Vinyl, Sweet and Cheap

My wife says to me, “What’s up with that storefront that says ‘Records’? We were travelling through our town on our way back home from a trip. Immediately I thought there must be some misleading signage—there’s no record store in Vauxhall, NJ that I ever saw, and if one opened I probably would have seen it.  She told me roughly where she saw it so I headed over later that day.
 

Well, what do you know? I see a storefront that says “We Buy Records.”  I went in and it’s nothing but boxes of unsorted used LPs. Some boxes were on tables, at least as many were under the tables. Someone had grouped the boxes by genre.  This was enough to make me very happy.

 
I scored Rare Earth’s Ecology, James Gang’s Yer Blues, the Byrds’ Untitled, John Lennon’s, Walls and Bridges and Rock ‘n’ Roll. All were original pressings and prices ranged from $3 to $8.  Those are great titles at great prices and there were plenty more good titles to choose from.  I’ll certainly be back.

Steve, the owner, said if you come to his store and mention me, Dennis Hartwick, then he’ll knock 10% off of purchases $25 or higher.   The record store is called Big City Records and it’s at 2181 Springfield Ave, Vauxhall, NJ 07088-1233. (908) 688-1402. There’s another one at 521 East 12th Street, New York, NY 10009. (212) 539-0208.  Happy hunting!

By the way, if you’re playing records, and especially if you’re buying used ones, you’ll get much better sound if you wet-clean the records.  VPI makes record cleaning machines that are considered the standard in the industry. I use one and it’s fantastic.  You’ll also be extending the life of your needle. Do not use the fluid that you squirt on the record or brush.  You are leaving mud in your grooves and mucking up your cartridge!