Seattle, Washington, US

Platinum Records:
(206) 324-8032
915 E Pike Street
M-F 11am-10pm, Sun 12pm-8pm.

dj specialty store. dj and nightclub equipment, vinyl, cd's. deep house, techno/tech house, funky and nuschool breaks, drum & bass, hard house/nrg, trance/progressive, downtempo, hip hop, disco, funk & soul reissues, remix services. imports and domestics. six listening stations.

this one's easy for me to report on... i manage this store. we tend to specialize in more dancefloor oriented releases, with a few experimental and oddball stuff thrown in. we don't deal with that much used stuff, but if you have good used stuff to sell, i'm happy to buy it. prices tend to be fairly average, and the staff generally knows what's what. kippy buys hip hop and breaks, zach buys drum & bass, drew buys trance and downtempo, and i buy house, downtempo, underground hip hop, and all the old school stuff.

platinum is on capitol hill, and within easy walking distance of zion's gate, respect, jive time, wall of sound and down low.

Zion's Gate Records
(206) 568-5446
1100 E Pike ST

zion's gate's specialty is reggae/dub, but they also have a full compliment of house, techno, hip hop, drum & bass, and downtempo. they carry many reissues of funk and soul as well, along with plenty of used stuff. no shortage of cool collectables. without a doubt, the best 7" dubplate selection in the city. also, a suprisingly cool selection of metal, which is getting harder and harder to come by these days. at least three listening stations.

Respect Records
1315 pine street
(206) 321-1111

respect specializes in hip hop, soul, funk and jazz, and has a great selection of new and used. i haven't been to this shop in a while, but the word around town is that they continue to get better all the time. someone told me that if it's on turntablelab.com, respect has it in stock. not totally sure about the listening station situation.

Down Low Records:
422 E Denney Way.

mostly a house music spectialty store, they do get other forms of music in as well, but stay mostly electronic. i believe that jon lee and ryno co-own, and they are both true house heads, down from day one.

downlow news: i have heard that this store is now closed, but continues to do business online for mailorder. this has not been confirmed by either of their owners, but their former storefront is now dark.

Jive Time Records:
3506 Fremont Ave N (206) 632-JIVE
411 E Pine Street (206 329-5158

one of my favorite shops in seattle, they carry a wide selection, primarily vinyl, with some used cd's as well. almost everything is used, thought they have recently been ordering some reissue funk, soul, punk and jazz lp's. this is the store where you find the strange and rare. rare rock, punk, soul, jazz, and oddities abound. jive time seems to have a gift for unearthing whatever artists from yesteryear are currently in vogue. almost everything is in top-notch shape, and if it's not, it's in the discount bins, where some real gems hide. they tend to be a bit pricey, but more often then not, cheaper than you'd pay on ebay. the 12" singles and club music has been moved to the capitol hill location, so if that's your interest, that's where to go. jive time also has the nicest and most knowledgable record guys in seattle. dave (the owner) rj, ben, grant, scott and trace are all great at what they do. two listening stations per store.

Wall Of Sound Records
(206) 441 9880
315 E. Pine St.
Seattle, Wa 98122
M-Sat 11am to 7pm
Sun 12 noon to 6pm

wall of sound is a half bookstore, half recordstore with a focus on unusual and independent releases. they have a good selection of used stuff, and also a decent quiver of rarities. they seem to have about an equal number of cd's and vinyl. word is that this is the place to go in seattle for world music. they certainly carry the more experimental stuff, along with older obscurities. prices can be quite reasonable, but they ask a pretty penny for some of the more desirable used titles.

Easy Street Records

easy street has two locations, but if you are looking for vinyl, go straight to the lower queen anne store. the current electronic buyer has quite the glitch/click fetish right now, and there's more of that sort of techno in there than any other store i know of. however, on a larger scale, this store reminds me of what tower records was like in the mid-80's, new and used stuff, great displays, some cool collectables, and if it's in print, they probably have it in stock. a wide selection across the board: rock, jazz, soul, indie, imports and domestics, dvd's, books, shirts, the whole deal. they also stay open until midnight on monday to sell the new releases that come out every tuesday. they have a small stage and do in-store performances regularly. at least one listening station, but i'm not sure if it's available at all hours.

Sonic Boom Records
Ballard
2209 NW Market St.
206.297.BOOM

Capitol Hill
514 15th Ave E.
206.568.BOOM

Fremont
3414 Fremont Ave. N
206.547.BOOM

Vinyl Annex
3414 Fremont Ave. N (in the alley)
206.633.BOOM

sonic boom has three locations, spread around the city. mostly indie rock, they also get a bit of electronic releases that would appeal to the indie crowd. if you are looking for vinyl, you are best served in the vinyl annex, which is underneath the fremont location. new and used, all styles and conditions. prices are pretty affordable. there are regular live in-store performances at their ballard location. the capitol hill location is a bit out of the way of the other record stores, and visitors might prefer a car or cab ride from the other capitol hill record stores. the fremont store/vinyl annex is just a block from the fremont jive time location. the vinyl annex has at least two listening stations.

Bop Street Records
(206) 297-2232
5219 Ballard Ave NW, Seattle 98107

this place has more records than you can stand to see. going through everything could take you up to a week. two big rooms and a huge basement with loads, loads, loads of records, all used. reports put this place at 5000 square feet with over 600,000 records. this store drives me nuts though, as nothing is priced. you find what you want, and then the owner (dave, a really nice guy) then decides at the counter what he wants for them. always sketchy... i'd much rather make my decision in the rack than at the counter. this place has more soundtrack lp's than i could imagine, it's certainly an area of specialty. also, it used to be completely unorganized and totally random, but after years of effort, there are some sections coming together. diggers delight, but it has been picked through.

just to let everyone know, i'll be updating this within a few days. just wanted to get it started, and get it out there for now.

Very nice.. I be in seattle for just some days THANKS!!!

Selector Records & Apparel
2310 E. Madison St.
Seattle, WA

Focused on underground dance music ;-)

Neptune Music Company
Address: 4344 Brooklyn Ave NE, Seattle, WA 98105

Wall Of Sound Records is a very nice record store. Their selection has a diverse collection of great release across most genres. Often, amazon electronic, world, jazz and ambient releases are stocked.
(206) 441 9880
315 E. Pine St.
Seattle, Wa 98122

This is a great list from back in the day. Bop Street now gone for a few years, as well as the non-Ballard location of Sonic Boom.

A few additions:

Spin Cycle on Broadway
(Games and movies, plus new and used vinyl)

DayBreak on Fremont
(RJ runs this exclusively used vinyl store with incredible work staying stocked with great finds across all genres)

Royal Records on Roy St
(Run be two refugees from Everyday Music, new and used vinyl,books, posters, etc)

Stumbletown Records, 3rd Ave NW
(Nicely curated store run by a husband and wife couple, includes a cafe and arts and crafts besides used vinyl)

Easy Street, Jive Time, Wall of Sound, and Sonic Boom remain favorites already listed above.

Also couple new additions:

Seattle Records up in the University District
5521 University Way NE
Seattle 98105

Hex Enduction in Lake City
12330 Lake City Way NE
Seattle 98125

adding

Innervisions
4548 University Way NE
Seattle, WA 98105
(same owner as Seattle Records)

HI-FI / LO-FI Records
4544 University Way NE
Seattle, WA 98105
(same owner as Al's Music)

Al's Music Video & Games
4547 University Way NE
Seattle, WA 98105