Colorado has a lot of interesting towns. If you venture far enough along I-70 you’re sure to find over a dozen picturesque mountain towns. Complete with old-timey streets, backdrops worthy of a National Geographic magazine, and air so thin you’ll be gasping for breath after a single flight of stairs. For all the quirk and beauty of Breckenridge and Aspen, no other city in Colorado has earned the title of ‘most eccentric’ quite like Boulder. Here, you’ll find Paradise Found Records, smack in the middle of the city center.
What makes Boulder, Boulder.
Home to the states largest university, and the largest congregation of rowdy college yuppies, there is always something extraordinary here. Take a walk on “The Hill” for the most unfiltered view of Boulder. Here, in the shadow of the university campus, populated entirely with students living 2-3 to a bedroom is the real Boulder. On a weekend stroll you’ll likely encounter groups of coeds playing beer pong on their front lawns. Walk by in the evening and you are bound to see someone vomiting Coors light into a gutter, a girl in tears, a shirtless fist fight and a plastic bottle of vodka rolling slowly across the street. All of this mayhem isn’t just a part of life in Boulder, it IS life in Boulder.
Boulder is a college town full of college kids do college kid things. Getting fucked up, creating street, listening to music at loud volumes and all manner of passive-aggressive anarchy. Despite all of the art that is able to thrive in this town, there is really only one record store. All of Boulders’ weirdos, geeks, music nerds, co-eds, and frat boys buy their vinyl from Paradise Found.
Once upon a time, there were several different record stores in town. Denver’s Wax Trax had a location here for many years and just a couple years back Albums on the Hill closed its doors after 35 years of business. Despite several changes in name and ownership, Paradise Found has managed to carve out its own community of record fans in the city.
What to expect from Paradise Found Records
Step into Paradise Found Records on a typical weekend, and there is one thing that will stand out. This place is lively. I truly can’t remember being in a record store with this many customers in it on a typical weekend. Most collectors, like myself, are accustomed to a more solitary experience.. Flipping through bins in a quite shop with music playing softly. This was not at all my experience here. When you look at the records available, it’s easy to see why.
I’ve talked a lot about different record stores aiming to satisfy their customers in different ways. Some focus on exposing customers to deep cuts and hidden gems, others might have a specific genre focus, and then there are the “people pleasers.” While many shops in this category will be full of funko pops, posters, etc. I didn’t find that to be the case here. There was a decent selection of t-shirts available but records still made up 95% of the inventory.
Paradise Found definitely falls more into this “people pleaser,” category. Unless your taste in music is particularly underground, then you will have at least a few “hey I’ve been looking for this,” moments here. Every genre had numerous copies of the mainstays that can be missing from even the most well-stocked of record shops. All the classic Miles Davis and John Coltrane records were available, virtually every Beatles record ever made, Nirvana, Fleetwood Mac, Pink Floyd, etc. This struck me as a store that is well aware of the records that people are always asking for, and makes a point to stock plenty of them. Many, maybe even most of the records here are “common.” But I can’t remember a time I saw this many in stock at the same time.
Selection and Prices at Paradise Found Records
This is not a “treasure trove,” kind of store where you dig through each and every crate until you stumble upon that first pressing of some obscure jazz artist that only you have heard of. Rather, this is where you go to pick up all those albums that are on heavy rotation on your Spotify playlist but are still missing from your wax collection. In short this shop is about 90% records that are brand new.
That’s not to say that Paradise Found Records is just a well-stocked Urban Outfitters. Even more “hardcore collectors,” (See: Pretentious) will have plenty to browse here. The shop has crates dedicated to Record Store Day exclusives, Japanese pressings, and an excellent “new arrivals” section. At least it was on the day I went. Granted, these sections were tucked far into the back and made up less than 10% of what the store had to offer.
Since this store is mostly new records it’s a little difficult to judge the pricing. New prices are priced exactly at what you’d expect: $20-40 depending on the record. Used records were also priced fairly from the handful I checked out.
Some people count Boulder as part of the Denver metro area, which is ridiculous, but if you are one of these people, then it’s no question that Paradise Found Records is one of the best record stores in Denver.
My Take on Paradise Found Records
Paradise Found is one of the newest record stores I’ve ever reviewed and that is exactly how it feels. This is a modern record store for the modern record collector. Not a ton of used records here, although the selection that was available was mighty impressive. What was impressive here was the amount of new records for sale. It felt like the buyer for this store is well-read on what’s going on in the world music world, and does a great job of stocking these records. This seems like basic record buying but its truly not a feeling I get from plenty of stores.
As someone who’s record collection leans a lot more contemporary it was a great feeling going through and seeing so many records I’ve been searching for that are normally not available at most records stores, simply because most stores don’t stock very many contemporary records outside of the absolute biggest artists. It’s rare to see a shop that is seemingly catered towards younger collectors. For that reason alone, this is actually one of my favorite record stores.
Records Purchased:
Khruangbin and Leon Bridges – Texas Sun
Idles – Joy as an Act of Resistance
Weyes Blood – Titanic Rising
Address
1646 Pearl St, Boulder, CO 80302
Website/ Socials: