One of our favorite things to do is collect records! It was my first time here and my bf has been…read morecoming here for years. LOVED the vibes in here and so much to sift through! This place has personality and a nostalgic charm to it. They are a brick and mortar store that has been in business since 1988. They sell every genre of music both online and in store. Besides music they sell electronic equipment-guitars, Cds, Tapes, 78's, 45's, DVDs, video games, comic books, collectibles. Anything you pick up and later change your mind leave on the floor or at the counter so it can be placed back accurately. There aren't prices on them so they'll tell you the price when you ask. | September 13, 2025 |

NO - absolute worst service ever. They take advantage of you both ways - buying and selling…read morerecords. Like everyone says - no price on records. They look you over then give you a jacked up price. They told me all records are $25 or $35 dollars - I bought one, guess what $35. I wanted sell them about 100 records - their offer $18. What a freakin joke they are. The one-eyed man is especially charming. Told me I am wasting his time, "what are you going to hover over me", what a cranky curmudgeon. Buy or sell your records in San Mateo - well worth the drive.

Planet Mix is a great little shop packed wall to wall with CDs, DVDs, some video games, and a few…read morefun collectibles. It has that nostalgic charm that makes you want to take your time and dig around for hidden gems. The worker inside was super friendly and welcoming, and I appreciated being able to browse at my own pace. Prices were fair, and the selection included everything from well-known classics to more obscure finds you don't see too often. The store is owned by The Record Man next door, which focuses more on vinyl records, so it's a nice combo if you're into all kinds of physical media. There's a small parking lot between the two shops which makes it convenient to check out both in one stop. I ended up finding a few cool items to add to my collection and will definitely come back whenever I'm in the area treasure hunting.

I came here out of curiosity and discovered an extensive collection of classical music records,…read moreincluding vintage Deutsche Grammophon records from tons of composers! All records in here are just $5, which made buying here an absolute treat. I walked out with 4 LPs for the price of a lunch. The two gentlemen at the front desk were very friendly. They went in the back to look for Pet Shop Boys and Depeche Mode when I asked, and brought out CDs even though they did not have the vinyls. It turns out they are attached to the neighboring Record Man store, and they suggested I look there for LPs. I would definitely come back and highly recommend!

Kepler's Books is an institution!! Love stopping in here for books, gifts, or events.read more

Historically significant bookstore that touches upon the beatniks, musicians and bohemians…read more I love this long-lived bookstore. It opened originally across the street in 1955 by conscientious objector Roy Kepler. He had ties to and thought along the same lines as Lawrence Ferlinghetti, the founder of City Lights Books in San Francisco. Ken Kesey, Jerry Garcia and loads of other literary and musical bohemians have mentioned the impact this bookstore had on their lives. Support your local bookstore and come here.

My favorite record store! Staff here is always super friendly and very knowledgeable. One of my…read morefavorite places to go whenever I can. Tommy, the owner has great stories and extensive music knowledge. Definitely recommend this store to any music lover! Theres truly something for everyone!!

My wife and I drove 100 miles to spend our 42nd anniversary at our favorite record store! Great…read moreselection of CD's and Albums that come with a knowledgeable and friendly staff. We found some real treasure!

It's a pretty neat cool music vintage store. The minute you walked in, you can smell the old…read morevintage of it. They have bunch or vinyls, cassette tape, CDs, video tapes, blueray DVD and so on. I always find the ones I'm looking for , if not, I always come back to take my chances that they will finally have it. The staff are very helpful. You should try and check out this place. If you are a GEN X, you are going to love this place.

My first time here and I was impressed! They went through my 100+ DVD's and Blurays and I got to…read moresit on a chair while they sifted through them. I received a fair amount for them and the service was good from beginning to end. They seemed to have a good amount of customers walking out with records so will need to check it out next time.

Cool spot! Came here with a friend on Thursday morning. There is a huge selection of used vinyls…read moreand equipment. They also offer cassettes and some books. The vinyls were grouped by music genre. They were in better shape than the $2 piles. The $2 vinyls weren't sorted, so it was fun to see what was available. As we were paying, the owner said that he regularly rotates what's out. Would come back to browse again! I found out about this place when I had purchased a few vinyls over at Minasan in Japantown and was told they were sourced from here. There is a small parking lot in the front, which was empty at the time, otherwise there is street parking nearby. There is a middle school nearby so the streets might be busier when school gets out.

Very helpful and knowledgeable staff. Nice selection. Reasonable prices. I was able to return a…read morerecord without a hassle after learning I had already purchased a copy.

Came to sell some DVD's and he let me know it would take about 20 minutes. It is huge inside with a…read morediscount clothing store next door. In just less than 20 minutes they gave me a lower than expected price for all my DVD's but I wanted to take them off my hands so I was glad they took it all.

Good selections; low key media store with ton's of stuff to look at…read more CD's, movies, DVD', books, they have plenty to peruse here. Tip: sometimes their selection is too much and they put media in a shelf below waist level. Don't forget. Customer service: fine. Parking: Ez.

Well, where do I begin? The service streetlight provides is great!!! Got to hand their enthusiasm…read moreand care for their customers and the store itself, they have lots of good selections of records, games and movies. Although the layout is average for a store itself kinda cramped when walking through the store. Downtown Santa Cruz, definitely needs to keep this store around I know Santa Cruz wants to tear everything down and build apartments everywhere it seems. I always raid their movies section, because I still collect physical media and I'm NOT on board with streaming, I never leave streetlight empty handed. The best part? NONE OF THIS IS CRAZY EXPENSIVE! I left the store with four movies, I could've easily got more but I decided to get the HELL OUT OF THERE before my wallet took a huge dive. Props for staying in business and truthfully I would rather support places that have knowledge about what they're doing, rather than your typical generic-random-big chain store - thank you for the hospitality and I am satisfied with my purchases, please keep up the great work! I'm already looking forward to my next visit.

Felt nostalgic coming back here. I always love coming here just to walk around and look through all…read morethe physical media (DVDs, CDs, vinyls, etc). I particularly like this record store more than Redwood because of the large variety of music genres. I saw how they had some of my dad's favorite bands like REM and carried older albums of my favorite artists. My boyfriend and I were able to score an old Lil Wayne album as well. Love the charm this place has and they are able to cater to everyone's kind of music. Still giving niche, but up to date as well!

This Barnes & Noble is beautiful! I didn't realize there was a 2 story location in the Bay Area. It…read moretook me an hour just to make it around the store because there was so many things to look at. Their book selection is endless, they have a ton of board games, Legos, music, and DVDs. Additionally, they have book merch, rows of manga, crochet sets, and greeting cards. It's over an hour drive for me, but I definitely want to come back and support this location. Hopefully the Fremont one opening will be even half as nice as this location is. I always want to support small, local bookstores, but it's always so hard to find what I'm looking for there.

We come here once a week, my three year old and I. We usually split a pastry and I get coffee at…read morethe Starbucks, then he plays with the Brio trains and toys. If I get the chance, I'll browse any books that catch my attention, but we mostly go for the third-space aspect. It's a great place to just walk around and occasionally pick up a book, toy, or game. I will say that books have gone up in price (across the board, not just B&N). But the board books and games for young kids aren't bad. I also recently bought a chess set that was half off in their sale section. Customer service is generally good. They don't give us a hard time about playing with the toys, and they're friendly at the coffee shop and checkout. We like this spot and we'll keep coming back.

Super neat book store! Popped in before dinner to browse titles and get gift ideas for upcoming…read moreholidays. Store is a good size with many book genres, a full children's section, calendars, magazines, games, gifts, and stationery. Staff was kept the queues short & were ready to help with recommendations. Great selection of calendars & books on sale!

This bookstore has been around since forever but I didn't realize Books Inc declared bankruptcy and…read morewas bought out by Barnes and Noble recently. This store has retained its name and branding and general cozy vibes, but they switched the rewards program and receipt paper to Barnes and Noble. They didn't ask us for a membership number or anything at the cashier. There is no indication of this store's relationship to Barnes and Noble anywhere in the store (probably by design). So I guess it still feels like you're supporting a local business but it's actually Barnes and Noble now.