17 Coolest Record Stores in America

Published at 9:54 AM on June 18, 2008

By Palmer Houchins

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Paste magazine pays homage to the almighty record store
“When I first moved to Los Angeles to seek my fortune back in 1983, I lived on Larabee, just north of Sunset. My friends and I would go to Tower at night. Or I'd go alone. An evening at Tower in West Hollywood was not a stop you made. It WAS the evening. ...you could walk in and immediately go into a serious retail coma and when you came to, you were at the register with a thousand dollars worth of tapes, CD's and DVD's and no memory of how you got there… You were in a total blackout for a couple of hours. And it was great.” - Alec Baldwin on the closing of Tower Records in Los Angeles

Decatur, GA (June 18, 2008) - It’s no secret that the digital revolution is killing brick-and-mortar retail. But just as people of faith need houses of worship in which to commune, music zealots are no less dependent on shrines dedicated to their own decibel-cranked passion. In their soon-to-be-released July issue, Paste magazine celebrates the 17 best record stores still standing, in an effort to keep them standing for many, many more years to come!

“The resources on the Internet are supplements to actual record stores, not replacements. Fortunately, despite the increasing pressures from illegal downloads and online music stores, many independent record stores have found clever ways to fight back against the electronic tide that was supposed to have run them out of business years ago,” explained Paste editor-in-chief Josh Jackson. “The digital era has its benefits, but I hope we can keep opening up new ways of discovering music without losing the best of the old.”

In no particular order, following are the 17 Coolest Record Stores in America:

Amoeba Records, Los Angeles, CA

Criminal Records, Atlanta, GA

Other Music, New York City

Cat Head Delta Blues & Folk Art, Clarksdale, MS

Waterloo Records, Austin, TX

Aquarius Records, San Francisco, CA

Dusty Groove America, Chicago, IL

Ernest Tubb Record Shop, Nashville, TN

Shangri-La Records, Memphis, TN

Music Millennium, Portland, OR

Ear X-Tacy, Louisville, KY

Louisiana Music Factory, New Orleans, LA

Newbury Comics, Boston, MA

Grimey’s New + Pre-Loved Music, Nashville, TN

Turntable Lab, New York City

The Electric Fetus, Minneapolis, MN

Jerry’s Records, Pittsburgh, PA

Paste magazine is the fastest growing independently published entertainment magazine in the country. Called “the best among American music titles” by The Wall Street Journal, a 2008 National Magazine Award nominee and recently named "Magazine of the Year" at the 2008 PLUG Independent Music Awards for the third year in a row, Paste provides thoughtful analysis on the best in film, books and other aspects of popular (and alternative) culture. Paste is the premier magazine for people who still enjoy discovering new music, prize substance and songcraft over fads and manufactured attitude, and appreciate quality music in whatever genre it might inhabit. Now in their sixth year, Paste has grown quickly with international distribution in over 12 countries. Paste is available on newsstands all over the U.S. and Canada.