Record Store Visit: Bop Street Records

Bop Street Records is located on a leafy stretch of Seattle roadway at the south end of an area named Ballard. About a mile from the Nordic Heritage Museum and tucked in among brand new condos is a record store on your must visit list.

Before my trip to the pacific northwest, I searched Reddit for ideas on which Seattle record stores to visit. Bop Street came up as a possible option, but the consensus was it was over priced. User djmrjoel had this to say about Bop Street:

Bop Street in Ballard is huge and "famous" and they will tell you all about. They will have something you have been looking for, but nothing that you want, all for top dollar.

Maybe I was a little skewed going in, but I wanted to check it out and see for myself why it was "famous".

Entering the store, your eyes are drawn to the impressive side walls which are floor-to-evelated-ceiling full of records. Each wall has one of those library ladders on a rail to cruise up and down the row, though I'm not sure if they let customers take 'em for a spin. These side walls are labeled with genres such as Bluegrass, Comedy, Gospel, and Spoken Word.

The bulk of the floor space is row upon row of waist-height tables with Soul, Funk, Blues, and Rock; the stuff most people are going to dig through. Right at the front of the store, however, is their "Cool & Rare" section. I didn't get a chance to see if the stuff was cool and/or rare because the walkway in front of it was cluttered with boxes of records some guy brought in to sell.

According to the owner, they get 2,000 - 3,000 used records in every week. I stood by and listened to him tell the would-be seller that each record will go through a visual and audio check. I don't run a record store, but I suspect that at least the visual check is standard procedure. But this guy had brought in at least a few hundred records! I came away with the impression that they're diligent in what they injest and only want to have records that they can charge a decent amount for. Don't go looking for a dollar bin. At best you'll find a five dollar bin. As they say on their website, "We specialize in records that are in Mint to VG+ condition." So if the prices are higher, hopefully you know you're getting a quality item.

I was in the store with my wife and kids, just looking around. Seeing that we were vinyl tourists, owner Dave Voorhees pulled up a stool and told us two tall tales of celebrity in his shop. The first was of Dave Grohl looking for a bootleg Nirvana album and the second was of Radiohead stopping by and giving everyone in the store (staff and patrons) passes to their performance that night. I appreciated him taking the time to make us feel welcome.

Given the size of the store, they had one amenity that I wish more stores had: chairs. Sprinkled throughout the store were chairs of different types including rolling mechanic stools. For those of us in the my-knees-aren't-what-they-used-to-be crowd, this nicety was a wonderful addition.

Up the stairs in the back (what they call the mezzanine), is a sizeable room wall-to-wall jammed with 45s and 78s. You could probably spend a couple days in that area alone! Underneath it on the main level is a room dedicated to classical music, with special batches of employee recommended albums.

I had already blown my vinyl budget over at Holy Cow Records, so I didn't spend much time digging for music, but I did get a t-shirt. According to the guy that sold it to me, it's one of the most amazing t-shirts in the world. He said they looked for the best cotton around. I bought one, but I think they only place they looked was the first page of the nearest catalog. I got the feeling the store is staffed by guys who've been in sales all their lives.

So why is it "famous?"

You'll see it plastered all over the store: Bop Street was listed as one of the "top 5 record stores" based on a 2011 Wall Street Journal article written by Luke O'Neil. I'm not saying it's not a top 5 store, but the article in question was a high-brow version of a Buzz Feed listicle, so take it with a grain of salt.

Overall, I think it's probably a great place to buy used records. It's a clean, classy place to spend a couple hours digging. They say they have over 500,000 items in-stock. They take good care of the records. The bins aren't over stuffed and most of the records are in plastic. If I lived in the area, I know I'd burn a few weekends and many dollars at the store. If you're in Seattle and looking for something to do after the Space Needle, head over to Bop Street.

Bop Street Records 2220 NW Market St., Seattle WA 98107 (206) 297-2232