A-1 Record Shop — Local services in New York

I went to a lot, A LOT of record stores while I was in and around Manhattan, and this is the only one where I found a lot of the stuff I was looking for at a reasonable price. The staff was a little snooty with me until the (I assume) owner pulled the guy running the floor aside and informed him that I had already picked out and agreed to purchase several high dollar records I had him pull from the wall. After that, I was treated like a damn king... which shouldn't really matter. Most record stores are filled with disgruntled staff that think they're better than you. After collecting for 30 years, I've learned that's just a quirk of record shops. However, it is the only thing that kept them from being a 5-star shop for me. Well, that... and their refusal to take a debit card.

As for the selection, don't expect to find "the hits" here, or much pressed after the '80s. But if you're looking for the not-so-easy-to-find stuff... you might find it here. There was a good jazz and punk selection, and the common records were really well priced! Even the higher dollar items I bought were in line with other recent sales of the same titles. You're not going to get screwed over here.

The best way I can describe this place is like if you went into a slightly higher priced Goodwill looking for records, and everyone in the town that had donated records had really good taste in music! The condition of the records for sale generally hung in the VG+ region; played, but well taken care of.

My advice? Carry cash, and lots of it. You won't be leaving with it, but you'll have a big smile for what you do get after parting...

I was recommended by someone I know about this place, so I thought I should check it out. The good part was I found inexpensive new wave records from the 80s. The bad part was I had to go around all these people because the space is tiny. There are records at the bottom, but being that I have bad knees I can't bend down to look at them. They also have crates of records outside of the store which I am told where the cheapest ones are at.

I give this three stars is mainly due to customer service. As I approached the counter, I stood behind a white girl and the cashier was being friendly and flirty with her and told her which ones were good records according to his recommendation and she paid over $200 for her records and was given a bag with their logo on the fly. When it was my turn to approach the counter however, the cashier barely said anything to me. He looked at my records and was like "$40 card or cash?". He didn't say a thank you or anything and I don't wanna pull out the race card since there's a vast selection of R&B and soul records more so than rock, but the energy that I got didn't match AT ALL with the one that the girl in front of me had.

With all that being said: vast collection, tiny space, but not so good customer service. I'll buy my records somewhere else where the staff...

The best record shop on planet earth, period. If you're into funk, soul, disco, house, jazz, or classic hip hop, look no further(although they certainly cover more genres). Staff has excellent taste.

I've seen people complain about prices in various other reviews, but on average, most records go for what they would on discogs + shipping + maybe a buck or two off the top for the store. That being said, some prices may be uncharacteristically high, but I've found so many other records in this place that went for WAY cheaper than they could have, so it really evens out for me in that regard. Plus, there are cheapo bins along the bottom and outside with some GREAT stuff if you're not looking to drop too much money.

Records move through this shop at a fast clip, and as such, I can go twice a week or so and still find something new or interesting to walk out with every time. If you come in looking for something specific, they may or may not have it, but if you come in with an open mind and are willing to dig, you can really pull some amazing things out of these dusty racks. I keep coming back because there is so much music to discover here! I cannot recommend A1 enough. It gives an experience that buying records online simply...