Recommeded Music Stores in London?

I'll go visit London in a few days.
Can anyone suggest any good music stores?

 

recommended

theres not a lot on music stores left.....the best one by a long way is minus zero/stand out which is half way up portobello road at 2 blenhiem crescent...be aware its only open on fridays and saturdays...ask for bill forsythe when you get there

 

have not lived in london for 7 years BUT......what about Selectadisc, Foop, vinyl exchange etc.
i am sure there are lots there.....help the guy out.

 

Here's my advice. Dont waste your precious time in such a awesome city as London looking for records you can find on eBay,GEMM or Netsounds. All the good stores are gone, new stuff is too expensive and there are no bargains worth wasting the time for when you are dropping 300 a day for your hotel.
If you are walking past a store on the way to something else, knock yourself out . But other than that, trust me, there are no stores in London anymore that have anything to offer that you cant find online. And usually at a better price.

 

Well in central London you've got:

HMV (Oxford Street)
Virgin (Oxford Street)
Sister Ray (Berwick Street) - was Selectadisc
Mr CD (Berwick Street)
Fopp (Tottenham Court Road & Shaftesbury Avenue)

HMV & Virgin are the usual overpriced megastores.
Sister Ray is better for more unusual discs.
Fopp has a decent range of CDs at £5. The Tottenham Court Road store is pretty large and has a some cheap books also.
Mr CD used to be decent for new releases but is now pretty poor.

Those of you who remembered Steve's (just off Charing Cross Road) that has gone now, as has Reckless Records (I think).

I would endorse comments made earlier - you will probably find everything easier and cheaper online. Fopp is probably worth a look if you are after CDs though and fancy killing an hour browsing.

The Rough Trade store in Neal's Yard may also be worth a visit.

 

I kinda like Rhythm Records in Camden (if it's still there). Not amazing by any stretch, but only quality new and used cds and vinyl - i.e. you don't have to sift through endless amounts of garbage to find something good.

 

Not quite. Music Exchange in Notting Hill is well worth a visit.

This large s/h music store operates a "dutch auction" system. All items are reduced in price regularly until they sell. So there are always some good deals.

Near Notting Hill Gate tube station.

Tim

 

To a previous point made:

My last visit was 2004. It was my first trip to Beanos which was a blast and those boxes of 45s was one of the highlights of the trip. But Beanos is obviously gone now. Every other store was a waste except one semi-bargain I found at InToxica. But don't bother with InToxica. Their prices are insane (and I don't mean the good insane).

 

theres also music exchanges in camden town..two branches..one having taken over the old rythm site...and one in soho...berwick st. they are your best bet for cheap bargins......if you go to the noting hill branch you can then walk up portobello for minus zero on the left and rough trade on the right and then further up is vinyl experience.....i think beanos is gone..as are reckless and virtually mr cd....really its all on its last legs....still if you want a great shop where you can actually spend a couple of hours browsing through goodies and prop up the counter chatting to the friendly knowlegable staff then minus zero/stand out is the place

 

any decent store in Camden Town is likely to be the "cool" store to visit. Some back off the street around the corner stores in Bayswater, The Virgin MegaStore at Totenham and Oxford prob has more inventory than any in the world so..

 

There is a Virgin (which used to be a Tower) that has a big selection it inherited from Tower. I stopped by when I was in town last year. There are several Virgin's in fact - can't remember all the locations - Picadilly and Oxford I think.

Worth checking out if you happed to be in town and walk by.

But if you live in the U.S. be prepared to pay twice what you pay in the states for just about anything because the dollar is much weaker than the pound per current exchange rates. Don't expect bargains in the UK.

 

I was in London this summer and walked by a very nice store that just sold classical LPs. I wasn't actively searching for it, but what I found was surprisingly high-quality used LPs at relatively low prices. I can't recall the name at the moment. However, what I will tell you is that I walked by a lot of places that were selling LPs that looked shady to say the least - as if the dirt from the grounds of the store could potentially be seeping into the LP packages. It reminded me of some of the more seedy locations here in the Village.

London is a really amazing city, and I would agree with the rest in saying that it is really no place to be seeking out great LPs. Take into consideration the fact that in California one can walk into a record store and walk out with ten LPs for ten dollars in relatively good condition. There's a lot of wonderful things to do in London - get culturally experienced at some place like the Tate or go to a really rowdy pub - both better uses of one's time in London.