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 where you can browse without bumping elbows, buy records without fear of getting ripped off, and meander without knocking over carefully stacked funko-pops. A shop with good records at good prices sold by good people.
What to Expect from Specks Records and Tapes
For all the media noise about how vinyl is making a comeback, there is still a frustrating lack of “regular” record stores at times. Most shops fall into categories like “vintage furniture store with a bin of overpriced records,” or “crowded destination store with abundant t-shirts and stickers for sale,” or something similar. Speck’s Records and Tapes manages to avoid these cliches and offers a straightforward record store experience: Well-stocked bins of used and new records at solid prices. This shop really does have one of the best record selections in the city, especially when you consider the name recognition of this shop compared to behemoths like Music Millennium.
As far as what to expect, the shop is small-ish but the volume of records in here is sufficient for weekly browsing. The store is essentially a wide hallway with bins of records lining the walls with a central walkway in between. The record selection is organized familiarly, with the rock/pop section making up most of the inventory, but with dedicated sections for soundtracks, jazz, hip-hop, and all the other usual suspects.
Deeper into the shop is where you will find the collection of cassette tapes that are part of the shop’s namesake, as well as various used hi-fi equipment for sale; turntables, speakers, receivers, etc. This is also where Speck’s Records and Tapes hosts live performances with local bands and DJs performing on occasion. You can check the store’s Instagram account for information on upcoming events.
Selection and Pricing at Speck’s Records and Tapes
Those interested in rare records will also want to check this shop out. Even on more exclusive and hard-to-find pressings, the shop maintains a very fair price, so be sure to scan the records on display above the normal bins for anything that catches your eye. If you can’t make it to Portland, the store sells much of its selection on Discogs.
My Take on Speck’s Records and Tapes
This store is not exactly in my neck of the woods but I still find myself making the trek, even with some larger stores being much closer to where I live. Most recently I was able to pick up the newest King Krule record that I’ve been looking for, Space Heavy, which has been great for some of the dreary Portland days we’ve been having. I also grabbed a 1976 pressing of Pink Floyd’s Obscured By Clouds, a criminally underrated Pink Floyd album and a personal favorite.
This store just does everything right and doesn’t have to rely on vibes or Instagramability for its business. It may not have the tourist appeal that some of the city’s other famous record shops have but that’s probably for the better. This shop deserves a lot more recognition and is probably my vote for the most underrated record store in Portland.
Records Purchased:
Space Heavy – King Krule
Obscured by Clouds – Pink Floyd
Address:
8216 N Denver Ave, Portland, OR 97217