|
User
Reviews 6
Approval 93%
Soundoffs 34
Album Ratings 640
Objectivity 65%
Last Active 01-05-23 12:08 am
Joined 04-20-18
Review Comments 1,374
| Gone, But Not Forgotten (Defunct CD Stores)
Ever since the late 1980's/early 1990's, when I was a young kid, I have been an aficionado of CDs. Over the years, there have been many new and used CD stores that I have frequented; several of which are closed down and just a memory. Hence, my ode to the great CD stores of lore. The albums included in the list below are recent picks from great existing stores including the Sound Exchange in Tampa (#'s 1 to 3), CD Warehouse in Roswell (#4), McKays in Chattanooga (#'s 5 to 9), FYE (#10, yes I still visit them if I can find one open), and 2nd and Charles in Buford (#'s 11 and 12) and Anniston (#'s 13 and 14). | | 1 |  | Nebula
Apollo
On Cue. Being from a small town in northwest Georgia, I found new and used CDs wherever I could find them. This included pawn shops (where I bought my first CD ever by Whitesnake and Metallica's $5.98 EP), as well as a new CD store (On Cue, a small-scale Media Play for rural towns) that set up shop near the new Wal-Mart. Honestly, from On Cue, I bought more tapes than anything else - tape singles in the late 1980's. A used CD store opened up in town a bit later...they had around 20 used CDs at any given time, but this is where I bought my copy of Facelift by Alice in Chains. The only store I refused to buy CDs from was Wal-Mart, due to their editing practices. | | 2 |  | Sasquatch
II
Turtles Records and Tapes. I went to middle and high school in the larger City of Rome, nearby. They had a Turtles Records and Tapes, which later turned into a Coconuts (or vice versa). One of my friend's mothers would take him and me there. This is where I bought my first Megadeth album - the single for "Symphony of Destruction", which also had such classics on it as "Go to Hell" and "Breakpoint". I loved this CD single, but my friend was too scared to listen to it. Music was so big in Rome that a used CD store opened briefly on the west side as well. | | 3 |  | Tweak Bird
Tweak Bird
Media Play. From Rome, once able to drive, my High School friends and I were able to make it to the mecca known as Towncenter in Kennesaw. There was a huge media store there called Media Play, near the Towncenter mall. This retail store, similar to a modern day 2nd and Charles but bigger, was equipped with new and used CDs, DVDs, books, games, and the like. They closed down somewhere between 2002 and 2005, after being acquired by Best Buy. | | 4 |  | Dream Theater
Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
HMV. I went to College in Atlanta. Back in the mid to late 1990's and early 2000's, there were several great stores. One that I recall visiting frequently was the HMV in Lennox Mall.They had a pretty good inventory of new CDs. I didn't have a car my freshman year; so Lennox Mall was just a short Marta ride away from my dorm, which made it a frequent visit location. | | 5 |  | Kylesa
Spiral Shadow
Tower Records. Next to Lennox Mall was Tower Records. I remember hanging out there a few times until midnight when new albums were coming out. I also remember them being higher priced, as all of their stock was new. But what an inventory of music they had. It was like being in a candy shop. But being a poor college student, I didn't buy as much there as I should have. I do remember buying the KMFDM single for Juke Joint Jezebel there in 1995 though. They ended up closing the mall location and moving to another part of town, which I visited as well prior to them shutting down in 2006. | | 6 |  | Volbeat
Live From Beyond Hell/Above Heaven
CD City and CD Cellar. In the late 1990's, I dated a girl who was co-oping out in northern Alabama. So many weekends, I would hightail it out from Atlanta to north Alabama, by way of I-20 west and through Anniston. Anniston had its own share of CD stores. There was CD City and CD Cellar. Small shops, but pretty unique inventory being near a military base. Each of these are gone now. | | 7 |  | Soilwork
Death Resonance
Wherehouse Music. In the city of Atlanta, there used to be many used CD stores. Wherehouse Music on Peachtree street was one such store, which was combined with Blockbuster video. You entered one door, and a door led to Music on the left and the other door to videos on the right. I recall purchasing CDs there when they closed down and liquified their inventory. I was able to complete many a CD collection (including Garth Brooks, which I liked when I was younger but only had the tapes). | | 8 |  | The Birthday Massacre
Show And Tell
Circuit City...always second tier to Best Buy, but I shopped there for new CDs regardless. While closing down in Rome in 2009, I remember scooping up The Sword album "Gods of the Earth" for next to nothing. | | 9 |  | Black Label Society
Grimmest Hits
Borders. There was no better new book store than Borders. There were two 2-story Borders that I frequented, one in downtown Atlanta on Peachtree and the other near Cumberland Mall in Marietta, GA. I frequented this store non-stop, purchasing and reading books, drinking coffee, and periodically buying a new release from their music section. It made me sick to see Border's go, and be left with just Barnes and Nobles. | | 10 |  | In Flames
I, the Mask
Disc-Go-Round. Down on Piedmont Road, in Buckhead, there existed a Disc-Go-Round. This store was a smaller used CD store, similar to CD warehouse. I always found something or other when I went there. Unfortunately, it is no longer around. | | 11 |  | Outer Circle
Outer Circle
CD Warehouse. As an adult, I found myself working around the northern Atlanta perimeter in Sandy Springs. Just a short skip from my miserable job was a CD Warehouse. I would frequent this used CD store about twice per month. And even better... they had a $1 CD section, which was mostly filled with old Creed CDs, but did have a few hidden gems. This store closed out of nowhere...I heard that the owner was taking out his CDs in boxes at midnight the night before. Sad day. | | 12 |  | He Is Legend
Suck Out The Poison
CD Warehouse. During prior employment, I would often have to drive up to North Carolina. To do that, i would often take GA 20 across the top of Atlanta over to I-85. Right at GA-20/I-85, a CD Warehouse was located in Buford. I spent many an hour digging through the racks and purchasing CDs for the 12 hour roundtrip up to North Carolina and back. Another store that closed and never came back. | | 13 |  | Hole
Nobody's Daughter
F.Y.E. (For Your Entertainment). Nothing hurt as much as the F.Y.E. closing in North Point Mall. I lived in Alpharetta for a while and F.Y.E. was my closest used CD store. I would frequent this location to get out for a while, while my wife looked in other mall stores. Bought and traded many a CD here. When they closed, I remember buying "...Like Clockwork" by Queens of the Stone Age new for quarter price. As great as that purchase was, it was a sad, sad day. | | 14 |  | Middle Class Rut
No Name No Color
Best Buy (CDs only). When a new release came out, I almost exclusively purchased them from Best Buy. Not only could you usually get the new release for $9.99 or less, but they often came with additional tracks. The last new CD I recall buying there was the deluxe version of Black Sabbath - 13. Although still around, they broke my heart when they stopped selling CDs. | |
JDubb
05.12.19 | If ever in the ATL area, some great used CD stores still exist (thank God!). These include: the Book Nook; Fantasyland Records; Wax N' Facts; CD warehouses in Roswell, Duluth, and Kennesaw; Decatur CD; Wuxtry; Criminal Records; and several 2nd and Charles and Half Price Books retail stores. A good F.Y.E. is hard to find, but the one in Gadsden, AL still holds up. The king of all that is used CDs, however, is McKays, up in TN and NC. | Ecnalzen
05.13.19 | The best buys near me still sell some cds, but not new releases anymore. Mostly just discount 5 99 albums in a bin somewhere randomly in the store.
It's getting harder to find places where I live, too. The FYE I knew about is gone. A local place down the street from me I forget the name of went out of business last year. I go to a Half Price Books and a place called The Exchange. That's pretty much all I got that I know of near me. | JDubb
05.13.19 | I'm with you Ecnalzen...the Best Buy bin is like a junk CD bin. When I used to travel up to Ohio, I would hit up The Exchange stores around Cleveland...they were awesome. Also loved the Buybacks stores up there (not sure they are still around). | Ecnalzen
05.13.19 | Yeah, I live in a suburb outside Cleveland. They are scattered around the state. I love going to them but I don't live very close to any of them.
Target has new music still but it is really limited. I rarely find anything I want there anymore. Mostly just the more popular high selling artists.
I used to work at a place called Hastings that sold used/new cds among other things (books, movies, video games, novelty, etc). It was a pretty cool place. They all went out of business a few years back, too, unfortunately.
Borders kinda sucked for music since it was so expensive but I did love going there for books. | Viriathus
05.13.19 | Im in Halifax area so I had the pleasure of having two pretty big HMV stores.
rip the store of my teenage days. | JDubb
05.13.19 | Yeah, I forgot about Target! Another store that has drastically reduced it's inventory of anything of any substance. R.I.P. to both Hastings (never been there, but sounds like it was a great store) and HMV. | Sinternet
05.13.19 | im lucky enough to have a shit ton of good used cd stores back home, although most of these are more focused on records, but some still have vast cd collections. the charity shops back home also get some crazy stuff get donated, but here at uni it's a barren wasteland for buying music, which means I buy online more than I buy local these days | JDubb
05.13.19 | Also confirmed that the Buybacks that I used to hit up (back in the mid to late 2000's) in western Cleveland (Elyria, North Olmsted) are permanently closed. Quite sad, as I found some great used albums there. I remember finding the (at the time new) Heaven and Hell album there for around a dollar. And I used to bring my scratched CDs with me for them to fix...they were one of the few stores that would do this service (most often for free). Bummed. | wham49
05.13.19 | I’m with ya man, browsing through the used bins is a lost art, found many things I did not know with that method | Drifter
05.13.19 | I only use one cd store and it's a chain local to north Cali but I also buy a lot of cds from discogs. Those are my two main sources with the occasional amazon or ebay | DungeonBoy
05.13.19 | Sweet, dude. I worked at a Tower Records for a few years up until the day we closed our doors. It was a pretty fun job as far as retail is concerned, and they let us play whatever we wanted throughout the store. Everyone who worked there was cool and we'd hang out after work and drink beers and talk about music and movies and stuff. Good times for sure | JDubb
05.13.19 | That sounds like a sweet job DungeonBoy...it was a sad day when Tower closed its doors. |
|
