Everyday Music

I dunno. I’ve come here for years and I have never really loved it. I brought some stuff in to sell and right off the bat they tell you you’re not getting much for your items but they haven’t even looked at what you have. I guess I should appreciate the honesty? Also seemed pretty put out they had to work. They weren’t bad guys so I don’t mean to talk shit. They probably don’t make a lot of money so why give too much of a shit? I can’t blame them. Still, EM just isn’t that great. And they’re mostly overpriced.

Is there a rating below one star? I was selling records and the staff was just rude. I asked if they could help me bring them into the store and they just stared at me! What really got me though was when they were done looking at them they didn’t even tell me. I was just sitting on the ground waiting for them to be done and they couldn’t be bothered. They professionalism in this place was just awful.

Best place to kill time and sometimes a surprise waits. Sales galore on DVD, cds, and records. Cheap on some items but the newer stuff beats the price from Walmart or best buy. Constant shopper because of some .50 cent price movies.

These guys are bandits when it comes to buying records. I brought in a nice MoFi LP of «Days of Future Passed» and they offered $ 2.50 for it. Ridiculous. By comparison, the Beaverton store offers fair prices on most anything.
The clerk acted like she was doing me a huge favor, just to add to the experience.

Large selection of new and used vinyl at moderate prices. A good place to rummage through the shelves and the $.50 aisle.
Loads of CDs in the other half of the store. Bright. Spacious. Media had the usual amount of dust on them that lingers on your fingers afterwards… Overall, average.

If you want to buy used cds & dvds etc, this is probably a good place to go for a huge selection. Maybe not a great selection, but certainly lots and lots of choices. There seemed to be only 2 genres /​categories for the cds: «budget» and «rock/r&b», and the physical layout of the store seemed odd. I was not able to locate any of the artists that I searched for, which was frustrating.
If you are looking to sell your cds & dvds etc, I do not recommend this place. I’m not sure how the buyer decides what to buy; it does not seem to be very scientific. Not once did she check a computer while trolling through my titles. How does she know if she has several copies of Miles Davis’ Love Songs without checking the computer? Can you ever have too many copies of anything by Miles Davis? I knew that my cd collection was a bizarre mix of genres and not very up to date, but they offered me 1¢ per cd for several hundred cds. While I was browsing the store, I saw copies of cds that I myself had brought in that day. They were selling for $ 3.75-$ 8.50 each. Yet these were the same titles that I was told were worth only 1¢. I ended up selling about 10 cds for $ 49 and taking back several hundred cds that would have earned me only an additional $ 6. That is tricky math, if you ask me. If you have no use for the cds, why even offer me 1¢?
Besides my bitterness over the 1¢ cds, the staff was not friendly. I had to flag down help, though 3 staff members were standing around with no customers in sight. When my friend entered about 5 minutes later (after parking the car somewhere far, far, away), she was asked «Do you need something?» from across the room, as though she was someplace she did not belong. Neither of us felt welcome, so I pocketed my cash and left. I will spend it somewhere else.

Huge selection of music in every genre and form of media. Its a bit quite but that may actually be a good thing. Really good vibe and nice people. Portland wouldnt be the same without it.

While they may have lots of CDs and DVDs to choose from, it’s harder to find what you want because of the large amount of stuff that no one would willingly buy. The prices are also more expensive than I would like. Not a terrible place to go but there are more options.

Recored, CDs, videos all in a HUGE room. In other words you can get lost here for HOURS! New and used, rare and everyday, poor to high end quality. Most every genre of music. I was surprised there was no separate area for Ska music especially in a place like this. It was either lumped in with rock or reggae.
The place reminded me of music shops I used to go through in New Jersey and NYC, so that was cool. I know that I could just wander this place for the rest of the evening and I still wouldn’t have seen a third of anything. Heck, just records alone would have kept me occupied for hours. They had 45s??? I haven’t seen those in like, forever.
They do buy CDs, records and videos. Don’t know what kind of return you get, but I will get over there to sell some stuff soon, once I can dig it out of my storage unit.
I want to get back over there soon.

Took a bag full of dvd’s in this morning, and the girl was rude right when I got there. Then she tried to tell me that she could not use any of them, but she would give me 5.00 for all of them! I told her I don’t think so, you will turn around and sell one of them for that! She stammered around and tried to tell me that all of them were scratched which was a lie, and she kept trying to make up reasons. Very dishonest. I will never shop there again!

Of all the record stores I’ve been to within the Portland/​Seattle areas. This chain of record stores has the best selection. I think this is due to the size of most of the stores. Regardless they usually have pretty good pickings and some rarities.

If you collect vinyl and are reading this review, you’re wasting your time. You should have left already, someone’s buying the last copy of «A Hard Day’s Night» and their 50 cent bin is being picked through. An amazing store, fantastic selection… never mind, you just walked in.

Seriously? What happened to you guys? Why the long face… every…day? You work in a music store for Chrissakes. You get to listen to music and basically not work. And you get paid for it. Maybe working 16 hours a week is too much. Maybe smiling hurts your face. Either way, you make me like music less… which sucks, because on paper I should love this place. It has a great selection, they’ll buy my old crappy music and DVDs off me with only minimal judgment as to why I waited this long to abort my Ja Rule CD from high school that I’ve been ferreting away out of the view of my house guests for decades. This place appeals to my thriftiness, and my weird need for treasure-​hunt like shopping endeavors. Why then… do I not ever want to go there? Oh, right… the staff. Yeah. Hmmm. Yeah. That.
My friend, Amy, however… has GREAT luck here. But, I think that’s because she somehow «out bitches» the staff, if that’s a thing. Then she goes and selects some shiny special piece of vinyl that makes them wince a little, but in a friendly way. I think they’re trying to smile. I don’t know.
Realistically, don’t listen to me. The selection is unparalleled, and you don’t have to go to a mall, which is its own separate gift. I guess I’m just bummed out that the staff isn’t happier or friendlier. I want to present them with stickers and candy and puppies to remedy that situation. Smile goddamnit!

100% true story:
I go in here tonight just to check it out. As I’m leaving, I notice that they have the LE box set of Radiohead’s «In Rainbows» in a case by the counter. Sticker says $ 90 and a sticker next to it says «No CDs.» So they are selling an incomplete vinyl & CD box for $ 90. Whatever, that’s their prerogative.
I just happen to have bought 3 copies of this box set as an investment, so I was curious what they’d offer me for one of my copies. I explained that they were mint and complete, two of them are even unopened. This total [EXPLETIVE] of an employee replies «I might give you a buck. If it’s not in perfect condition, I might give you less than a buck.»
These regularly sell on eBay for $ 100+ and the offer was a buck or less.
That’s all you need to know about this place. Find somewhere else to sell your music and movies.

I hate to be doing this, especially since I have been making pilgrimages to this store since I was in high school and didn’t even live in Portland, but I was DONE with this store for good after the way I was treated today.
I walked into the store and started to browse through the CD’s on the first display you run into at the Sandy location, totally not paying attention to the female clerk trying to get my attention. She motioned me over and asked me to check my bag. I look down at my tiny purse and asked «Seriously?» She replied «Well its large enough that you could hide CD’s in it.» So I grudgingly hand over my purse in exchange for a clothespin. I asked her (maybe not in my politest voice) if I could at least remove my valuables. Apparently that was all it took to piss this woman off because once she checked my bag she watched me like a hawk as if I was going to stuff CD’s down my shirt.
I was terribly insulted since I have never stolen anything in my life and definitely don’t look sketchy enough to steal a CD!!! MY GOD if I wanted to do that I would have downloaded the music illegally and not tried to patronize a local business. Of course I don’t want to leave my PURSE behind the counter because I CAN’T SEE IT! I have important things in there! For all I know the clerk is someone who was hoping to score some goodies. Now I know that is thinking the worst, but that is exactly what she assumed of me (so nope… don’t feel bad).
When I was checking out (yes PURCHASING their CD’s) she passive aggressively slid my purse across the counter, with no concern to the contents inside. She might as well have thrown it at me. It was simply embarrassing and immature. I hate being treated like a child when I am a PAYING CUSTOMER. The man who was assisting me with my purchase seemed irritated with me too!!! I couldn’t believe it! I am a grown woman, clean cut, normal as pie, there was just no reason to be treated like that. My boyfriend was even there with me… why was he not labeled as an accomplice to my potential thievery?
Overreacting? Maybe, however there was another female patron in the store that had arrived before myself that was allowed to keep her bag with her. I just don’t understand what made me a target.
Any ways, again hate to do this, but really its not right to treat customers in such a manner if they aren’t exhibiting any suspicious behaviors. IF the store policy is that they are required to check EVERY BAG… there needs to be a blatant sign on the door. I have had the same purse for over five years, and have entered and exited the Sandy, Burnside, and Beaverton locations at least 20 times without having to check the thing, and also without stealing any merchandise.
She could have just been doing her job… but explain the other purse patron? Eh?
Also EM… if this is your policy you need to have signs at every location… so that patrons are not terribly embarrassed and INSULTED when they are asked to check their purses.

This place reminds me of Empire Records, its great that there is still a place you can drive to these days and buy or just browse the music store. I love the selections they have, you can find some rare limited editions imports or pick up a used cd.
Staff are pretty friendly… They gave me some info on up coming bands and concerts in the area and what music might be of interest to me.

I like this store, I really do! I love the scuff bins, both dvd and cds. When there is a sale on, you can score a decent movie for a buck or two, but the problem is the organizational problem. A new bin, a clearance bin, a scuff bin, a used bin… I saw the same cd in 4 spots for 4 different prices so look around before you dart to the register.
I have come here a few times to look for some obscure shit, they didn’t have it, I know I can get it on amazon, or they can order it? but I want a disc in hand.
Needless to say, I always leave with something, I just never find what I came for.

The only downside is the smell and parking.
Everything else, rocks.
If I don’t find what I want, I find something else.
++ for getting hit on in the check out line. Yes, this is a new skirt, thank you for noticing. Yes, I have a boyfriend, and I agree, he shouldn’t let me out of his sight.

Like many of the other EM’s, this one is cavernous (i.e. BIG). You really need to come in here with a game plan, otherwise one can easily get lost looking and listening to music… not a bad thing though, right?
Anyway, on my recent visit, I was looking for some vinyl: old school hip hop (De La, Tribe, etc.), Portishead’s Dummy, any salsa, etc etc. Unfortunately, I didn’t find anything. Oh well, it was still nice to check the joint out.

You LOST ALL MY MONEY!
For being rude. For having crappy records. For being jerks.
And I have hundreds, maybe thousands of records.
Again. You lost ALL my money.
For being,
rude,
jerky,
buttholes.
and having
crappy selection…
ONE MORE TIME? Okay.
YOU, lost all my money. ALL of it.
For being rude, jerky, buttholes and having crappy selection.
Unless you’re buying a CD. What is this, 1994?
Have fun living out your High-​Fidelity fantasies. I know more about music than you, too.
Okay, you asked for it.
Years and years and years and piles and pile and piles of money — U, 4-​Eva, LOST.