There’s a certain kind of magic that exists in record stores. Any music fan will attest to this. Although technically retailers in commodities, record stores are more akin to museums. They’re places where you can while away several hours in a sort of unselfconscious awe. And unlike other museums, you’re able to touch the items on display, to hold the artwork close to your face and get a taste of the wonder within. They’re also places where you’re likely to hear music playing from the stereo that sounds like nothing you’ve ever heard before, but that you know you’ll soon become fanatical about.
The annual Record Store Day is here again this Saturday April 16. It might be an international event, but it’s entirely focused on locally managed, independent stores. Without record stores, the world would be a far less enlightened place; here in Melbourne, this sentiment is especially true. At Beat, we’re a team of mad record collectors. But it’s not just the music that attracts us to our local record stores – it’s the feeling you get upon walking through the door that you’ve entered an exclusive club, where unique friendships can be formed and ears awakened to life changing sounds.
This guide puts the spotlight on a number of our favourite record stores from all over Melbourne. It’s designed to not only fill you in on the extent of quality record stores and turntable retailers in our city, but also the mass amount of exclusive releases, in-store performances and ridiculous sales happening for Record Store Day 2016. So, dig in.
Dixons Recycled Records (Fitzroy & Blackburn)
Heartland Records (North Melbourne)
Muscle Shoals Second Hand Records (Brunswick East)
Quality Records… Plus (Malvern)
Strangeworld Records (Fitzroy)
