Saturday, July 3, 2010

Tidewater, VA Record Stores

Down in Williamsburg, VA for a few days with the family, so while they drove to the Beach I decided to spend some quality time exploring the local record shops.

I found a couple stores online so drove out to the Tidewater area. First on the agenda was Birdland in Virginia Beach.




I loved the atmosphere right away. There were a couple guys just hanging out talking about music, and the place had a very laid-back, music-lover vibe to it. It's not really a vinyl specialty shop, though - - more CDs. But they did have some vinyl - all in stacks on the floor, completely out of order. The good news is they were cheap. I did find some gems:

David Lee Roth - Eat 'em & Smile
Steve Winwood - Back in the High Life & Roll With It
Sheila E. - The Glamorous Life
Jody Watley - Some Kind of Lover (12" single)
The Young Rascals - Groovin'
The Police - Ghost in the Machine
Suzanne Vega - self-titled


After Birdland, I headed over to Norfolk and found Skinnies Records. This was a real treat. Very easy to find, awesome vibe, great owner who is very helpful and knowledgeable about music. EXCELLENT vinyl selection - definitely top notch place. Cool atmosphere, and really a must stop if you're in the area. In addition to vinyl they have tons of CDs, t-shirts, and other cool stuff. They have a great selection of vinyl - classic rock, punk, new wave, metal, cool 45's - plenty of collectibles.



I picked up a couple gems that I'm very happy about:

The Cure: The Top
Nirvana: Unplugged in New York

Great to have both of these on vinyl. Both classic albums. Had a good time shopping and chatting with the owner - Skinnies is a MUST for any music fan if you're in the Tidewater area, especially vinyl lovers like me.

1 comment:

J.D. Hammond said...

There used to be another big independent store in Virginia Beach (Volume CD) and one in Norfolk (Relative Theory). The latter became a restaurant called The Boot, and I don't know what happened to the former.