DEFINITELY one of the best VINYL record-stores I've ever shopped - and I've shopped in a few great ones:
Bleeker Bob's - outstanding as it gets, but Black Dog Records must have shopped there too (owner is from Baltimore!).Princeton Record Exchange - deep and worthy of stopping by, but not as organized and concise as Black Dog Records.3rd Street Jazz - Philly's most renown LP store, but a tad on the dirty side. Kinda too-jazzy, if y'know what I mean.Full-Circle Records - Mike tried to stay vinyl AND digital within a changing market up into the early 2000's, even if it meant downsizing. Mike, Black Dog Records, in Houston, TX, made me think of your store because the owner was so like you; friendly and dedicated to knowing as much about the product of music that you once sold.
I originally dropped-by that other store that's advertised on Sirius/XM satellite radio, via Steve VanZant, just 100-yards from Black Dog Records. I shopped that other place for over 2-hours - picked just one B+condition LP (Robin Trower; Long Misty Days) priced at $3.99, a goofy backwards-ticking clock, and went to find my way to back over to Black Dog because I caught the sign in my left-eye on my way in off the Interstate (I'm from out-of-town; the Delaware Valley/Poconos, NJ/PA), just following my GPS, to that other store.
What a difference! I ended up spending 30-minutes - finding 4 records I'd been wanting at fair prices - enjoyed every minute there but am really enjoying the vinyl now that I'm back home!
N.K.Clifton
