Black Friday is one of those days that can divide a room. Some folks love to head to KOP to shop the deals while others stay as far away from shopping centers as possible. There’s not much in between. Enter Record Store Day Black Friday.
From the folks who bring you Record Store Day (RSD) in April every year, comes RSD Black Friday, a subversive effort to support indie record stores during our nation’s day of commercial shopping hysteria. RSD Black Friday predates Small Business Saturday, and as the organizers say, ”is a way to celebrate the special place of music in our lives by shopping for some of the special people in our lives. At local indie businesses to boot!”
For inspiration on where to shop this RSD Black Friday, we asked our hosts to tell us about their favorite local record stores. Here’s what they had to say:
WXPN Hosts Reveal Their Favorite Philly Record Stores
Photo by Jacci Weaver of Repo Records
Kristin Kurtis
“When I still lived in Philly proper, Repo Records was my neighborhood record store. I loved being able to walk there and trust that I’d find something good, with a great in-store soundtrack to boot. The intimate-yet-punk vibe of the store, the staff, and their selections always make for a fun experience on South Street! Plus, any place that has a resident cat wins my heart. The last thing I bought there was Styx: Greatest Hits on vinyl as a present for my husband.”
Photo courtesy of Main Street Music
Jim McGuinn
“I moved back to Philly in the fall of 2022 after 13 years in Minnesota, and living downtown, I haven’t gotten to as many of the great stores outside of the city (yet). We have a lot of great stores in town like Long In The Tooth, Brewerytown Beats, and Repo, but my go-to is Main Street Music. Pat, Jamie, Tyler, and the team there have so much love for the music, a great mix of new and used vinyl and CDs, and it’s the sort of place where music fans love to congregate and strike up conversations. I always seem to run into someone I know there. Also, I appreciate that they’ve started doing more releases with their own label, like the Buzz Zemer reissue. Last time I was there I picked up a couple reggae compilations on Souljazz, along with a weird early 70’s Dave Mason collection of his best solo and Traffic tunes for $5. I usually go in with a specific record in mind, but come out with a few things I never knew existed that I can’t wait to get home and discover.”
Photo courtesy of Main Street Music
Dan Reed
I’ve gotta go with Main Street Music in Manayunk. It was the first Philly record store I went to, and it’s been my go-to spot for over 20 years now. The staff are all fantastic, helpful music-heads. The selection is impressive, and if they don’t have what you’re looking for, they’ll get it for you quickly. GREAT selection of used vinyl (my favorite part of any record store). And… every time I’m in the store, they are playing something cool and unexpected over the speakers. I got a bunch of records there last week, including Motorhead’s “Ace Of Spades,” Mandrill’s “Mandrill Is,” and a very clean used copy of The Doobie Brothers’ “Minute By Minute” to replace my badly-abused copy.”
Sit & Spin Records
Eric Schuman
“Call it proximity bias but Sit & Spin Records cemented its place as my favorite record store upon relocating to West Passyunk. While their primary genre specialties tend to run a little more hardcore than my soft and tropical tastes, owners Leora Colby and Colin McMahon are a warm and knowledgeable team. That doesn’t stop them from being charmingly irreverent; rather than participate in official Record Store Day offerings, Sit & Spin mounted their own sidewalk sale which cheekily included a ‘No Phone Zone’ to dissuade resellers and poseurs alike. My favorite purchases have been a Sheer Mag 7”, a Rocky Horror soundtrack picture disc, and a box set of singles by punk supergroup OFF!. In business for over a decade, Sit & Spin is a South Philly institution and a beacon to misfits. Every neighborhood should have one.”
Mike Vasilikos and his kids at Main Street Music
Mike Vasilikos
“For me, my go-to” stop for music is Main Street Music in Manayunk. When I moved to Philly in 2008, I had an apartment on Main Street and walked by the shop every day. Great people. Great vibe. And I’ve always loved how community-focused they are. This past April, I brought my kids to their first-ever Record Store Day and we all picked out albums.” (include pic)
Photo courtesy of Newtown Record and Book Exchange
John Vettese
“Up I-95 in Bucks Country, Newtown Book and Record Exchange has the bustling energy and mild chaos of a great secondhand store: aisles of shelves stacked floor to ceiling, stacks of ephemera lining the counters and filling corners. When you dig in, you’ll find not only a remarkable selection of current titles but great deals on used vinyl. On my last visit, I picked up a secondhand copy of Bert Jansch’s Moonshine for $9 alongside boygenius’ new EP The Rest. Proprietor Chelsea Mitchell is a longtime singer-songwriter who performs as Dirty Dollhouse, and her impeccable taste is reflected in the way she stocks the store. And that’s to say nothing of the “Book” half of the Exchange: every time I’m there, I’ve amassed an armful of records before remembering to check out the paperback selection, too (recent finds in those stacks include Jonathan Lethem’s gun, with occasional music and Italo Calvino’s The Watcher and Other Stories).
Forever Changes; photo by Carl Johnson
John Vettese (bonus pic!)
I’d be remiss if I didn’t also mention Forever Changes, nestled in the charming borough of Phoenixville in Chester County, just beyond Valley Forge National Historical Park. You can spend hours exploring the bins that are helpfully curated not only by genre, but by era. There are sections for jazz and folk, as well as sections teasingly labeled “Boomer” (classic rock) and “Gen-X” (vintage alternative), with a great roundup of today’s releases from the indie, hip-hop, and pop worlds. Owner Shawn Cephas is a friendly and incredibly knowledgeable dude who loves to chat music – on my last visit, he turned me on to “Stairway to Heaven” by The O’Jays, which is an entirely different song than the Zeppelin one I knew – and he keeps a ridiculous dollar bin in the store’s back room which is great for digging. Ellen Foley’s 1979 album Night Out for $1 may be one of the best deals I’ve gotten in 2023.”
Photo by Jacci Weaver of Repo Records
Rahman Wortman
Repo Records on 5th and South Street. Whenever I go down there I like to look through their collections of CDs and see all the albums I remember having when I was a teenager or ones that were in my parents’ collection when I was a kid. It always feels like walking down memory lane when I’m in that store.