London, UK | London music venue AAJA opens second-hand record store in Deptford: Crates R Us has opened within the basement of AAJA in Deptford following the success of a series of record fairs. South London’s DIY music venue, bar, and radio station AAJA has newly launched a second-hand record store within its basement. The Deptford institution recently revealed the news on Instagram, explaining that the store, named Crates R Us, will open from Wednesdays to Sundays each week. It follows the success of a series of pop-up record fairs at the venue, and sees the AAJA crew collaborate with the Crates team—who have been involved with the venue since 2018. “Crates R Us opening has been a hugely positive step for AAJA,” the venue said in a statement. “Thus far it’s facilitated a really positive change of pace throughout the daytime, increasing footfall in the venue.”
Akron, OH | One last dig through bins at Square Records and Kenmore Komics: After decades as neighborhood anchors, the Highland Square record shop and the longtime Kenmore comic store are shutting down, drawing devoted customers from hours away for final visits. When Leslie Osborn learned that Square Records would be closing later this year, she made the hour drive from Ashland on Halloween to flip through the Akron store’s bins. The Highland Square record store is a destination for her, she said—she never leaves empty-handed. Weeks later, Brent Sobleski flipped through a different set of bins across town at Kenmore Komics. That store, too, will close later this month—perhaps as soon as Saturday. Sobleski, who in early December drove an hour and a half from Cadiz, spent $1,050 on more than 100 comic books, priced at 90% off.
CT | Connecticut Businesses That Closed In 2025: Replay Records in Hamden, which has been around for 35 years, closed at the end of July. The owners said they are planning to transition to online-only sales. Paul’s Boutique Records in Vernon, which opened in 2021, closed its physical store at the end of August. The owner said in an interview with CT Insider that he was hoping to “transition to something different,” aiming to sell and trade records out of an old barn. The Emporium, a record shop in Bridgeport that also sold antique books, closed at the end of March, with the owner saying in an interview that business never really recovered after COVID. The shop was first opened in 2017, but changed names in 2021.
Bunker Vinyl Cork city!
Paris, FR | The 2025 Vinyle Village Christmas Market at La Rotonde Stalingrad: Designers, Record stores, Vintage clothing, and DJ sets: When December comes around, some people get out their vinyl records, others get out the mulled wine… Vinyle Village – Xmas Edition transforms La Rotonde Stalingrad into a musical chalet where designers, second-hand clothes and record dealers mingle with festive DJ sets. On Saturday, December 20, 2025, get ready to experience a remixed Christmas, with trendy shopping in the afternoon and beats that will keep you dancing until the early hours of the morning. Parisian Christmas markets? Yes, we know the Tuileries, La Défense, the giant Christmas tree, the crowds… But sometimes, the gift is to slip into more intimate spots, where the atmosphere is cozy and the groove is strong.
Paris, FR | Under a sublime glass roof in the heart of Paris, France’s biggest vinyl sale at knock-down prices returns to Paris for a unique date—50,000 records for under 10 euros, including some truly rare nuggets: Join us at the Bastille Design Center for the 10th edition of the now famous Paris Vinyl Sale on December 14, 2025 to unearth THE nugget your collection has been missing! Attention sound diggers, music lovers, Sunday bargain hunters and compulsive collectors: the Paris Vinyl Sale returns to Paris for an exceptional 10ᵉ edition, and it’s fair to say that we’ve rarely seen such an outpouring of good vinyl bargains. On Sunday, December 14, 2025, the superb Bastille Design Center will host 50,000 vinyls at mini prices, all under €10, under a huge glass roof bathed in light. A unique date, a magical place… and a colossal stock ready to be raided.
San Antonia, TX | Gunter Hotel announces the hiring of its first-ever vinyl ambassador: The Gunter Hotel is pleased to announce that it has hired Gibb Diaz as its first-ever vinyl ambassador as part of its robust vinyl library program. The Gunter Hotel recently reopened following a major $57 million renovation. The hotel is honoring its musical history in several ways, including an on-site recording studio and record players in each guest room. Guests can now choose from nearly 1,000 vinyl records to reserve during their stay. Gibb Diaz is now serving as the keeper of the vinyl library, making customized recommendations for guests, managing the record collection, and procuring a well-rounded selection of music for visitors to enjoy.
Cassette tapes are making a comeback. Yes, really. …Cassettes are fragile, inconvenient and relatively low-quality in the sound they produce—yet we’re increasingly seeing them issued by major artists. Is it simply a case of nostalgia? The cassette format had its heyday during the mid-1980s, when tens of millions were sold each year. However, the arrival of the compact disc (CDs) in the 1990s, and digital formats and streaming in the 2000s, consigned cassettes to museums, second-hand shops and landfill. The format was well and truly dead until the past decade, when it started to reenter the mainstream. ccording to the British Phonographic Industry, in 2022 cassette sales in the United Kingdom reached their highest level since 2003. We’re seeing a similar trend in the United States, where cassette sales were up 204.7% in the first quarter of this year (a total of 63,288 units).
Hoboken, NJ | The value of physical media, finding old records. A time capsule for humanity. …Music is a driving force of hope, and humanity will always need hope. Charity concerts and events like “No Nukes” will always happen. There will always be a need to respond to struggle or make a change. That is what makes humanity beautiful. Our art gets directly involved, and then inevitably preserved in records, CDs, and videos. We have to keep humanity in the heart of music, attend charity shows, and use or elevate our voices. That’s why collecting old records means so much to me. I get to see a response to whatever the world was like at the time it was thrown at the artists who made the albums. There is something about physically looking at a copy of what things were and the hopes of what they would be.
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