In The Groove

I agree with everything Gary E.‘s review said about the shop. Prices are a tad higher than some shops but they know what they sell, what they have, where to find it and what its worth. ie; they place a value on the content, condition and where the record was pressed, original press or a re– release etc. Keep in mind, some of the more rare desireable albums are priced at $ 30 – 40 but would go for $ 30 in CD form if you could find them. So you have to keep prices in perspective. Their selection is condensed to desireables and less so «mainstream music». Within 20 minutes I had picked up 7 rare albums that I was looking for with help from the very knowledgeable staff. After 2 hours of pawing through a couple thousand records in some shops, I usually find something, but usually not what I am looking for. A decent selection of jazz, latin, rock, blues. not sure what else — my first time there, but their taste in inventory seemed to suit mine. I rated them at 4 because they are well-​organized and know the product.

This place has a good selection of records. The owner was friendly and helpful. It looks to be a place for collectors. There are lots of older records in great condition, though prices seemed kind of steep in that case. ($ 30 – 40 for Billy Holiday or the Beatles as I recall. Is that steep? I have no idea.) Now, I was looking for some Sade, which is perhaps not so hard to find, but she’s amazing so who cares. I picked up two Sade records in great condition for $ 10 a pop so there is no way I can give this place less than 4 stars.

Would never go back here, and would suggest no one go ever.
This place had a huge 50% off sign in the window, so I decided to go in today. After looking around and finding some stuff to buy, I went to the cash and the man behind the counter quotes me the sticker price for each record. After reminding him there is a sale, he explains to me that the 50% off sign is only to «entice» customers to come into the shop, and there is a much smaller sign behind the counter inside of the shop saying that 50% off is only on «Groovy Tuesdays».
The prices in the shop to begin with were also WAY too high. Even when thinking things were 50% off, there was really only a handful of things that I would consider being worth buying.
Hopefully this store will not be around for much longer. I can’t imagine it will be the way it is being operated. Even if someone gets tricked into buying a record once, there is no way I could see them returning to ever spend another dollar there.
Lots of very poor business practices at play here. I go out record shopping several times each month, and will not be adding this place to my list of stores to check out.
One star is generous. I will be telling everyone I know to avoid this place.

I’ve been to this place many times and I’ve never bought anything there. Prices there are much higher than any other place I’ve been to and the store doesn’t have the selection to justify its high prices (need convincing? It’s a picture of a Rick Astley LP in the shop photo)…and to top it off, the owner can be really crusty sometimes… guess I’d be crusty too if I sat there looking at all those unsold records everyday.

The previous poster is right on about the absurd prices on easy to find items. I’ve tried to tell the owner that he’s got way too much stuff on offer, but he likes the idea that if you come in dying for some Johnny Rivers, you’re going to find 8 albums of his right there under the R. The whole store is like that, so expect to do some wading. He’s also got a huge selection of Beatles and Stones stuff on separate shelves above the bins. He’s not into vinyl reissues — it’s a bit of a nostalgia trip in there because you’re going to be flipping through tons of stuff that will never be special enough for a reissue. But if you’re looking for a copy of Rush’s ‘Signals,’ for example, I found 3 copies to choose from so I got a nice clean copy pretty cheaply. Best advice: wait for his 2wice annual 50% off sale. He had the 50% sign up last week (late October)

I’ve only been here once (I’m a west-​ender and this place is out in the east-​end which might as well be Pickering for me), but needles to say I did walk out with about 5 albums that day.
This is a great place for higher-​end used records and rarities (original Sgt. Peppers, etc.). I can remember raising an eyebrow at some of the prices (you want how much for Steely Dan?) but did manage to find an original Kinks album in good nick.
The owner is a really friendly guy who clearly loves music and knows a ton about it, but not in an imposing or intimidating way. I get the impression he’d love to chat about music with customers all day (and probably does).
Also the huge rock posters and vintage chatchkis add to the overall ‘flea market’ vibe, but in a good way.