Growing up in Ealing and working in North Acton, the closest to me which I loved was the old soul & dance exchange in nottinghill (before they moved it to upstairs of the normal mve).
Would visit once a week, mainly buying hiphop and then slowly getting into my house music. So many nuggets picked up in there. The basement was great as well.
Definitely on the Bexley fair…
I can only remember Dulcie and Emma, where there any other staff?
That’s good to hear, my brother Japhy was behind the counter there for most of the time. He’s still going strong online
Shout out to Pecking’s on Askew Road too. When I moved from Oxford to London in the early noughties, I worked on Askew Road for a few years. Saturday morning was all about breakfast in Adam Cafe followed by a mooch in Pecking’s.
I lived around the corner on Keith Grove, I loved the front but only went in once or twice
Cool, what’s his Twitter handle?
The late great aquarius records in san francisco was the great mind expander for me—both the shop and the voluminous new arrival emails. Digging thru the shelves nearly every record had a dense, 8point font couple of paragraph-to essay length review, written in a cheeky, smart, inviting house style. It made you feel welcome, like even though you’d never heard japanese harsh noise or weird outsider scandi metal or a 5 tape spoken word project by a gibbering burning man casualty, you too could pick it up and get something out of it. All cravings and quirks allowed and encouraged. An early visit, me, 17, finishing high school: “uh hey do you have anything that sounds like hercules and love affair?” andee immediately goes and pulls out the big 4-disc arthur russell comp with all his loose joints and dinosaur L material. Revolutionary moment, ears never the same. Website up on the interNet archive though not searchable, still fun to click through: [ Aquarius Records R.I.P.]
Rounder in Brighton, with Damian from Skint behind the counter, then the central London / Soho circuit of Blackmarket with Rob Mello & Zaki on the counter, Oscar at Trax, Quaff, Tag and later on Atlas which remains one of the best shops I’ve ever been in…
Simon, it was me, Darren who ran the place. Damian Harris worked with me for around 3yrs before setting up Skint. We also had a London shop where Damon Havlin and Ross Allen ran that.
I know Darren, I was pulling your leg mate. Hope you’re well buddy. 
Massive Records in Birminham, my first store and my first place that I had a pile of records waiting for me every fortnight. I really stretched my musical taste there, from House to Broken Beat, Hip Hop and Jazz. I never thought I’d like all of these genres when I first started buying music, Massive Records helped with that. Plus, the guy that sorted me all of my Jazz/Nu-Jazz and Broken stuff went to Ireland. I’d love to know his name, he was such a don and so so friendly. We shook hands on his last week and I never thought to check his name. I used to love a Saturday afternoon there after a heavy one with a sandwich/box of fags/jazz fags and a load of records with someone like Al Mackenzie DJing for most of the afternoon. I remember him once standing on the counter, it had been a long night. I also rinsed all of my call centre wages in that store. It became a sex shop and is now a coffee shop, it’s dearly missed by many.
MVE Birmingham. 30% of my collection is made up of MVE purchases, back in 03 I was able to buy all the cheap Disco 12"s that nobody cared about in Birmingham and all of the classic house records that were just being left aside to collect dust. As I started buying records in 03 the digital element of CDJ’s was really popping so I was able to buy a lot of good records as everyone went digital and ditched their record collection. John who worked there became a good advisor, the rest of the staff were so grumpy but always had good music on in the background. I used to crease when a local person came in with a record that in their mind was worth more than their house, they would check and advise and then dryly say it was worth a tenner. The exasperated faces they all pulled was straight out of High Fidelity. I miss this store so much, it was on my walk home from work and always had something in there. I was gutted it closed.
That’s correct. I got my copy there! Now and always has been a great shop. It’s also the birthplace of the Ubiquity and Luv N’ Haight labels, under the former owners.
Jumbo in Leeds (used to work there and I miss the old shop)
More recently my mate opened up a shop called Stranger Than Paradise in Hackney so I get a lot of stuff from her and there’s a few nice local spots, Tome, BBE store, Atlantis.
Mike from Really Good Records has the most incredible knowledge of records/music.
Im lucky in that I bump into him occasionally as I work about 5 mins walk from the storage space he works out of these days.
An all time fave for me was Disque on Chapel St Market in Islington - run by Ed Davies who still sells online today - stellar selection - loads of deals to tempt you and friendly customer service. I remember being distraught when it closed! Honourable mentions for Butter Beats in Brisbane (now gone I think), Ameoba in San Francisco and current favourite Just Dropped In in Coventry…
Had completely forgotten about that place. The staff were so sound and helpful. Do you remember the closing down sale? Everything was £1. The shop was totally rammed.
Can’t see a mention of IS Records yet - great shop & lovely people. I had the pleasure of spending far too much time in there when I lived in Battersea for a couple of years in the late 90s.
Also a little place called Steve’s Sounds on Newport Court near Leicester Square tube. Mostly sold random CDs and tapes but also had a couple of bins of vinyl, often containing discarded promos of stuff I’d never get elsewhere, all for £2 
Loved that feeling of walking out of the bank Friday lunchtime, newly-cashed wages clutched in a sweaty palm and wondering where to head… Favourites were City Sounds, Rough Trade in Covent Garden, Vinyl Junkies, Release The Groove & the old Sounds of the Universe…
Anyone remember Les who worked at Quaff and then opened a shop on Clerkenwell Road, used to pop in on way home after work, can’t remember what it was called.
When your down in North Devon for your holiday and its pouring with rain (unbelievable right?!) You should go check out Discovery Music in Barnstaple. Its being going for 25 plus years and has out lived all other music shops in town. Its run by the legend that is Matt the Hatt, a true individual. Its a tiny shop but it is packed with records- Loads of jazz, funk, ambient, reggae, electronic, and loads of rock and blues. Lots of new stuff too- even a few Be With records too!
