Traveling Hobbyist
I Travel For Records
Record Shop Reviews
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Vinyl Revolutions – Grants Pass, Oregon
Vinyl Revolutions New York City, Nashville, Los Angeles, Grants Pass? OK, maybe one of these is not like the other but just because a town is small and has an arts scene that is on the…shall we say underdeveloped side, doesn’t mean it should be completely ignored. Grants Pass is a small town, if you…
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Too Many Records in Portland, Oregon
It’s pretty unusual to encounter a despondent record shop owner, but there are few record store proprietors as openly passionate about record collecting as the owner of Portland’s Too Many Records. One of the newest record stores in Portland, this shop is owned and operated by one of the more well-known faces in the online…
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Dig Vinyl – Portland, Oregon
While the shiny, multi-story record megastores get the most attention, the humble used-record stores are doing the often thankless work of keeping this hobby alive, shops like Dig Vinyl. This humble, no-frills vinyl record shop in Southwest Portland’s Sellwood neighborhood is the calm, relaxed, and browsable store of introverted record collectors’ dreams. This is one…
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2nd Avenue Records – Portland, Oregon
It might surprise you to learn that among the charred ruins of downtown Portland, just a block from the ANTIFA headquarters and the free fentanyl vending machine is a damn great record store. 2nd Avenue Records is one of many Portland musical institutions that survived the pandemic and the many disasters Fox News believes have…
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Music Millennium – Portland, Oregon: Gem of the PNW
Music Millennium: Where the Music and People Still Matter. While many record stores have similar mantras, almost none have had the level of impact on independent music culture that Music Millennium has had. The oldest record store in the Pacific Northwest, Music Millennium is in an elite group of record stores that have achieved legendary…
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Speck’s Records and Tapes – Portland, Oregon
Just like a good dive bar, every neighborhood needs a solid record store. A place where you can unwind with your head down and pretend nothing else in the world exists besides you and the thin sleeve of cardboard at your fingertips. Speck’s Records and Tapes in Northeast Portland is exactly that shop. A place…
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Jackpot Records – Portland, Oregon
It’s no secret that Portland is home to a ton of amazing record stores. Massive selections, carefully curated selections, stores that specialize in jazz records, stores that stock punk and metal records exclusively; Portland has it all. But there are few shops that better exemplify all of the stereotypes of a record store the way…
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Everyday Music – Portland, Oregon
In a city as jam-packed with record stores as Portland, Oregon, it can be difficult for record stores to stand out. While the majority of record shops in the city are filled with a few cramped aisles of record sleeves and walls chock full of tattered overlapping posters, Everyday Music offers a more polished ambiance….
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The Record Pub – Portland, Oregon
I am not a Portland native. I’m not even an Oregon native, in fact I’m not even an earth native but that’s another story. Although I’ve only recently docked my spaceship in this wonderfully dreary city I learned pretty quickly that a lot has changed here over the last 5, 10, 15, and 20 years….
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BIZARRE BAZAAR – Fort Collins, Colorado
One of the great things about college towns is that the young population allows seemingly strange businesses to thrive. There’s something very special about having an experience that makes you say “I didn’t know places like this were still around.” This is exactly how it feels to walk into Bizarre Bazaar. One of the main…