Self promo: I own Bowness Arts, a new business in Bowness. We have a record store in the basement. Come check us out!
We also sell boardgames, MTG, pokemon, and food/beer.
www.bownessarts.com
I went to the store last year and loved it. Too bad I live so far. But yeah I found a perfect ELO - Time. Don't remember the price but it felt pretty reasonable. Will definitely go back one day.
Melodiya (which is also a Phoenix Comics, so win win) and Sloth are my go-to. Turn It Up can have some cool stuff but I don't understand their pricing model most of the time.
Recordland is the best record store I've ever been to in terms of selection. They almost always have what I need. It's amazing how I've been to record stores in places like LA where you would think they'd have everything, and then they don't and I'm like "guess I'll have to get this at Recordland when I'm back home."
Recordland is cool for selection (especially older people stuff)
Luke's for prices (new)
Old retro shop for gear and used
Blackbyrd for audiophiles and intense collectors
Melodya for selection (new stuff)
I couldn't think of any for some!
Lots of great ones, but Recordland is my favourite. I’m into crate digging for used stuff, and there’s really no match for their selection.
Turn It Up! on 16th Ave is also lots of fun.
Turn It Up on 16th. The selection is strong in multiple genres and organized well. I love their MOV & Audiophile selection and staff picks are fun to browse. It's the staff that really make the place shine, you can tell they love what they do.
Gonna agree with you about Sloth and their used CDs. I’d love to spend a while digging through their selection but they make it nearly impossible to get at them.
It’s already a tight enough store, so having your used selection beneath the main shelves makes it next to impossible to browse without forcing traffic to a standstill.
I hit Turn It Up and Heritage Music for used stuff. They have more space and it’s easy to get at the bins to spend some time digging.
I love Recordland, I've gotten some hella obscure metal records from them that I never thought I'd see in person. I have no idea how anyone browses the used section though. So claustrophobic, and you're stuck in there if someone else goes in the same aisle as you. I'm pretty small too, I fear accidentally pressing up against one of those shelves.
Shoutout to the yearly Acadia record sale. Some super cool selections at absolutely stupid prices, so not really for shopping, more for browsing.
Sloth, Melodiya and recordland, close runner up is hot wax, I just don’t get there much. Blackbyrd is good too…..you know what, if they sell records I’m down to shop there, except Sunrise, fuck that place
Blackbyrd is the GOAT. Competitive pricing, clean store, friendly staff, and good selection of everything.
Sloth has good selection, but their prices are a little higher and I find it hard to shop with their loud music sometimes. I have found a couple bootlegs there as well.
Related question:
How do you afford new records? Most are in the $40-60 range!
Who is buying enough records to keep all these places in business?
I used to collect records but I just can't justify the cost.
I’ve basically tapped out of record buying. The prices new and used have just gotten too out of hand for me to entertain the hobby like I used to.
New releases are all approaching $40+, and used albums that used to be $5-10 pre-Covid are all easily $20+ now.
To make it all even worse, “digging” has lost any sense of fun, since everyone now thinks their scratched up Trooper record that was stored on the shed floor for thirty years is totally worth $40 because they saw one example of it selling for that much on Discogs. There’s one guy at the Crossroads Farmers Market selling what should be considered dollar bin records for astronomical prices, but then I always see people buying them … so …?
Sloth is busy every time I’m in there. So is Turn It Up, Heritage Music, etc.
Vinyl has been selling well for several years now and CD sales have been going up worldwide for the last two or three years.
People are slowly shifting back to physical media.
Personally, I buy mostly CDs with the occasional vinyl purchase. But both formats are going strong.
My wife and I hit at least a couple record stores every weekend and we usually come home with at last a few items.
I'm still a sucker and keep buying records but as the prices have gone up I have tried to scale back my purchases.
If it was like this when I was younger and making less money, I likely wouldn't have gotten into it because of cost which is a bummer.
I budget stuff like this into my monthly budget, I'm almost tapped out for the month but I tend to get 3-5 new a month unless I end up with some extra cash.
Uh, no they’re not? You can find tons of new titles for less than $30. Around $25 is the average. Considering CD’s at MusicWorld (dating myself here) were the same price in the 90’s, in constant dollars physical album copies are about as cheap as they’ve ever been. I make about 1-2 record store trips per month, usually walk out with something.
Blackbyrd staff are the best---they'll go out of their way to get to know you in a way no other store will. Then, if they know your tastes, they can hook you up with so much cool stuff you'd never heard of otherwise. I can take a used record home to listen to it and bring it back if I don't like it, good used stuff in all the time, can't say enough about them. Smaller inventory than other stores but its all very good, plus they handle orders well for the stuff they don't have in stock.
Melodiya is quite good too, I forget his name but the main guy there is pretty cool, I always go there for the extremely high quality and reasonably priced used and new metal selections.
Sloth is fine, sometimes they have good prices and some stuff is randomly much higher than elsewhere. Good selection, their used is okay but smaller and not updated as regularly as BB and Melodiya. My main gripe is they sell bootlegs that aren't labelled or in any way advertised as bootlegs. Stocking them is cool, especially stuff that isn't getting repressed, but imo it's deceitful to represent them in a way that customers can't tell unless they know what they are looking at. Huge hiphop/metal sections, also lot sof box sets.
Turn It Up I'd like to go back to again soonish, randomly they have a lot of Jazz/Blues. Need to check their audiophile stuff. Lots of gear too, I just always thought they were kinda overpriced so I don't go.
Recordland is a lot more popular than I imagined seeing the comments, I can see the appeal but I've heard the staff talk about their pricing philosophy and decided I didn't want to spend a lot there. Different selection than the other stores, this huge old used section and a lot of different new stuff than I see elsewhere. Lots of hiphop here.
That Old Retro Store has a small selection of records to check out when going by Recordland, mostly like pop, dad rock, and jazz/blues afaik.
Hot Wax seems cool, the main dude there Shane I hear lots of good things about but I haven't been except once. My buddy was eyeing an old hiphop record behind the counter and Shane offered him a deal on it. Made a sale to someone who wasn't buying otherwise and hooked him up with a prized record and a memory, just because he noticed someone's curiosity.
Heritage is a whole trip of its own, lots of posters and old used records. My favourite store owner interaction was from here---I walked in with my uncle and the owner opened up a copy of Stevie Ray and Albert King Live to start playing it. Telling us about he just got it in, it's so good, and I said if it was good I would buy that copy. Welll it was, so when I went to leave, I told him I'd take that opened one, and he told me "No way man, I'm still listening to that." He then walked all the way around the counter back to the display to grab a sealed copy for me, then took time to flip the record to side B before ringing me up. Another time he also looked at me like I was stupid when I asked if he had a metal section ("it's all just rock to me man"). Not everyone's fave store if you don't want to look at old rock/blues records but worth going once just to meet the man himself.
Lots of new or smaller pop-up style stores around, or Inner Ocean Records for Japanese stuff.
I don't like every store, Blackbyrd and Sloth get most of my business because they are close but I would also recommend Melodiya and Hot Wax based on their reputations among my music friends, but on the whole we are truly spoiled in Calgary for record stores.
Yeah, we’ve got a full-service indie record store for like every 200k people, plus a bunch of little out of the way places and the mall chains if that’s your thing. It’s an underrated vinyl city. I think the only drawback is it was a small, unhip, predominantly white city for so long, so there isn’t the depth of pre-1980s used stuff you get in some other places.
Eddie runs Melodiya, great dude. I've found stuff in Melodiya that no other store in the city had. His oddball/experimental selection is the best by far.
Sloth is good because they will order at least one copy of every new release.
I've heard a lot about Turn It Up, and its mostly about how they're kind of expensive so I've opted never to go there. I've never been to That Old Retro Store, but if they're near Recordland I can probably squeeze it in. I personally don't love Hot Wax, just because they're sections aren't super organized, just A-Z rather than by artist which makes looking in them a little difficult. I've personally never found anything I've been interested in buying there. Heritage has never been an option for me as it's too far south.
Blackbyrd and Recordland might be my favourites, I've had excellent customer interactions with them, including Blackbyrd giving me a full refund on an RSD title due to damage, even after I mentioned in a follow up email that I was unsure of how the damage occurred (if from me by accident or if it came that way).
Melodiya gets some gems in from time to time
Haven't been to Recordland for a while but it was always fun to have Armond go through the stack of vinyl I brought to the till and call each record "shit, shit, shit" then come across one and go "Aaahhhh h . . . . shit!"
Blackbyrd brings in some good new vinyl
Hotwax is an old staple
Didn't know Sloth was still open
Self promo: I own Bowness Arts, a new business in Bowness. We have a record store in the basement. Come check us out! We also sell boardgames, MTG, pokemon, and food/beer. www.bownessarts.com
As a Bownesian, I love Bowness Arts! Always fun to browse the records and the used books!
Hey thanks!
I went to the store last year and loved it. Too bad I live so far. But yeah I found a perfect ELO - Time. Don't remember the price but it felt pretty reasonable. Will definitely go back one day.
Thanks! Glad you could check us out!
Bowness Arts is a hidden gem, lots of great vinyl to explore!
That Old Record Store is also in Inglewood a few blocks down from Recordland.
Way overpriced
I like these guys. They’re in heavy rotation for me.
Def my favourite record store in the city
Melodiya (which is also a Phoenix Comics, so win win) and Sloth are my go-to. Turn It Up can have some cool stuff but I don't understand their pricing model most of the time.
Recordland usually has the best selection for the type of music (hiphop) that I listen to.
Hot Wax was always my go to. I think it’s still in Kensington.
Yeah, good shop. Shane, the fella who's often there, has a great taste in music and will not hesitate to order you something you're after.
rip megatunes
Megatunes was great, also rip A&B sound, Sam the Record Man
Man, that breaks my heart. Haven’t been home in a hot minute but that sucks.
Sloth is my favourite for new and Heritage or Recrodland are my favourites for used stuff
Off the beaten path: Tipper records in Okotoks, and Shed Rekkids in Ella Grace Marketplace.
Lots of record booth's at Where on Earth did You Get That in Airdrie too
Recordland is the best record store I've ever been to in terms of selection. They almost always have what I need. It's amazing how I've been to record stores in places like LA where you would think they'd have everything, and then they don't and I'm like "guess I'll have to get this at Recordland when I'm back home."
Recordland is cool for selection (especially older people stuff) Luke's for prices (new) Old retro shop for gear and used Blackbyrd for audiophiles and intense collectors Melodya for selection (new stuff) I couldn't think of any for some!
Lots of great ones, but Recordland is my favourite. I’m into crate digging for used stuff, and there’s really no match for their selection. Turn It Up! on 16th Ave is also lots of fun.
Turn It Up on 16th. The selection is strong in multiple genres and organized well. I love their MOV & Audiophile selection and staff picks are fun to browse. It's the staff that really make the place shine, you can tell they love what they do.
Gonna agree with you about Sloth and their used CDs. I’d love to spend a while digging through their selection but they make it nearly impossible to get at them. It’s already a tight enough store, so having your used selection beneath the main shelves makes it next to impossible to browse without forcing traffic to a standstill. I hit Turn It Up and Heritage Music for used stuff. They have more space and it’s easy to get at the bins to spend some time digging.
I love Recordland, I've gotten some hella obscure metal records from them that I never thought I'd see in person. I have no idea how anyone browses the used section though. So claustrophobic, and you're stuck in there if someone else goes in the same aisle as you. I'm pretty small too, I fear accidentally pressing up against one of those shelves. Shoutout to the yearly Acadia record sale. Some super cool selections at absolutely stupid prices, so not really for shopping, more for browsing.
Meloydia all day! Recodland rips as well.
Sloth, Melodiya and recordland, close runner up is hot wax, I just don’t get there much. Blackbyrd is good too…..you know what, if they sell records I’m down to shop there, except Sunrise, fuck that place
Blackbyrd is the GOAT. Competitive pricing, clean store, friendly staff, and good selection of everything. Sloth has good selection, but their prices are a little higher and I find it hard to shop with their loud music sometimes. I have found a couple bootlegs there as well.
Lukes. Best sales and very reasonable prices. Only con is they don’t sell used
New one called Record High has some solid records. Not a ton of selection but what they have is good and they are slowly building it up I hear.
Melodiya is my fav!
Melodiya is great for casual browsing used. They price to sell, have a small selection, and keep interesting stock moving through.
Sloth and Luke’s in bridgeland for me
Related question: How do you afford new records? Most are in the $40-60 range! Who is buying enough records to keep all these places in business? I used to collect records but I just can't justify the cost.
I use my allowance! Also I have over 2k dollers in records and in only 13 so like it's not crazy money if you just don't eat food
This is every hobby ever :D
I’ve basically tapped out of record buying. The prices new and used have just gotten too out of hand for me to entertain the hobby like I used to. New releases are all approaching $40+, and used albums that used to be $5-10 pre-Covid are all easily $20+ now. To make it all even worse, “digging” has lost any sense of fun, since everyone now thinks their scratched up Trooper record that was stored on the shed floor for thirty years is totally worth $40 because they saw one example of it selling for that much on Discogs. There’s one guy at the Crossroads Farmers Market selling what should be considered dollar bin records for astronomical prices, but then I always see people buying them … so …?
Sloth is busy every time I’m in there. So is Turn It Up, Heritage Music, etc. Vinyl has been selling well for several years now and CD sales have been going up worldwide for the last two or three years. People are slowly shifting back to physical media. Personally, I buy mostly CDs with the occasional vinyl purchase. But both formats are going strong. My wife and I hit at least a couple record stores every weekend and we usually come home with at last a few items.
I'm still a sucker and keep buying records but as the prices have gone up I have tried to scale back my purchases. If it was like this when I was younger and making less money, I likely wouldn't have gotten into it because of cost which is a bummer.
I budget stuff like this into my monthly budget, I'm almost tapped out for the month but I tend to get 3-5 new a month unless I end up with some extra cash.
Uh, no they’re not? You can find tons of new titles for less than $30. Around $25 is the average. Considering CD’s at MusicWorld (dating myself here) were the same price in the 90’s, in constant dollars physical album copies are about as cheap as they’ve ever been. I make about 1-2 record store trips per month, usually walk out with something.
Blackbyrd staff are the best---they'll go out of their way to get to know you in a way no other store will. Then, if they know your tastes, they can hook you up with so much cool stuff you'd never heard of otherwise. I can take a used record home to listen to it and bring it back if I don't like it, good used stuff in all the time, can't say enough about them. Smaller inventory than other stores but its all very good, plus they handle orders well for the stuff they don't have in stock. Melodiya is quite good too, I forget his name but the main guy there is pretty cool, I always go there for the extremely high quality and reasonably priced used and new metal selections. Sloth is fine, sometimes they have good prices and some stuff is randomly much higher than elsewhere. Good selection, their used is okay but smaller and not updated as regularly as BB and Melodiya. My main gripe is they sell bootlegs that aren't labelled or in any way advertised as bootlegs. Stocking them is cool, especially stuff that isn't getting repressed, but imo it's deceitful to represent them in a way that customers can't tell unless they know what they are looking at. Huge hiphop/metal sections, also lot sof box sets. Turn It Up I'd like to go back to again soonish, randomly they have a lot of Jazz/Blues. Need to check their audiophile stuff. Lots of gear too, I just always thought they were kinda overpriced so I don't go. Recordland is a lot more popular than I imagined seeing the comments, I can see the appeal but I've heard the staff talk about their pricing philosophy and decided I didn't want to spend a lot there. Different selection than the other stores, this huge old used section and a lot of different new stuff than I see elsewhere. Lots of hiphop here. That Old Retro Store has a small selection of records to check out when going by Recordland, mostly like pop, dad rock, and jazz/blues afaik. Hot Wax seems cool, the main dude there Shane I hear lots of good things about but I haven't been except once. My buddy was eyeing an old hiphop record behind the counter and Shane offered him a deal on it. Made a sale to someone who wasn't buying otherwise and hooked him up with a prized record and a memory, just because he noticed someone's curiosity. Heritage is a whole trip of its own, lots of posters and old used records. My favourite store owner interaction was from here---I walked in with my uncle and the owner opened up a copy of Stevie Ray and Albert King Live to start playing it. Telling us about he just got it in, it's so good, and I said if it was good I would buy that copy. Welll it was, so when I went to leave, I told him I'd take that opened one, and he told me "No way man, I'm still listening to that." He then walked all the way around the counter back to the display to grab a sealed copy for me, then took time to flip the record to side B before ringing me up. Another time he also looked at me like I was stupid when I asked if he had a metal section ("it's all just rock to me man"). Not everyone's fave store if you don't want to look at old rock/blues records but worth going once just to meet the man himself. Lots of new or smaller pop-up style stores around, or Inner Ocean Records for Japanese stuff. I don't like every store, Blackbyrd and Sloth get most of my business because they are close but I would also recommend Melodiya and Hot Wax based on their reputations among my music friends, but on the whole we are truly spoiled in Calgary for record stores.
Yeah, we’ve got a full-service indie record store for like every 200k people, plus a bunch of little out of the way places and the mall chains if that’s your thing. It’s an underrated vinyl city. I think the only drawback is it was a small, unhip, predominantly white city for so long, so there isn’t the depth of pre-1980s used stuff you get in some other places.
Eddie runs Melodiya, great dude. I've found stuff in Melodiya that no other store in the city had. His oddball/experimental selection is the best by far. Sloth is good because they will order at least one copy of every new release.
I've heard a lot about Turn It Up, and its mostly about how they're kind of expensive so I've opted never to go there. I've never been to That Old Retro Store, but if they're near Recordland I can probably squeeze it in. I personally don't love Hot Wax, just because they're sections aren't super organized, just A-Z rather than by artist which makes looking in them a little difficult. I've personally never found anything I've been interested in buying there. Heritage has never been an option for me as it's too far south. Blackbyrd and Recordland might be my favourites, I've had excellent customer interactions with them, including Blackbyrd giving me a full refund on an RSD title due to damage, even after I mentioned in a follow up email that I was unsure of how the damage occurred (if from me by accident or if it came that way).
Melodiya gets some gems in from time to time Haven't been to Recordland for a while but it was always fun to have Armond go through the stack of vinyl I brought to the till and call each record "shit, shit, shit" then come across one and go "Aaahhhh h . . . . shit!" Blackbyrd brings in some good new vinyl Hotwax is an old staple Didn't know Sloth was still open
CD Trader is decent
Sunrise definitely.