lilmuse Posted October 29, 2015 Share Posted October 29, 2015 I'll be staying here for a wedding this weekend and I have Saturday morning free to explore. Hoping one or a few of you here know of some good places to go digging. Please and thank you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Korgull Of Morgoth Posted October 29, 2015 Share Posted October 29, 2015 http://www.vinylhub.com/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lilmuse Posted October 29, 2015 Author Share Posted October 29, 2015 Looks like that site will be very useful once it fills out. Isn't much better than googling when you aren't familiar with the area. Thanks for the link, though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tape Posted October 29, 2015 Share Posted October 29, 2015 Not much tbh. Most of the towns in the immediate area are small and semi-rural. There's definitely no shops in Westford and the surrounding towns have even less going on. There's a couple of Newbury Comics within 20 min or so (Nashua, Burlington). If you're into a more "digging"/used records situation, there's two shops in downtown Lowell that are conveniently about a 3-minute walk from each other. Vinyl Destination is located in a cool little indoor shopping area called Mill #5. The store doesn't have their own website but Mill #5 does: http://millno5.com/ The only thing with them is I think they might not open until noon? But maybe it's 10. I forget. Anyway Mill #5 is at 250 Jackson St. You'll get there and be like "where the fuck is this place" - there's an old iron gate in the building and you go in and head all the way to the back, where there's an elevator on the left. You will feel weird and lost until you get up to the shops and then be like "oh this is pretty neat." The other store in Lowell is RRRecords (219 Central St). It's a crazy awesome shop run by this guy Ron who also runs a label called RRRecords which is an incredibly great underground noise label. The thing with his shop is that the website says "open 10-5 Mon-Sat" but it's really "whenever Ron feels like it" so that'll be a literal crapshoot. But if he's open, there's usually some good treasure in it for you. OH I just remembered. There's another place one block over called Garnick's (54 Middlesex St). It's like an appliance repair store run by a couple of weird old dudes but they also have records. The records will all be old but you can usually find some interesting things there. They repair jukeboxes and shit. It's a wild place that's definitely of an older time. If you're lucky the old dudes will yell at each other about weird shit and you'll be extremely amused. But yeah, other than those places and hoofing to Newbury Comics, there's really nothing unless you venture towards Boston/Cambridge. I guess there's also Bull Moose in Salem, NH (and a Newbury Comics directly across the street) which is probably only a half hour away if traffic is good. Source: I lived in Lowell for 11 years and still go there all the time, and I used to drive deliveries so I know everything from Westford-Dracut pretty well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gritter96 Posted October 29, 2015 Share Posted October 29, 2015 Haven't been there yet but these are in towns adjacent Westford. I've only been to the Vault and Newbury, but the others might good places to hit. Littleton: The Vinyl Vault: http://thevinylvault.weebly.com/ Lowell: Vinyl Destination: https://www.facebook.com/vinyldestinationlowell Also in Lowell: RR Records, Garnick's Music (https://www.facebook.com/GarnicksMusic) Newbury Comics has a relatively local store in Nashua that also carries an ok selection, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blueprintforjoy Posted October 29, 2015 Share Posted October 29, 2015 There's (I think) a store called vinyl vault in Littleton though I have never been so I'm not sure what they usually stock. It's close to Westford though so may be worth checking out? Not sure how far you want to go but there's a few stores in Worcester (joes albums, that's entertainment), probably about 30 mins away and I think there's a that's entertainment in Leominster as well, which is probably about 20 mins away. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lilmuse Posted October 29, 2015 Author Share Posted October 29, 2015 Awesome. Thanks, guys! I'll have a rental and nowhere to be until around 3 so I should have a good chunk of time to get to one or two of these places. The first link yielded a slew of the Newbury's. Figured that'd be a pretty decent backup plan if local smaller shops didn't turn up. If anything, I'd save myself the shipping cost from the website. Hah. Haven't been up to MA in quite a few years and not since I've been collecting. Appreciate the info. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tape Posted October 29, 2015 Share Posted October 29, 2015 Didn't know about Vinyl Vault. I'll have to scope that out sometime. I don't get west of Chelmsford much these days but that's right off 495 so pretty easy to make a side trip. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pizza face Posted October 29, 2015 Share Posted October 29, 2015 Hey I live in Lowell lol Triple R might have the best selection next to Vinyl Destination. Garnicks gets a lot of stuff but it goes as fast as it comes in. My favorite place is in Haverhill called Welfare Records. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gbabey Posted October 30, 2015 Share Posted October 30, 2015 The Vinyl Vault in Littleton is closest (i live just down the street), but is all used, nothing new, and mostly classic rock stuff. The owners are friendly enough and the prices seem fair, but you're unlikely to find much released in the last 15 years. Lowell is probably your best bet (mentioned above). Worcester and Natick each have a couple small shops, but from Westford its probably quicker to just go into cambridge/boston. I think Newbury's kept out smaller competition in the past, and now that they sell more tshirts and toys than records there isn't not a whole lot in the area. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tape Posted October 30, 2015 Share Posted October 30, 2015 I think Newbury's kept out smaller competition in the past, and now that they sell more tshirts and toys than records there isn't not a whole lot in the area. Newbury Comics was fantastic 20 years ago. There were enough of them around that it meant there was always a pretty decent record store a not-too-long drive away. Now most of them are so focused on clothes and toys that there's barely any music (or comics for that matter), except for a few stores like Harvard, Newbury, and that one Norwood(?) that's in a former car dealership. At least with the ones that have moved from strip mall plaza locations into malls, even though they used almost all of the extra space for shit like clothes and shoes and Minecraft/Angry Birds toys, there is a little bit more music space. It's just so little compared to the other shit that it feels really depressing to me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lilmuse Posted November 1, 2015 Author Share Posted November 1, 2015 We ended up doing the rehearsal at 11 am which gave us enough time to head out to Mill No. 5. Perfect suggestion. I had my girls with me (5 & 8) and there was a Halloween party going on. Good music, lots of kids and one of the more interesting places I've ever shopped for vinyl. Thanks again! We had a great afternoon. tape 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kleraudio Posted November 1, 2015 Share Posted November 1, 2015 I go to Westford pretty frequently for work. There is nothing out there. The Lowell suggestions are good. Westford has the British Beer Company though. So at least there's that Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tape Posted November 2, 2015 Share Posted November 2, 2015 We ended up doing the rehearsal at 11 am which gave us enough time to head out to Mill No. 5. Perfect suggestion. I had my girls with me (5 & 8) and there was a Halloween party going on. Good music, lots of kids and one of the more interesting places I've ever shopped for vinyl. Thanks again! We had a great afternoon. Glad it worked out! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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