Back on the road to Las Vegas

[jwrosenthal]

Greetings fellows,

Well, I'm back on the road for work to the Lake Mead, NV area this time. With the help of the mid-west members on this board, my last big trip to OH, IN, WI, and IL ended with great sucess particularly in Milwaukee, WI with over 100lp's (some very rare) and a vintage tube reciever from places sourced by members here, and not found on the web. Prior to that, my Seattle trip yeilded 30-40 rare and collectible LP's, again sourced by members here and not found on the web.

I see only two sources on the web for vinyl in Las Vegas, Wax Trax and Record City. Are either of these places worth the visit, and are there other good vinyl haunts in the Vegas area. Furthermore, are there any decent vintage equipment emporiums? I need another turntable and receiver like a hole in the head, but 'cmon....if a great deal presents itself, I can never resist!

One of these days I'm going to compile a difinitive travelers guide to vintage vinyl shopping throughout the US...with the help of you guys!:thmbsp:

Thanks,

James R.

 

[tentoze]

I never heard of Wax Trax in the 4 1/2 years I lived in Las Vegas (2002-2006), but after reading this, doesn't sound like I missed much:

http://www.insiderpages.com/b/3718440068

Record City was only 3 blocks from my office, and I made weekly stops in there. The "front room" as you walked in had the lp's that are in the best condition, and predictably, more expensive, but still pretty reasonable- say in the $3-$25 range. In the "side room", everything was $.99- condition is all over the map, so you have to look at every single one, but there are pearls among the swine, if you have the patience to flip through 1,000's of records.

Also on Sahara, 4 blocks to the north of that Record City, is another, smaller vinyl shop that I forget the name- it may also be a Record City, because they are owned by the same people. It's a small house converted to a store, so not as many lp's as the other place, but the quality/condition of everything for sale is consistently good, and there are more "collectible/rare" items. Prices are also commensurately higher- say from $5 up to the moon, depending on what it is. The guy that's usually behind the counter there is an interesting character to talk to as well.

Another place that opened up about a year before I left was Zia's on Eastern Avenue- it's a chain-type store that sells cd's, lp's, and dvd's- selection was pretty good, and prices were like $2-$6 for used vinyl. Looking just now, it appears they've opened up a 2nd location at West Sahara and Decatur since I left LV.

Big B's on Maryland Parkway used to be my favorite music store anywhere, but it changed ownership before I left, and caught the Suck really badly. Don't know if it ever recovered.

As for places to find eqpt., there's not a single one in the whole damned city I could recommend.

 

[jwrosenthal]

Wow...I read the reviews for Wax trax and needless to say I won't even bother. I visited a store exactly like this in Milwaukee. I know my vinyl, and know what to look for on vintage labels I love. I also demand personal space to shop, a fairly well organized selection, and unhurried time in which to shop (I pull and check every LP I buy). The owner of the store in Milwa. hovered as I shopped, had junk piled on top of the bins of records (collectable toys and other assorted crap) that I had to move to get to the records, didn't have anything priced, smelled bad (that does matter when they hover closely) and was unpleasant to everyone that walked in. I spent 10 minutes in his store and walked out without spending a penny.

I walked directly across the street to a fantastic vinyl store that was well lit, well organized, clean and spacious and had every LP marked with the price. They had a listening station, knowledgable and helpful staff (they offered suggestion based on the taste of the albums I had already pulled and I bought those after listening) and let me have full reign of the sections in which I was shopping (I tend to spread out). I left that store spending around $500 (after giving me a 15% discount for quantity) for close to 80 lp's (BN 70's re-issues, prestige, verve and RCA LSC shaded dogs) and in hindsight regret not getting more (I over scrutinized).

So...thanks for that link...I know where I won't be going.

James R.

 

[tentoze]

There are actually 2 vintage eqpt shops in LV, right next door to each other in a strip mall on Charleston Blvd- Vincent Stereo and Audio Xpert.

http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&tab=wl

Actually, when I first moved there, they were ONE store- apparently the co-owners subsequently had a falling out, so they threw up a wall to split the store in half and went their separate ways. There's always interesting stuff in both places, but if you find any bargains, you would be the exception. Audio Xpert was the better of the 2, as far as prices, but neither one ever lost any money on their asking prices. Vincent, in particular, was outrageous, in my opinion.