I was turned on to this store by a friend during a visit to Atlantic Sounds in Daytona. He told me that he's found some really cool records at this place. I usually go to Groovy Records when in DeLand so on a recent Saturday I decided to check out Steve's Downtown Music. When I walked in the door, I was astonished just how packed the store was; vinyl, CDs, Books, Magazines, and other cool stuff. The guy behind the counter introduced himself as Steve the owner. I told him that I recently heard of his shop and had usually gone down the street to Groovy records, Steve told me that he's been in business for over 25 years and was there way longer than Groovy.
Right near the front door I rummaged through a stack of recent arrivals and it was true, Steve has amassed a lot of cool treasures. I instantly picked out Long Player by The Faces. The record was encased in plastic liner with nothing but the prices noted and I inquired of Steve if they were play tested, and Steve informed me that he doesn't have the time to play test every LP that comes in. At a $25 price tag for The Faces LP I think that justifies checking the product's play ability before shelling out my hard earned cash. Since i had actually been actively been looking for these this disk I was just happy to discover it. The store was jammed packed and since my partner had told me to meet her in a half hour I didn't have a lot of time to explore. What I didn't do and you should definitely do, is to ask Steve to put on potential buys on his turntable for you to listen to it before you buy. Steve would have done that but I was in a rush. The Faces LP had some pops and clicks which is common for a 50 year old record.
I also strolled down to Groovy Records on my way to meet my partner. It was really a Tale of Two Record stores. The Owner Jerry was discussing the merits of a 10 inch Frank Sinatra record with his assistant who was washing a stack of disks. While Jerry was espousing on the 50's era Sinatra disk, he was playing the record as he did. Wow, not a bit of surface noise, no pops or clicks, just the pure sound.
Steve's Downtown Music is worth a drive, It is filled with a lot of cool stuff. But if you decide to buy just ask him to play in on his in house stereo. Because records that look good visually, sometimes don't play as good as they look. This is not to be considered to be a knock on this store, Actually many stores, especially On Line ones don't play test their product. Vinyl fans need to check out Steve's Downtown Music because you just may find the LP that you were looking for. read more