Finding the best stores to shop for vinyl records can be difficult, especially if you’d rather shop in-store than surf on eBay.
My personal favorite record store here in Baton Rouge is Capital City Records on Perkins Road. This store’s record collection ranges from the newest pop hits to bootleg and unreleased albums from iconic artists.
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From Mozambique to Baton Rouge: Prince Chone is keeping jazz alive in LouisianaThe records are organized based on genre and alphabetical order, with the more collectible vinyl hanging upon the walls. The best part of Capital City Records’ vinyl selection is the chance to find rarities, such as first pressings of classic rock vinyl.
Another store, Pop Shop Records on Acadian Thruway, could be easily missed upon driving past the building. However, what looks to be a church-like building is actually a quaint record store. The staff is incredibly friendly and will point you in the direction of whatever record or genre of records you are looking for. This shop obtains its records from wholesalers, so its selection is full of rare and vintage vinyls.
The record store, The Exchange on Government Street, can also be easily missed as the business’ building looks to be abandoned. Despite this abandoned look, upon looking through the store’s window, you can see stacks and stacks of records filling up the entirety of the store’s interior. The owner of the store will gladly talk about music and albums with you and help you locate exactly what you are looking for.
These three stores, to me, are the best record shops in Baton Rouge. With extensive collections and welcoming environments, these businesses are a vinyl lover and collector’s dream store.
Now that I’ve discussed where to find the best vinyl, I have to warn you about certain record players that could potentially ruin your vinyl. Record players like Crosley and Victrola are some of the worst record players for vintage vinyl. These two brands of record players are better suited for newer, more modern vinyl. Vintage vinyl are much thinner than vinyl produced today, and players better suited for today’s vinyl can damage vintage ones due to the weight of the needle being too heavy. A needle that’s too heavy can distort the sound of vintage vinyl and can dig too hard into the vinyl grooves, which damages the record.
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A record player better suited for vintage records is a Wockoder, which has a very light needle and is great for older vinyl. However, due to the light needle, sometimes this player doesn’t dig deep enough into newer vinyl’s grooves. To remedy this, I usually place a quarter on top of the needle to make it heavier so it plays modern vinyl seamlessly.
So now that you have all of the information for the best places to shop for your records and how to take care of them, you can go on listening without abandon.
