LPs? Vinyl?: How to Buy Thrift Store Records

Digging for vinyl in the Detroit area has become something of a gamble; it’s a long way from the ‘old’ days when records were often 5 (or sometimes 8!) for a dollar, or 3 for 99 cents. At this point in time, expect to pay $.99 per LP (Salvation Army) or $ .50 at select Value World stores. With most thrift stores embracing the dollar record price point, your shrewdness as an LP buyer will involve the following imperatives:

• Is it rare? If you do not expect to ever see the thing again in your lifetime, then buy it.
• Is it playable? I’ve purchased some pretty ruined LPs simply due to scarcity, but warped or severely mishandled discs have to be able to provide a dollar’s worth of viable listening.
• Is it available online? Lately, there are LPs I’ve not purchased simply because of a suspicion that someone’s ripped their LP and blog-posted it. 95% of the time, however, I still want to own the actual vinyl.
• Is the right record in the jacket? Sounds obvious, but I’ve had some devastating moments of finding the wrong LP in an exciting jacket. I’m still yearning for that Polkas for Strings LP!
• Do you already own it? I confess to having multiples of certain LPs, either due to the novelty of finding it again, finding it in better condition, or just forgetting I have it already. Risky business, nonetheless.

For what it’s worth, record buying has consumed me with a constant, nagging instinct that there is some obscure, previously unknown gem of sonic brilliance waiting to be unearthed the next time I visit a thrift store. It’s always mysterious how new titles appear in the record racks — sometimes suggesting an entire collection was donated; a few random, unusual discs most times. In any town, city, or state: these records are waiting to be discovered.