Detroit area cd shops.

[Jazztropic]

Have to visit the area .Anyone have a name and address of a good cd shop in Detroit area?

Thanks

[GregK]

Where exactly are you going? There's some good shops in Ann Arbor, but I don't know anything about places closer to Detroit

[milestones20]

Where exactly are you going? There's some good shops in Ann Arbor, but I don't know anything about places closer to Detroit

Do tell about the shops in Ann Arbor! I have relatives who live there and I'm going to visit them in a couple weeks...

[GregK]

Where exactly are you going? There's some good shops in Ann Arbor, but I don't know anything about places closer to Detroit

Do tell about the shops in Ann Arbor! I have relatives who live there and I'm going to visit them in a couple weeks...

Well, get here before the end of July, because the best indie shop will be closing at the end of that month. Schoolkids Records, which was forced 9 or 10 years ago to close their storefront shop and move into the basement of an outdoor clothing store (Bivouac), so you have to go through that store and down their stairs to get to it. But he is now forced to close completely, so he is selling off all stock at 5-20% off; lots of new (very little used titles) mainstream rock and jazz and even more harder to find stuff. And he recently expanded the vinyl section, so all of that is going too. That's on State St, in the Bivouac store. a Few doors down from that is Grand Wazoo, which sells used and new, rock and jazz, CDs and vinyl. And on Liberty is Encore, which has a huge selection of used everything. You can literally spend hours browsing through their stacks and shelves. A few blocks west on Liberty is Underground Sounds, which sells new and used CDs and vinyl also, but it's probably 90% rock (I saw a few Coltrane, Miles and Sun Ra vinyl there recently, but that's rare). There is also Overture Audio on Main St which sells audiophile equipment and vinyl reissues, but they are pretty expensive and a limited selection. Finally there is PJs on Packard, above the Subway shop, another used and new CD and vinyl shop that manages to squeeze a huge selection in a tiny space. They are a little higher-priced than the others but have a wide, varied selection that you probably can't find elsewhere in the area. The staff at all of these places are very knowledgeable about music; I've frequently had to cut off conversations with them to get back to the parking meter before it ran out.

[dova]

Street Corner Music in Franklin (suburb of Detroit) is a great store with good selection of new and used cds and vinyl. I have purchased a lot from the off of half.com and amazon and they alwats have quality reasonably priced stiff.

[Hot Ptah]

Where exactly are you going? There's some good shops in Ann Arbor, but I don't know anything about places closer to Detroit

Do tell about the shops in Ann Arbor! I have relatives who live there and I'm going to visit them in a couple weeks...

Well, get here before the end of July, because the best indie shop will be closing at the end of that month. Schoolkids Records, which was forced 9 or 10 years ago to close their storefront shop and move into the basement of an outdoor clothing store (Bivouac), so you have to go through that store and down their stairs to get to it. But he is now forced to close completely, so he is selling off all stock at 5-20% off; lots of new (very little used titles) mainstream rock and jazz and even more harder to find stuff. And he recently expanded the vinyl section, so all of that is going too. That's on State St, in the Bivouac store. a Few doors down from that is Grand Wazoo, which sells used and new, rock and jazz, CDs and vinyl. And on Liberty is Encore, which has a huge selection of used everything. You can literally spend hours browsing through their stacks and shelves. A few blocks west on Liberty is Underground Sounds, which sells new and used CDs and vinyl also, but it's probably 90% rock (I saw a few Coltrane, Miles and Sun Ra vinyl there recently, but that's rare). There is also Overture Audio on Main St which sells audiophile equipment and vinyl reissues, but they are pretty expensive and a limited selection. Finally there is PJs on Packard, above the Subway shop, another used and new CD and vinyl shop that manages to squeeze a huge selection in a tiny space. They are a little higher-priced than the others but have a wide, varied selection that you probably can't find elsewhere in the area. The staff at all of these places are very knowledgeable about music; I've frequently had to cut off conversations with them to get back to the parking meter before it ran out.

Sad about Schoolkids. Wazoo is still open? I used to shop there a lot in 1978--80. I bought many Sun Ra LPs there, among other things. The then-owner's brother used to have a used record store in Madison, Wisconsin, but gave it up decades ago. Does Wazoo still have the Sammy Davis, Jr. vinyl cover above the cash register, the Here's Looking At You album, where Davis has his hand cupped over his glass eye?

[GregK]

Sad about Schoolkids. Wazoo is still open? I used to shop there a lot in 1978--80. I bought many Sun Ra LPs there, among other things. The then-owner's brother used to have a used record store in Madison, Wisconsin, but gave it up decades ago. Does Wazoo still have the Sammy Davis, Jr. vinyl cover above the cash register, the Here's Looking At You album, where Davis has his hand cupped over his glass eye?

I haven't been in there in almost a year, but I don't recall seeing that cover. I like Wazoo because they give good value for trade-ins; I paid about $45 cash for the Albert Ayler box set 2 years ago after making up the rest of the cost in trades, and I wasn't really selling anything rare or special.

Schoolkids will be sorely missed. Since 2000 downtown Ann Arbor will have lost Tower Records, Harmony House (now an ice cream shop), Discount Records (now one of many sandwich shops in the area), SKR (the Schoolkids jazz and classical shop), and now Schoolkids. I doubt the others will last much longer.

Edited June 10, 2007 by GregK

[ejp626]

I used to shop at Schoolkids and some of the other places, though many of them don't sound familiar, so they may have been after my time. I couldn't afford a lot of music in my college days, but I did get some Monk and Miles back then. I hope the used book stores are still in business, since that is always a major draw.

Many of the smaller used CD stores have shut down in Chicago as well. Pretty soon it will just be Jazz Record Mart, Dusty Groove, Dr Wax and Reckless Records. I can definitely envision a time 10 years from now where there won't be any CD stores and it will all be on the internet selling from some warehouse. If CDs are even still a viable business. I think it is a shame though.