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Categories: Music & DVD's, Vinyl Records [Edit]
Neighborhood: Lincoln ParkMon-Sat. 11:00 a.m. - 8:00 p.m.
Sun. 12:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m.
New stuff, old stuff. Sealed in package, used to shreds. Something as popular as Fleetwood Mac, something as obscure as (insert hip new band you don't think they'll have). Dave's has it all.
Except CDs. Don't let the fact that CD stores call themselves (Blank) Records make you think there's anything but vinyl greatness inside this little shop.
And Dave and his always busy record store love it this way...
Dave's has an excellent selection of Rock, Jazz, Blues vinyl, and they always play interesting music in-store, and Dave is cool.
It feels great supporting a local independent record store, but since its competing with everything else, it's a bit pricey.
Dave's is definitely my favorite record store in Chicago. It's got that homey local record store vibe that any collector can appreciate. Huge used selection and great new stuff. Worth spending the time browsing through everything, you'll stumble upon more than one record you weren't even looking for. And Dave is awesome, too!
I rarely find myself up in the northern part of the city but made my way up for a dentist appointment and stumbled upon Dave's Records.
Let me say that Dave knows his records well and can provide good suggestions and kind advice to those who ask for it. The prices are fair since the records he sells are choice and I'm at the point where I would rather look through one crate of decent records than 5 crates of shite.
My personal tastes are 90's east coast hip hop, past and current techno, no wave, new wave and good indie stuff which are all represented well in this shop.
Wish I spent less on my root canal and more on records!
Fuck Reckless.
Best selection of any vinyl store I've ever been to. When you first walk in it's small ,but eventually you realize great things come in small packages. Probably any record that you haven't been able to find Dave has or can get for you. This is what a record store should be, strictly vinyl.
Thank god for Dave.
Let's go ahead and give Dave five stars for the amazing selection and variety available in his well-organized store.
Now take one star away for what an asshole he is.
And another one for how overpriced most of his stuff is.
I'd give half a star back again because there's always good stuff in the clearance rack, but Yelp won't let me, so three stars it is.
I feel like Alice before the Queen of Hearts whenever I take a record up to the counter to be purchased.
Except the Queen of Hearts is a burly middle-aged man with a white beard. And I'm not a seven-year-old girl.
I smells like dust in here, which is comforting I guess, but if I spend too long inside I start to sneeze. I have to wash my hands immediately upon exiting, which is difficult because there are no sinks on Clark Street.
I enjoy that Dave doesn't waste any of his 500 square feet of store space on CD racks.
I can spend upwards of an hour and fifty dollars on one visit. But I also frequently leave empty-handed.
Dave's is the only record store where I have found Wooden Wand records. So bonus points for Dave's.
Sometimes I buy a new record at Dave's and then find it for a couple dollars cheaper at Reckless. Sometimes his records are cheaper. I guess you gotta shop around.
The best record store in the city! For new and used.
If you're looking for vinyl, Daves is the place to go. It's a tight squeeze, but well organized and easy to browse. Wall to wall records and then some! The largest selection or rock/pop, and I've found some decent Jazz stuff here. I don't think I've ever gone to Dave's and walked away empty handed, it's just not possible.
So, Dave, do you sell CDs? "Nope." DVDs? "Nope...just records" Tapes? "Nope...just records." 8-Tracks? "Nope...just records." Starting to get the idea? Dave's sells only records...nothing else. Dave's carries records of all kinds from old to new and a selection worth spending hours thumbing through the bins with your grubby little fingers. The store may be a bit tight, but everything is organized by category which makes thumbing the bins substantially easier. I have yet to notice Dave's throwing out busted up records with split spines and scratched records. When you go to a record store, it's nice to have to worry if the condition is crappy or not. Like all record stores, it's a hit and miss on hard to find titles, however I have found many hidden gems here. I won't start a debate of which is better between Reckless and Dave's, but Dave's does not get picked through on the same day so you don't have to wonder if the only thing left is Rick Astley's Greatest Hits is the only good record left or not. Good selection of older rock, blues, jazz.
Mix it up Dave, J-J-Jamin... OH WAIT. Wrong place for mixing it up. Wanna sample a record there? That's fine, but NO mixing and scratchin'.
You should see the way my eyes lit up when I first walked into this place. I was like a little kid in candy shop.. and boy, was that candy delicious. And pricey. If my roommate had let me shop around any longer, I probably would've spent all of my money that I'd just gotten paid that day from my minimum wage job.
The records are worth the money. They're in amazing condition and Dave really does price them well. I'm willing to pay $20 for my Morrissey. And if I want any indie or 80's, Dave's Records is the place to be. My roommate tells me that he's got a lot of great soul and funk too. I don't doubt it.. Dave knows his stuff.
I have been to this place a handful of times and have never left empty-handed. I have found two very rare Tori Amos LPs there for around $40 each, which I didn't mind paying, considering.
The man behind the counter(the owner, I am assuming) is always helpful.
Definitely a place worth checking out.
I went to Dave's to buy some Christmas presents for my friend. I was impressed by the extensive collection that fit in this little shop, about the size of a CTA bus. Dave was friendly and helpful. I now want to buy myself a record player.
Wow, a record store I haven't reviewed yet--and one of my favorites, at that. Why this oversight? Jesus!
Isn't this place a minor institution in Chicago? If not, it should be. Dave's is fantastic. I have found some incredible stuff here, including my well-loved Johnny Ace and Bad Brains LPs. Everything I've picked up here, even the cheaper selections, have been in pretty damn good condition. Great stock, and they always have good shit playing when you're browsing.
Dave himself is a bit gruff, but warm him up and he's a nice guy.
The perfect record store.
Small, cramped, and with a section titled Audiophile.
Easy to find records (and wonderfully priced at times...Black Sabbath's "Black Sabbath" on red vinyl for $9...damn.) and an insanely high counter.
Easy to spend hours browsing and remembering.
No CDs, just the best selection of vinyl I've ever seen.
You have to love a store with a sign hanging in the door that reads "No CDs, never have, never will".
Dave's is one of the better record stores in Chicago. Lots of rare stuff for a pretty penny and lots of deals lurking in the bins.
I'll stop visiting Dave's when I stop buying records and that will be when I have then all.
hands down, this is my personal favourite among the many used record stores we have in and around the chicago area.....yes reckless is a cool place, and hyde park records is the best on the south side, and places like dusty groove and kstarke records serve a special niche, but i've been coming to dave's records since the summer of 1992, when it was simply known as 2nd hand tunes....
the store is nothing but vinyl, new and used, and if you 're like me, when you walk into the place, you don't wanna leave, because you wanna scour through just about every category of music that's in there....the funk, soul, and jazz stuff is priced according to dave's reasoning, and i don't argue with it...it seems by reading a lot of people's reviews of different stores, they all complain about the different price ranges for certain lp's and cd's. well, that's the nature of the beast; if you find and album at one store for 12 bucks, don't whine, there's more than likely another store that's got it for a few bucks less!! so there you go!
i was just up there the other night on valentine's day, and i found 4 used lp's for 6 dollars!! how cool was that?
so if you're in the neighbourhood , and wanna find that special place to browse and look around and possibly buy something, dav'e records is definitely the best 5-star record store around in town!!
if you don't want to deal w/ the hipsters in Reckless go see Dave! I don't know what those kids working at Reckless do all day. There's always 5 or so of them working, but they never so much as even look up at you, and when you ask for help they always make you wait so they can finish whatever incredibly important take they're doing.
Dave's is better, cheaper, and he's nicer. You get to meet the man behind the counter that your money will be going to.
$7.99 to download Thomas Dolby's "The Golden Age of Wireless" or ninety-nine cents for a mint LP copy of this at Dave's?
heres the problem with Daves Records, i find too many records i want everytime i go, and they have an audiophile section...that being said this is one of the best vinyl stores that i have been too, no alot of used suff but where its really at is getting brand new vinyl from new and old bands...
even when im only looking for one thing i walk out with at least 3 different records...if your looking for cd's, tapes, 8-tracks, this is not the place for you cuz they are not to be found, and i admire dave for that...
pricing wise i would say they are about average...and i always kinda use there prices to guide me when visiting other vinyl shops...awesome awesome store,
I have been collecting vinyl for about a year now, and have learned most of what I know from the guys at Dave's Records. This quaint little shop on Clark has garnered most of my vinyl business. At first, it was due to proximity. Now, it is due to quality and service. If and when I move out of the area, I will certainly still frequent Dave's for my vinyl needs.
They have a great selection of Rock/Alternative/Punk and Classical. Their Soul and R&B sections are smaller, but still full of gems. My only ding is the smallish Electronica section, but overall the place has a great selection.
The guys in the shop are helpful and uber informative if you have any questions whatsoever. They suggested the deck I now have and have made awesome recommendations on some of my current vinyl favs. If you're interested in learning more about a wonderful medium like vinyl music, go to Dave's.
I've been to Dave's a number of times and every time I've walked out with great hauls. The staff is relatively friendly and the prices are at least somewhat reasonable (a little higher than Reckless but a hell of a lot better than Vintage Vinyl).
Thankfully there is still a record shop in Lincoln Park and, even more thankfully, it is Dave's. Dave's 99-cent "cheapo" selection alone has provided me with an awesome catalog of classic rock and new wave staples. And with the exception of the really hard-to-find or brand-new stuff, the prices are always reasonable and no matter what my mood, I always find a handful of things there. Even better is that, since it's not overrun with alt.hipster types at all times like, say, Reckless, you can often actually find the gems you're looking for. How I refrain from going there every day of the week is beyond me.
This is an awesome record store and I would love to go in by myself. Usually I go with my boyfriend though, and he takes an hour + so I never want to come here. Sorry, I get bored! God, I'm so 2007 it's embarrassing.
Dave's is an incredibly good record store. In fact, its the only actual "record" store I think I've ever been to! The used section and cheapos aren't as great as they could be, considering vinyl is their sole business, but they really have every new piece of meritable wax that comes out there, either behind the counter or on the racks. Go there.
This is one of the few vinyl only shops left in Chicago. When 2nd Hand Tunes closed, the manager took over this store to keep it going. It's definitely a great shop with all sorts of surprising finds and decent prices (though some records are priced a bit high due to collectability). This is the first time I've browsed here in years, as my turntable broke in 1999 and I had no reason to replace it.
I go into this place every few months and always think the same thing. Who the hell pays this much for records. Perfect example. 75$ for future by the seeds. Even if it was a first press with inserts in mint condition (which it wasn't) I couldn't imagine paying any more than maybe half of that. I do like that they stock a lot of new vinyl that other chicago record stores don't. It isn't the kind of place you go and brag about the deal you got, it's the kind of place where you hide the receipt.
As Kathy and I were wandering about looking for a place to eat, we stumbled across Dave's and that was bad, very bad. You see, we're addicted to music. Aside from having the radio dial fixed on Q101 for the latest in new music or surfing European Internet radio stations for global trends, our iPods are filled with nearly every genre of music, from classical, jazz, and surfer instrumentals to hip-hop, rock and alternative. On a day-to-day basis, we feed our mainstream addiction with iTunes or ripping our piles of CDs, but there's something really special about vinyl -- something so special that I replaced our entire home stereo system and are moving to having not one, but two hifi turntables (one new and one vintage). But I digress...
We collect rare, limited release, and simply odd vinyl such as an original 1983 pressing of New Order's "Blue Monday" on Factory Records (Fac 73) in the original die cut floppy disk album jacket, Joy Division's "Still" (Fac 40) from 1980, or more current items such as My Chemical Romance's "Famous Last Words" on a 7" square single (yes, square). Why? Well, because they're unique -- music as both aural and visual art.
Back to Dave's -- as I said, we stumbled in and started looking around. First and foremost, Dave's is not some hack used music shop. It is a place for people who are serious about vinyl. Second, there's a lot of inventory in a small space and it could take days to go through it all. We didn't have that kind of time, but we did do a little exploring and within minutes, we left with a few things. To give you a sense of the quality of Dave's collection, we walked out with a virtually untouched West German "direct metal master" pressing of Depeche Mode's "Some Great Reward" on gray vinyl. When we got home, we dropped the needle on the pristine record and dropped our jaws. The playback was sonically like nothing we'd ever heard. We know this album and it sounded like an entirely new release with amazing stereo separation. This pressing had to be what was recorded in the studio in 1984; the CDs, MP3s, cassettes, and ordinary vinyl of this album don't even come close.
So that's why one buys vinyl and why one goes to Dave's. If you love music and have a collector instinct, stop in (and stop in, and in, and in...).
four sweet records for four dollars. one of the covers was in pretty terrible shape, but it was a donovan record so who really gives a shit?
Dave's is an excellent vinyl emporium where you can find an arguably better new vinyl selection than Reckless, as well as outrageously rare used items (I saw the naked-lady cover of Jimi Hendrix's Electric Ladyland in here a few months ago . . . only the 3rd time I've seen that in the past 20 years). The shop is very narrow and crate-digging gets awkward if the shop has more than 3 people, but it is worth it to spend an hour or two in here flipping through every damn item. Dave is a veteran of the business and knows his stuff. The store is not as personable as more homey shops like Deadwax, so if you are looking to make friends or chat someone up Dave's is not the place; but, it is not unfriendly, either. There are absolutely no CD's, and Dave is proud of this and has a sign on his window to remind you of it. Every time I'm there, a coupla teenagers come in and talk about how their "Dad would love it"--and I hope shops like this don't die off with the Dads. If you expect to load up on ironic 99 cent garbage to play at your ironic party, check elsewhere. Yes, Dave has records for $75. This is normal in the collector biz. I've gotten plenty of good finds here for under ten bucks, so the shop really does run the gamut. There's a good-sized section each for rock, R&B, jazz, indie, and classical. Pay Dave a visit and dump your frumpy "records are dumb, you can download for free" attitude in a dumb blog that no one will read.
i liked the hip-hop, indie rock and classic rock selection here. i got some good records for a pretty good price. he has some good deals (99 cents)! it's small, but in a good location in LP on clark, so it's not hard to get to. i just started getting into DJing, and this was the first record place i stopped in and could have spent hours there! i can't wait to come back and find some treasures hidden in the 99 cent bin (like Rico Suave, Bruce Willis & Menudo)
for a record stor in chicago thats not gramaphone or wreckless records it's pretty dope. real collectors should go to the south side but for the north side this place has a good selection and not outrageous prices
a great spot to find that fine dusty vinyl. and maybe pick up the new modill 12"!
good selection and good prices. the staff is very knowledgeable about their stock
Great place where you can still get records. The prices are reasonable and the staff is very helpful.
First Vinyl store i've been to and was extremely pleased. I went directly to another vinyl store after visting this, and Dave's records far surpassed anything else i saw. The collection is amazing, saw some really nice rock vinyls and they have a great selection of Soul and Classical as well. Got the velvet underground's loaded album here.
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