Dave K.
Yelp
A work training in the area ended early, so I popped in here. There was a sign on the door indicating that someone "was getting lunch and will be back shortly." I grabbed a cuppa coffee, came back, and they were open.
This is a wonderful store. There are two main types of record stores in Portland today, department stores and boutiques for lack of better terms. If you want huge selection, often at the expense of the albums being re-issues, hit the large stores. On the other hand, if what you were seeking is a curated shop which focuses on musical areas of expertise, this is a great place. I am reading this store based on what it is, and not on what it doesn't pretend to be.
I was in one of those larger stores looking for some King Sunny Ade and his juju music. They didn't have any, but mentioned I should try Little Axe if I wanted world music. Indeed, this place has a wonderful selection of world music, African music, uncommon reggae artists and much more besides.
They did have one Sunny Ade album. It was $50 and I decided that was too rich for my blood. But speaking of prices, as some have, I always go shopping with my Discogs open. That way I can check prices and make sure the shop is in line. My experience at Little axe was that they were ever so slightly more than on-line, but that if you were only going to buy a few records, the cost of shipping would make buying local less expensive. That said, I want to support local, and I'm grateful that these sorts of shops exist; sometimes that means you pay a few cents more for the privilege, and to keep our local community and economy strong.
I also spent some time chatting with Jed. He is one of the owners. I wanted some help in the Latin section, and he was quite forthcoming that it was not area of expertise. So I asked him what was, and he told me. It's nice to have that sort of honesty.
While electronica and other obscure music may be this stores forte, they also have a remarkable jazz section. I hesitate to mention this, because that's my great love and I don't want you buying the things I want! Where as most of the large and even smaller shops feature the issues of jazz standards, this place focus is predominately on used vinyl. That means you can get records here that would otherwise be difficult to source locally.
Finally, a caveat. Little Axe doesn't seem to label the conditions of their records. So it's up to us customers to do due diligence with each album. There were some things I was interested in, but when I held them up to the light, the obvious surface damage disqualified them for me. According to other reviewers, they are willing to take records back, but I did not inquire about that myself.
I walked out richer by a handful of records and $87 poorer.
By the way, I should mention that when I entered, some YMO was playing; it brought me straight back to my middle school days, where my music teacher had a poster of YMO in his classroom. What happy music!
