At the ripe old age of 27, which is 131 in alien years, I am now able to reflect on the record stores of my youth. The ones that enchanted me with the smell of old cardboard and dust and whatever old people use to make their house smell like that. In my early days of collecting, Melody Records in Chico was one of these places. A store that was so cool that I thought it important to simply be seen in the vicinity of it. If I knew I was going, I would don my most torn-up and worn-in pair of vans, a flannel, and the raggediest pair of jeans I could find. All to impress strangers I would never see again. But I looked like I belonged, which is all that really matters when you’re hiding amongst humans.
I was enthralled by a place that contained so much cool stuff and was run by people I viewed as equally cool. There was no polo-shirt-wearing manager nervously prowling around for things that were out of place, and employees leaning when they should have been cleaning. It was a store run by people with lots of tattoos that didn’t give a shit about anything besides the paperback book they were reading behind the cash register and the record that was spinning slowly behind them.
When I was a teenager walking the cramped aisles of this shop, I didn’t have the music knowledge to do anything besides pretend to recognize albums as I flipped through the bins, basking in my own superiority. Now I can appreciate what I didn’t before: that this record store has seemingly remained unchanged since it first opened in 1979.
What to Expect
Chico isn’t really a place you end up by accident. Situated in what one might call the ass-crack of California, this small college town is surrounded by seemingly endless agriculture in every direction. A region known largely for dust and wildfires, Chico ends up feeling almost oasis-like. A place where bras don’t exist, vegan restaurants have lines out the door, clouds of marijuana smoke blanket the city, and people conserve water by showering once a week.
Melody Records reflects all of that. In my many visits, I have seldom seen the store’s lone employee get up from their comfy-looking stool. There is a plethora of handmade goods for sale throughout the store. Earrings and bracelets made by long-haired women in flowy dresses. The store also shares the space with a store selling beads, jewelry, and crystals. You get the picture.
Now, one might expect this to be a place filled with row upon row of poorly organized and heavily damaged records from various estate sales across the Sacramento Valley, but that is not the case.
Selection at Melody Records
There’s a pretty good mix of records here for just about any collector. Probably 80% of the records are used and in good condition. Another 15-20% are new records from a variety of artists, old and new. If you are looking for those mainstay records like Zeppelin or Fleetwood Mac, you’ll come away pretty happy from here and should have no problem finding them still wrapped in plastic. On the other hand, if you are more interested in hunting older records, there’s plenty of stuff to dig through here.
Genre-wise, expect mostly rock, but with Chico having a fair bit of yee-haw people, the country section here is quite a bit beefier than we city slickers are used to seeing. There are CDs and cassettes available in small quantities as well.
Pricing at Melody Records
Prices here were super solid. Considering this is the only dedicated record store in Chico, it’s nice to see they have not attempted to price-gouge us nerds. Pretty much everything in here was in the $15-40 range. I’m sure there was a $5 or $1 bin somewhere in the store, but for the most part, this place was absent of those kinds of records. Expect curated used records and a selection of new records that match the clientele – Old hippies and artsy college kids.
My Thoughts on Melody Records
This place has a very special place in my heart. It was probably the second record store I ever stepped foot in and one of the shops that made me fall in love with this hobby thing of mine. I remember buying a Clash album here that had a handful of songs I knew on it. Not because I was a major Clash fan, but at the time it seemed like something that would impress the cashier. The shop is as genuine as it gets, and if I had attended Chico State University, I would probably have been in here high as all shit at least 4 days a week spending money I didn’t have.
Records Purchased
Tyler Childers – Live at Red Barn Radio I & II
Townes Van Zandt – Our Mother the Mountain
Address: 341 Main St, Chico, CA 95928
Website: Instagram