me a sigh and seemed, again, that I was a nuisance in his shop. Grudgingly, he walked over to the listening station and queued things up, and left me to my devices.
Ultimately I ended up buying a few rather neat albums, but even when checking out was met with the same attitude. While the place has a very welcoming feeling to it--it is not very welcoming at all. I have been to record shops around the nation and stand as an avid collector always looking for the next little shop to pop into and see what they have. Unfortunately, this experience makes never want to return let alone recommend it.
Edit: The owner has personally reached out to me to apologize for my experiences. I'll be visiting again and will amend this review accordingly.