I’ve really gotten into the whole vinyl scene recently. If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em right? Now I love blasting a little Lana Del Ray while I dance around the room without a care in the world. I think it’s so cool that record players look all cutesy and modern now too (I own the Crosley Cruiser Turntable in Blue.) This summer my mission is to build my vinyl collection with a variety of cool music (so far I own about 11 records ranging from Elton John to Madonna.) A personal goal is to visit all the record stores in Chicago, or at least a good majority of them. The only problem is being new to the vinyl scene I don’t know where to start! So through word of mouth and after doing a little research, I learned of a pretty cool record place called Dave’s Records.
The store is located in Lincoln Park and really caters to vinyl lovers. I have to say, I really appreciated how easy it was to find the store. It wasn’t one of those hole in the wall places like I expected. The store could be spotted from almost a block away courtesy of the huge records hanging on top of the building. As it states on the door, you won’t find any CD’S in this store. It is truly a record store in every aspect of the word. Let’s face it, it’s hard to find a place that is truly dedicated to records and records alone. The store carry’s all speeds, all formats and all styles of vinyl! Talk about record heaven!
Another plus of the store was its organization. Classified by genre and then alphabetical order, I was quickly able to find the exact record I wanted (Kanye West’s debut album ’College Dropout’.) And when I wasn’t able to find what I was looking for, Dave was happy to help. The store carries both new and used records and the newer record releases are keep up on the wall above the cashier. The only thing that disappointed me was the fact that they carried every Coldplay album except X&Y. But I can’t blame the fact that that’s a popular album on Dave and his store. All in all I give Dave’s Records an A- (I had to deduct for the lack of X&Y. That is literally my favorite album of all time.)
I was so impressed by the store that I plan on going back next week and throughly looking through the used records section (something I didn’t get the opportunity to do during my first visit). If you have a favorite record store in Chicago that you think I should check out, be sure to let me know!