Minneapolis and St. Paul are residence to many nice document shops for individuals who acquire vinyl. Listed below are the highest 5 finest within the Twin Cities (not counting document shops within the suburbs, though Mill Metropolis Sound in Hopkins, Down within the Valley in Golden Valley and Solsta Information in St. Louis Park are nice choices outdoors of the center of the Twin Cities):
- Excessive Noise Information
Situated in South Minneapolis on Lake Road is Excessive Noise Information — a volunteer-run punk rock document retailer.
Excessive Noise is a superb retailer for vinyl heads who’re notably into punk rock, different rock and metallic — as virtually all of their stock falls beneath one of many three classes. Whereas it is a power for followers of these genres, in case you are available in the market for hip-hop or jazz, this might not be the shop for you.
As Excessive Noise makes a speciality of punk rock and related subgenres, you could find used copies of albums by seminal punk bands Black Flag, Unhealthy Faith and the Misfits in inventory any time you come into the shop. It’s also possible to depart with a band T-shirt, as the shop is nicely stocked with rock tees in all sizes.
With its number of vinyl data, merchandise and books, Excessive Noise is a must-visit for punk rock devotees.
- Disco Demise Information
Disco Demise is a novel vacation spot for Minneapolis document collectors as a result of, along with having an excellent number of used vinyl, the shop additionally homes a espresso store and an space to develop movie.
Though the shop just isn’t solely devoted to promoting vinyl, Disco Demise has a wide-ranging assortment of albums to sift by means of with devoted sections for rock, hip-hop, soul, digital and rarities.
The vinyl choice is spectacular — a tell-tale signal of an excellent document retailer is a well-curated used vinyl choice. Disco Demise delivers there in addition to offering a relaxed place to hang around and spend time in with their espresso store seating.
- Electrical Fetus
Seemingly essentially the most well-known document retailer within the Twin Cities, the Electrical Fetus is legendary for its decades-long historical past, the inescapable odor of incense once you stroll within the door, a well-organized vinyl choice and even some superstar prospects (most notably Prince).
Prince was a loyal buyer of the Electrical Fetus, having shopped there simply days earlier than his loss of life and giving the Fetus a shoutout on Twitter on File Retailer Day 2016. The shop has since turn into a vacation spot for Prince followers from around the globe making the pilgrimage to the Minneapolis space to see different Prince landmarks like Paisley Park. The shop has a devoted Prince part, marked within the Soul/R&B part with Prince’s iconic Love Image.
On the 2010 Grammy Awards, The Beatles drummer Ringo Starr offered an award carrying an Electrical Fetus T-shirt. A framed {photograph} of the long-lasting drummer sporting the shirt hangs behind the present store counter on the retailer.
Electrical Fetus is laid out and arranged very nicely. Whereas many document shops have numerous unorganized new arrival bins to sift by means of (which continues to be enjoyable, another way), solely a few new arrival bins on the entrance of the Fetus’ document division aren’t alphabetized. All different data and CDs within the retailer are sorted alphabetically — relating to new vinyl, most of it you could find labeled by artist.
This dedication to an organized document stock is a robust level of the shop; it makes the area straightforward to navigate when looking for a selected vinyl document.
Whereas the Fetus has a robust structure and group, its number of new vinyl may use some beefing up. Whereas the Fetus does an excellent job at stocking weekly new releases, consumers may discover the overwhelming majority of their stock at most different Twin Cities document shops of their respective “new” vinyl sections.
That withstanding, the Fetus is likely one of the finest locations within the Twin Cities to search out used vinyl, as the shop brings in an eclectic, ever-changing mixture of data to the brand new arrival bins all through the week.
- Agharta Information
Probably the most underrated document retailer within the Twin Cities can also be the closest to the College of Minnesota. Agharta Information (generally mispronounced and misspelled as Agartha) is roofed from flooring to ceiling in music posters and is packed stuffed with bins of nice data to flip by means of. Agharta provides an unimaginable number of new and used vinyl of all genres.
With most document shops, relating to brand-new sealed data, most inventory the identical titles by the identical artists. Nonetheless, Agharta proves time and time once more to be a retailer that shares a special number of new data than your typical document retailer. In case you have been preserving your eye out for a selected document and haven’t discovered it at different native document shops, Agharta simply might need it.
On prime of its choice, Agharta’s costs are excellent as nicely. Even with a lot of their new data labeled as imports, you could find a number of brand-new releases at decrease costs than at competing shops (an instance being PJ Harvey’s new album “I Contained in the Previous Yr Dying,” promoting for practically $30 at Electrical Fetus however for about $5 much less at Agharta).
- Cheapo Discs
Cheapo Discs takes the crown for finest document retailer within the Twin Cities due to how well-rounded it’s as a bodily media emporium. The Minneapolis location is huge in scale in comparison with some other document retailer within the space. With tall partitions adorned floor-to-ceiling with colourful vinyl data and music posters, the sheer dimension of the shop is one thing to behold.
Naturally, such a giant retail area has loads of room for an excellent media stock. There are various lengthy rows of recent and used vinyl data and CDs. On the partitions of the inside perimeter of Cheapo are cabinets upon cabinets of DVDs, Blu-rays, band merch, posters, some cassette tapes and much more vinyl.
Cheapo rises above the remaining relating to its choice. If you’re on the lookout for a selected new or used album, poster, band T-shirt or film, your odds of discovering it are higher at Cheapo than most different document shops, because of their unimaginable and diversified stock.
Along with their unbelievably eclectic Minneapolis retailer, Cheapo additionally has places in St. Paul and Blaine. In relation to being an all-around bodily media retail haven, Cheapo rises above the remaining.