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The Record Exchange

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5320 Hampton Ave. St. Louis, MO 63109

314-832-2249

http://www.recordexchangestl.com

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Best CD Store (Used)
Award Winner 2012

5320 Hampton Ave. St. Louis MO 63109

2012 | Best CD Store (Used)

When it comes to used record stores, there are the depressing ones -- full of major-label failures and Pablo Cruise cardboard cutouts, veritable museums of broken dreams and dashed hopes. Then there are the inspiring ones: the stores where you're guaranteed to new and exciting sounds, even (especially) if you don't have a specific purchase in mind. St. Louis is fortunate to have one of the inspiring ones in the Record Exchange. Housed in a former St. Louis Public Library building, this... More »
2011 | Best Place to Buy Vinyl

Given that Record Exchange has been named Riverfront Times' "Best Place to Buy Vinyl" every year for the past five years, you might wonder why we keep coming back to it. There has to be another place in town that's equally worthy, right? Wrong. Record Exchange's vinyl guru Jean Haffner has run the store from several different locations in its 34-year history (notably its former home on Cherokee Street, which is now home to Apop Records). But it wasn't until the move to the old Buder Library... More »
2010 | Best Place to Buy Vinyl

Perhaps you've heard the news: Vinyl is back. Yes, the oversized circular slabs tossed aside in favor of shiny, portable CDs are trendy again. New bands are moving units like hotcakes, and labels are pressing seminal catalog items and re-releasing them in deluxe packages. Sometimes, though, all you want is a gently used, well-loved copy of a Dan Fogelberg record, without being judged for it. That's where Record Exchange comes in. No matter how obscure (or popular) the LP, it's probably... More »
2009 | Best Place to Buy Vinyl

As music distribution becomes increasingly digitized, vinyl records -- those big, flimsy slabs that CDs were supposed to have made obsolete -- have managed to hang on, even experiencing a resurgence in popularity. Chalk it up to nostalgia, fetishism or sound quality, but selling music in twelve-inch increments remains big business. For experienced crate diggers and neophytes alike, the Record Exchange is a gold mine of hard-to-find albums and dollar-bin staples alike. The main... More »
2008 | Best Place to Buy Vinyl

Here's a fun little activity you should try sometime: Make a list of ten or twelve records you'd really like to own. Doesn't matter what genre -- just stuff that you really like. Then, head to the Record Exchange. When you come back out three hours later, look at the bagful of records in your hand. Now check that against the list you made. More likely than not, you'll find you don't have a single thing you wrote down. That's the beauty of a place like the Record Exchange. Located in the... More »
2007 | Best Place to Buy Vinyl

It'd be easy to give this award to Record Exchange based on sheer volume alone. The store holds untold stacks of wax -- LPs cram the racks and spill out from every cranny, and it's piled shoulder-high in corners and storerooms. But it's quality as well as quantity that makes a great record store, and Record Exchange offers that as well. We defy you to leave the store without some twelve-inch treasure in your hand, either from the countless used records or the recently added selection of... More »
2006 | Best Place to Buy Vinyl

If you can't find the LP you're looking for at the Record Exchange, then you're not looking hard enough. The store (which in another lifetime was a public library branch) boasts towering stacks of vinyl in nearly every nook and cranny of its cavernous space. Those LPs, arranged alphabetically via genre (rock, metal, alternative, etc.) in neat racks, are generally the items in the best condition--as well as the most desirable purchases, seeing how this is where you can find the Stones,... More »
2004 | Best Place to Buy Vinyl

Record Exchange's Web site boasts of "10,000 square feet of music and memorabilia," but even that number seems an underestimation when you walk though the doors of the store. The senses are overwhelmed by the sheer volume of CDs, cassettes, DVDs, laser discs, VHS tapes and even a long-forgotten species known as the video disc. Let's call a spade a spade, though -- the real reason most people go to Record Exchange is for the records. And there are thousands upon thousands of them. Even the... More »
2002 | Best Store for 45's

Everyone knows that the Record Exchange on Hampton is the first place to look for old vinyl LPs; few, though, ask to see the 45 room upstairs. Owner Gene Haffner keeps it locked, but ask and he'll prop open the door, hold the dimmer switch till the lights come on -- it used to be a film-screening room, back when the building housed a library -- and reveal aisles of 45's and EPs, 10,000 at last count (though the total collection, including those stored in Haffner's warehouses, exceeds 4... More »
2000 | Best Used-Record Store

Record collecting started out as a hobby for Jean Haffner and ended up as a career. The owner of the Record Exchange grew up in the Texas Panhandle town of Canyon, where his next-door neighbor was Buddy Knox, the rockabilly artist who recorded the hit single "Party Doll." Haffner never got over the infatuation with rock & roll that he acquired as a teenager. His record collecting became a full-time occupation for him 25 years ago. His store, which is now located in a huge former... More »
2000 | Best Place to Buy Used Videos

For those of us who buy used videos, it's not a pretty picture. DVDs are taking over, and many films are slipping through the cracks, unlikely to ever come out on the imposing new format. There are few places you can even find used videos for sale. Incidentally, by "used videos" -- euphemistically called "previewed" sometimes -- we don't mean those ubiquitous tapes sold in bulk after they hit (or miss) the theaters. No, we refer to those little out-of-the-way flicks your Blockbuster clerk... More »

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krisy | 1 Reviews

5
| Sat, November 26, 2011

If you've been looking for a record or any other music item and you think its a lost cause, the Record Exchange is your place! They carry mass amounts of items for every genre. If you cant find what your looking for the employees will do all they can do to help you. From calling other stores to locating items on the internet. This is a store the whole family can enjoy.

Looking for another city?

The Record Exchange

5320 Hampton Ave. St. Louis, MO 63109

314-832-2249

Description

2012 | Best CD Store (Used)

2011 | Best Place to Buy Vinyl

2010 | Best Place to Buy Vinyl

2009 | Best Place to Buy Vinyl

2008 | Best Place to Buy Vinyl

2007 | Best Place to Buy Vinyl

2006 | Best Place to Buy Vinyl

2004 | Best Place to Buy Vinyl

2002 | Best Store for 45's

2000 | Best Used-Record Store

2000 | Best Place to Buy Used Videos

krisy | 1 Reviews

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