A crop of new record shops in the East Bay have become community spaces for music lovers.
I’ve been “digging” — the term aficionados use for searching record bins for a gem — since the 1990s, so I understand the joys of hunting for the perfect LP. And yet, I was surprised to learn that just half of current record buyers. Obviously, there’s something deeper at play here than renewed affection for the tactile experience of dropping a needle on an album.
After a few scouting missions to get a grasp on the wildly diverse landscape of record stores, I decided to focus on five shops that embody various aspects of the Bay Area’s ongoing vinyl craze — and went back to each of them on a weekday, when the shop owners actually had time to chat.
Left to right, Hannah Lew and Andrew Kerwin co-own Contact Records which recently opened a new location in Temescal Alley in Oakland, Calif., on Feb. 14, 2023.Their gamble worked: When I interviewed Lew, she was just getting ready to move from the cramped shipping container in the shadow of the MacArthur BART station to a brick-and-mortar shop in Oakland’s trendy Temescal neighborhood.
It was a treat to listen in as Lew and Kerwin, both musicians, tapped their deep musical knowledge to share recommendations with customers. I also availed myself of Contact’s well-stocked discount bin. Most Bay Area shops have a significant number of used records, which makes collecting much more accessible at a time when new records often cost $25, or even more.
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