Deep Thoughts Record Shop

Psychedelic vibes and an amazing selection. They were voted Greater Boston’s favorite record store in 2023 for a reason. Tons of jazz, psych rock, punk, and underground stuff. The dollar bins are dangerous - spent way too long digging through them and walked out with like 10 records. They also sell books and have killer bargain bins. Staff is super knowledgeable about obscure stuff. Recently moved but still accessible.

What a fantastic addition to the local scene! I have been here a couple of times now and I'm blown away by their selection of vinyl. The decor is super fun, bonus for all the cool local music (rad selection of local releases on cassette no less), a nice collection of used books to browse, CDs for those of us who still have a CD player in the car, and very nice people working both times I was in the shop. This place just has an overall good vibe, and their prices are fair to market. If you are into record browsing be prepared to easily spend an hour plus just immersing yourself on the first visit. So happy to have this gem in our area!

The lack of diversity in this shop is staggering. The owners treat me differently then other customers pretty sure the person name was Nick. Im never supporting again. POC dont shop here if u can help it

WOW!!!!! if I could give this place SIX stars I would !!!! its absolutely beautiful in there, vibes out of this world. I forgot to save the videos I took but please do yourself a favor and go to this place!! It's very reasonably priced and you can find some absolute gems. On my first trip, I got a shirt that says Grey Skull on it that seems handmade, very cute. I also got Patty Smith's "Just Kids" for just $8!

Cool little record shop. Eclectic selection of titles. New stuff, new reissue and used records. I found a few long-time wants for my collection. Definitely stop by and check them out when you’re in the area.

Such a wonderful find! Chris, the guy at the counter when I came in, was super friendly and helpful, and fun to talk to! Plus, he gave such wonderful curated selections based on my tastes! If you dig deep and keep an open mind, you can score some amazing records for super reasonable prices! Will definitely try to stop by again!

Awesome energy a little bit of everything definitely a hidden gem

The kind of place that you wish was your bedroom. I want EVERYTHING in there and the crazy decor as well.

Ambiance - fun and vintage decor all over!! It's such a cool place as soon as you step in. There's so much to see hanging on and from the walls and so many goodies to explore, mostly records, cassettes, etc. But they have an entire book section downstairs in the basement zone! Service: Kindness and space as soon as you step in, which I appreciated as a natural introvert. I just like to explore while shopping, and the staff here was helpful and open to answering questions. Selection: There is so much variety for gently loved and lightly used items, including clothes, books, and music! Value: You'll be sure to find something for everyone price range, mostly affordable goodies under 10, which is amazing for a good thrifting budget! Much like many great holes in the wall spots- it's a bit small in terms of space to walk width wose but plenty of walk room in terms of a path and was not crowded when I visited so it wasn't at all an issue. Cool thing to look out for: local band pop ups downside in the basement checkout thier socials or site for the next gig details!

Great record store! Amazing collection, priced extremely fair, and love the used books section downstairs. So much to look through, it was hard to leave!

Love this record store! I visit Deep Thoughts every time I'm in Boston and have always had an awesome time. The selection is very eclectic and well-curated, including a great selection of used classic rock and jazz records, reissues of avant-garde/experimental jazz records, and new rock/indie records with a strong emphasis on the local music scene. To get an idea, over the years I've picked up Rush, John Coltrane, John Zorn, No New York, The Grateful Dead, Guerilla Toss, and Yes all within the price budgets I've been aiming for. Plus, I highly recommend their custom slipmat which not only looks but also works great. Finally, street parking is fairly easy, and every online Discogs order has been handled perfectly. A review of Deep Thoughts would be incomplete though without giving a shoutout to their wonderful owners. They make me feel at home every time, and I always love learning new music facts from them each time I visit. Hope to come to Grateful Dead night on Fridays dmy next trip!

Best record store in the Boston Area hands down, and potentially the best record store I've been to. Great selection of 60's/70's psych, folk, rock, pop, and oddities at dangerously reasonable prices. If you're a big fan of that stuff, there's lots of stuff to explore. A fair amount of their stock leans toward uncommon records, which is a great strength of the store if you're not intimidated. There's a fair amount of information and reccomendations written on stickers on plastic outer sleeves that gives you a good reference point or a strong recommendation from the store. So far the store's recommendations haven't steered me wrong and the recommendation/info/price stickers are almost always on an outer plastic sleeve if it's not in the bargain bin, but are really easy to cleanly remove if they're adhered to the record. The store is extremely well curated and also well priced. Most stores will price something esoteric or rare high at first and then throughout months will mark it down to a sell-able price. But Deep Thoughts has everything priced to sell from the get-go. I typically don't buy albums I'm unfamiliar with, but I scored a lot of fantastic albums I would've never bought because I took a chance. Their bargain bin is also a big draw for me as well. Quality albums that sold well but aren't particularly in high demand are plentiful. If you're looking for good copies of Laura Nyro, John Denver, Carpenters, etc, they have it for the exact price it should be. There's also a lot of more esoteric albums that may be in a bit of rougher shape but play well. There's also a decent amount of space dedicated to bargain bins, so there's a lot of quality cheap stuff to look through. Not a fan of indie, metal, noise/experimental personally; so I can't comment on the quality of those sections, but they have an appropriate amount of store dedicated to them. Staff has always been pleasant and friendly and it's in a great location with Tres Gatos and Boomerangs close by. TLDR: superb selection at superb prices. If you're a big fan of psychedelia or folk or someone looking for quality cheap stuff to start a collection hit them up.

I like this place! It's quaint, has a lot of great things, run by nice people, good decor. Deep Thoughts is also located at a great spot - it's near forest hills, the arboretum, and the hub of Centre St. Jamaica Plain.

Everything you would want in a record / collectors / vintage store. Stickers, cool shirts, all kinds of figurines and posters around, and great deals on every possible medium of music. I got my buddy a sweet Sam Cooke album and bought a shirt for myself. RATM Evil Empire CD for $1?! Such a come up. My friends found some cool vinyl they'd been looking for, and we enjoyed checking out the books in the basement. Must see if you are cruising through the area. It looks like they do shows in the basement too, it'd be a great little venue to see a local band play!

I love this new find. I found this place looking for my favorite music in vinyl format. The guy behind the counter was so helpful and kind (I forgot his name, sorry). I found some records to fill my collection. They have a variety of music for every taste. Lots of weird findings. I'll be going more often looking for some music jewels. Thank you very much!!

I really really like this place. I do a fair bit of driving, so before a long trip, I'll swing by and pick up a few CDs stacked high in the back corner. Priced at only $1 each (a steal for some of the bands in stock), there's a great incentive to experiment with the unknown. Plus, if you're particularly daring, there's the thrill of removing the CD lodged in the center of the shoulder-height stack. Management is always friendly and helpful too.

Kudos to Deep Thoughts for hoisting the proverbial freak flag in an otherwise-desolate part of town. They have a great selection of records, tapes, books and audio equipment. I'm pretty selective, both in terms of what I'm looking for and the actual condition of the records, and I've come across some *serious* gems. Also, the $3 section is surprisingly good! I've paid 3 bucks for nice-sounding LPs by the likes of Harry Nilsson, Kris Kristofferson and the McGarrigle sisters..... pretty, pretty, pretty good, as Larry David would say. The staff has always been super friendly and helpful. They put on excellent shows in the basement too. If you left a 2-star review cuz they got mad when you spilled your Dunkaccino all over a 1st pressing of Here Come the Warm Jets, then you need to reevaluate your priorities in life. IMHO!

Great record store. Lots of amazing LPs, CDs & tapes. Lots of recent tapes. The Cambridge store is small but also great. They stock a lot of very specific genres - which is a great reason to go there. Recommended.

So glad these folks are in my neighborhood! First time in, the clerk was a bit stand-offish when I said hello, but once we engaged, he was chill. He even apologized as I was leaving with my goodies an hour later. "Dude, sorry I was an ass when you came in, I was just super distracted". No worries! Although this is not a big place, I feel they have really high quality, rather unusual musical genres. Indigenous folk music from Canada, Algerian traditional music, all sorts of cool box sets and one-offs. Go there and be happy!

Deep Thoughts Jp is a great local vinyl record shop. The staff are fun-loving people and very knowledgeable about their music; large collection of jazz+psyche and indie + many others. They have live performance once a while in the store, awesome vibe. Also be sure to check out their 2nd location in Cambridge if you live near there. The sky is not blue, The air is not fresh, I am going nowhere but DT JP

mostly old vinyls that they have no catalogue for, so they can't even tell you what they have. The employees were rude over the phone and in person, and that's coming from someone who worked a food job during the pandemic.

Can't say enough good things about Deep Thoughts! Always cool and friendly people around, really sick records, a lot of rare finds. I stop in a lot of the times I walk by the shop and am always loving the vibe and the music I find there. They really have stuff at every price point too, interesting stuff for a dollar or two as well as rare or original pressings of stuff. Big love to y'all at Deep Thoughts!

Very friendly, huge selection, and great deals. I found some $2/5 and $1 hidden gems, my favorite of which came from the "weird" section. I spent about 30 minutes browsing and could easily spend hours more going through everything. AND it looks like there's a downstairs with books that I didn't even get to explore.

This is my favorite record store in Boston and even the world. They specialize in the weird stuff -- noise, psych, etc. -- but every other genre is well represented as well. I've walked out of here with gems in modern indie rock, classic rock, disco and rap all under my arm. And best of all the prices are *extremely* reasonable, for old records and brand-new wax alike. The $3 bins for any number of genres in the back of the store? There are some legit gems in there, not just the remains of forgotten fads. Also there's a couch in the middle of the store which is nice. In sum: A+ mix of genres, A+ mix of new and used, A+ prices, bonus points for couch.

I LOOOOOOOVE Deep Thoughts JP!!! I have seen so many amazing shows there. Booking a show there was a pleasure in every way. I could not recommend working with Deep Thoughts enough or supporting them. Oh yeah, and they have a large eclectic vinyl collection.

I just moved to the Boston area from Vermont, where I used to be the assistant manager of an indie record store. Needless to say, before I found a job here I occupied my time by checking out indie record stores in Boston. I actually haven't finished yet, but so far Deep Thoughts is my favorite. And yes, before you ask, I have been to Weirdo. Deep Thoughts has a great vibe and a surprisingly nice space. It's not overly cramped or crowded, which is pretty unusual for a record store. In fact, there's a big comfy couch in the middle of the room for..lounging? But the selection is the real reason I like this place: they have a small but well-curated collection of factory-sealed new releases/reissue LPs, with a very solid stock of used titles to boot. It took everything out of me not to grab a used copy of the second Television album or the King Tuff "Was Dead" reissue... Also, there was a great offering of cassettes and local music on various formats. And lots of used CDs, too! I know this place is fairly new, so it will be exciting to see how they grow in the future. It would definitely be cool to see this place be used as a venue after store hours.

Deep Thoughts is a great neighborhood record store that happens to also be my favorite record store in Boston. It's especially worth checking out if you're into noise, punk, experimental, and psychedelic-type stuff. I come in about once a month to check out their selection of new vinyl, which is well-curated and maintained, but often end up finding a gem in the used bins. They also have a good selection of sale vinyl and used books. I bought a great used stereo here as well. The owner and employees are consistently friendly and provide a comfortable space to hang out and flip through records or just lounge on their couch and listen to the music playing in the shop. I haven't been to any shows here, but they frequently host a diverse array of local musicians. Deep Thoughts is a gem and JP is lucky to have it.

A little bit outside of the city in Jamaica Plain, this little shop is well worth your drive. There are two things about this shop that in my opinion warranted a 5 star review: 1) You won't find any worn and beat up LPs at inflated prices. They have a healthy selection of $3 LPs that are grossly over priced at a lot of stores. 2) The staff has recommended picks scattered throughout the shelves of records. This is a great way to discover new music. The staff is also very helpful and friendly. I recommend checking this place out!

Fans of experimental music and rare media -- look no further. Based on selection alone, this is one of the finest record stores in the United States for both new and used records and cassettes. Their curation is next level! But it's not just that... the environment is next level. It is super comfy with couches that eats you alive. The decor is Deadhead-tastic. BUT IT'S NOT JUST THAT! This shop also puts on some of the best concerts in the world. I'm not from Boston, but every time I come to town this is one of the first places I stop. Kudos to the fantastic owners & people that work in the store. Love you all!

Played here with my band Primal Feelings a couple times here now and I must say I am a fan. Nick and Alaina run a freaky ship, with specialty records of all genres coming from all over the world. They sell local tapes and shirts at good prices. They also host shows on the weekends and they are usually good ones. Who knows, maybe you'll catch us there one day!!

Beyond stoked. If you find as I did that it was hard to find a shop still around that carries records (yes vinyl records), tapes, CDs and movies then you would be stoked to discover this store. I made the drive here and it was totally prosperous. I found some good buys and they had a good selection. They also buy and sell or trade so it is cool. Staff is friendly and always stops and helps if you are looking lost. Been back since last month and more new items arrived.

The people that run DTJP are very passionate about their business and about music in general. This place has anything you could hope to procure and a lot of stuff that you never even knew existed. I was very impressed with the laid back vibe, and also saw some talented local bands play. This is a must stop if you're in the area!

This record shop is awesome! Love the selection and service, highly recommend! Just got a copy of Phish's Slip Stitch & Pass from this shop and I couldn't be more happy. Thanks!

Good dudes, good vibes, and great selections. Mostly contemporary reissues, but a TON of cutty digs that will make you think twice about searching for the original. Make sure to check out the bookshelves, there's some serious scores in there. I appreciate a music joint that mixes the media and does it well, and Deep Thoughts is mixed into that crowd. A pilgrimage for me from Cambridge, but worth it on a lazy Sunday. Check out their show list too, they've got a cool movement happening out in JP.

One of the absolute best record stores in the country, hands down. Selection is far out - if you're the type o' freak that needs a lil more than overpriced shrinkwrapped Beatles LPs to fill out your collection, look no further. Alongside an insane collection of reissue psych, folk, punk, experimental and avant garde is a very considerably curated collection of used LPs (as well as 45s, tapes, CDs, etc) offered at super reasonable prices. Local and underground releases also find a very comfortable and prominent home here, making Deep Thoughts a very important asset to the network of musicians and record labels across the country who self release music on a much smaller scale than yer average overproduced Pitchfork-favorited boy band. The JP location feels like a second living room, with an inviting atmosphere that persuades you to hang out for hours and enjoy your time there. Their Central Square location is far smaller but is still jam-packed with all the essentials and more - I've only been a few times since they opened and have had more "no way, they have THIS!?" moments than I can count. Bonus points for the Kraftwerk pins at the counter and the insane wealth of knowledge the two owners are willing to share with their customers. Respect the craft and respect those facilitating the culture and you will find yourself with an indispensable resource that will keep giving and giving.

love deep thoughts, i've gotten great records and vhs for cheap here, they also have rare stuff if you're a nerd for that kind of thing. ive taken visiting new york friends and they go wild for the selection. i always browse the bargain bin and once i wasnt sure if i wanted something so they offered to play it to let me hear it before i bought it! i got she's so unusual - cyndi lauper from the bargain bin and also got cry baby on vhs for a buck. allston pudding drops their cassette mixes here which are free to take (at least they used to, idk if they still do that) when i used to live in jp my favorite thing to do on my day off was go to city feed and get a bagel, walk through the arboretum, and stop at deep thoughts/boomerang/goodwill on my way back.

Deep Thoughts is by far my favorite record store in Boston. The staff is lovely, helpful and kind.

Like a lot of people, I was really bereaved when Weirdo closed. Not sure what took me so long but finally made it to DTJP & was not disappointed. I also should preface with the fact that I was more looking to sell than buy, as I'm in a window of deaccessioning. Anyway I brought two crates of (pretty superior if I do say so myself) records. Got to meet Nick, who was good natured & amiable (& apologetic-his car had broken down & he opened the shop a bit later than posted hours). Seemed like he was fair with the prices, & he apologized a couple more times for talking with auto insurance people on the phone for a couple minutes. The store is definitely thoughtully curated & has lots of cool New vinyl & previously owned stuff. I'm glad that the marketplace is buoyant enough to support not just this location but a satellite store in Cambridge. Hopefully Nick & Peter will hang in for awhile, as DT fills a much needed niche.

This place is great. Wide selection of music, plus really friendly and knowledgeable people.

awesome and well-curated selection, knowledgeable/friendly staff, and a great, welcoming vibe. me and a few friends always end up in the Boston area this time of year, and spending an hour or so diving deep at Deep Thoughts JP on the day after Thanksgiving is now a tradition.