Edinburgh, UK | Footfall is king when it comes to music and merch: When it became clear to me that much of the customer base Avalanche had built up over the years was gradually going to be lost to online sales I realised that while we were losing the really keen fans who were now buying directly from the bands, labels and record companies, there was still a much larger market out there with more casual fans of an artist who were still the majority of most sales. The problem was that was very much HMV’s market and also to reach these people normally involved having a high profile location with strong footfall. …The footfall in the Waverley Market is not just all I had hoped for in the Grassmarket and more, but also the kind of footfall that likes music but is happy to buy in a shop rather can go to the trouble of pre-ordering online.
San Francisco, CA | The best record shops in the Bay Area, according to local DJs: Sometimes only the sweet sound of vinyl will do. Try these seven options when you feel the call of the needle dropping. San Francisco may be known for tech and innovation, but its love for old-school vinyl records never went away. In a city where music history runs deep, record shops are meeting points, classrooms, and archives of culture. …But knowing where to start your vinyl collection can feel overwhelming. For this edition of Pro Tips, we turned to local DJs who have spent decades collecting thousands of records. These are the ones playing sets across the city, digging through bins, and shaping the sound of the Bay Area’s vinyl scene, the ones who know the best spots for beginner diggers, amateur spinners, or serial collectors. We asked them which shops they frequent and where you might find your next favorite record.
Bryan, TX | Bryan’s Aggie-owned record shop reopens in new location: Curious Collections, Bryan-College Station’s Aggie-owned record shop, is set to open its new “record garage” location Aug. 17. It had been operating for nearly a decade on Rosemary Drive. Curious Collections has been in the process of moving to its new location in Bryan for months. As previously reported by Community Impact, the owners said they were grateful for almost 10 years on Rosemary, but were “keen on staying independent, while moving just one mile up the road and transforming a vintage service station into an outdoor garage setting.” Owner Mary Jean said it has been a fast two months for the move, but she expects her customers to love the new location, along with better street visibility and more parking.
Cleveland, OH | Cleveland Logs Off in a Growing Analog Movement: VHS tapes, instant cameras, vinyl records and CRT TVs are having a comeback. Meet the Northeast Ohio businesses, educators and curators who are centering analog tech and physical media. The endless scroll dominates modern digital culture. Algorithms often determine what we consume. Artificial intelligence infiltrates cellphones, computers and TVs, even creeping into other smart electronics like refrigerators, toothbrushes and children’s toys. It’s seemingly everywhere, integrated into modern life in countless helpful and convenient ways. But along with all the positives, the convenience can sometimes feel all-consuming. …Some Northeast Ohioans have found ways to step away from modern tech. In recent years, a growing movement to “go analog” has encouraged people to put down their screens in favor of options that aren’t connected to the internet.
Beacon, NY | “What happened to the record shop?!” Hudson Valley Vinyl is still here—real estate background on previous location: The boxes of vinyl records in crates out on the sidewalk of Hudson Valley Vinyl have moved down a few blocks to 323 Main Street. A few months ago, Hudson Valley Vinyl put out an Instagram message that declared that their landlord was seeking “Soho prices” for rent and that they were moving. That Instagram post seems to be unfindable now. A local newspaper who wrote about the relocation focused their announcement of this move on rent look-backs of rent at various shops on Main Street. A Little Beacon Blog has chosen to look back at real estate history for the former location: 267 Main Street.
Detroit, MI | Detroit historian remembers her father’s record store, recording career and life in the city: Sometimes, one family’s story helps tell a bigger story of a place. Marsha Battle Philpot is part of one of those families. She is a Detroiter with many titles: cultural historian, former labor activist, author, poet, music preservationist, and opera performer. She also goes by Marsha Music. Philpot has spent many of her 72 years telling her version of Detroit’s story, about its industrial boom, its hollowing out and racial clashes, and now, its recovery. …After the war, her father was laid off. Auto plants were putting in more machines to replace people, and most Black workers had low seniority. So Joe Battle opened a storefront: Joe’s Record Shop. “He was very, very successful, and he began to have relationships with other record companies and all kinds of stuff,” she said.
Southampton, UK | Review: Mystery Jets, Vinilo Record Store, Southampton, Friday 14 August 2026. Mystery Jets release their first album since 2020’s A Billion Heartbeats next Friday (21 August) on Fiction Records. Titled A Hole To See The Sky Through, it is a reference to Yoko Ono’s minimalist artwork of the same name, and Ono herself has granted special permission for the band to feature the original artwork on the sleeve of the album. To help promote the release, Mystery Jets have been out and about playing record shop in-stores and yesterday (Friday) evening saw them drop in at Southampton’s Vinilo. With a healthy crowd gathered, the sudden sound of everyone’s phones receiving a government alert about the threat of wildfire, just as the band were about to make their way to their instruments, had folk wondering what was going on for a few seconds!
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Broadway’s Next Act Is on Vinyl: The Musical Theatre Albums Coming This Fall. The curtain may come down, a production may close, and a performance may disappear into theatrical memory, but the cast album is where musical theatre gets its second life. This summer and fall, an unusually rich group of recordings is arriving across streaming platforms, CDs and increasingly coveted vinyl editions, preserving everything from intimate new musicals and Off-Broadway discoveries to major Broadway revivals, conceptual works and a Cats recording unlike any Andrew Lloyd Webber has made before.
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