saki

gets bad rap because of its local area needs to move. but has good show case and very clean and well staffed.

I like this place: a good selection of the new and the old and random, out of the way enough that it doesn’t get picked over too bad. They also hold really cool events (in store shows, viewings of bad Lifetime movies). The staff isn’t the most outgoing but I don’t think they’re jerks either.

This store was the last stop of ChiRP Radio’s Record Store Crawl. I was glad to end the day at Saki. The selection of vinyl was incredible and the staff was great in offering opinions on albums I considered purchasing. After talking with them, I got The Flaming Lips album «The Terror». For a smaller store, the volume of knowledge and selection makes Saki seem as big as Reckless in Wicker Park. This shop is worth the vinyl lover’s attention.

Nice little independent record store. Some used records. Mostly new releases of mostly alternative/​independent music.

Great selection of new indie-​rock-​ish Vinyl. Very fair pricing. Friendly staff. also has free shows occasionally. Only downside is it’s pretty far west.

The selection here is tough to beat– they’ve got a really nice array of vinyl, books, zines, and other stuff. Sometimes they have nice in-​store events, too, and if you need a few little bits of audio gear, they stock those sorts of things too.
Great locally owned record store for all your audiophile needs.

This is a fun place to pop in on a Saturday for an in-​store performance. Good selection and the staff let’s you look around. Fair prices.

I doubt I’ll shop here anymore.
I was obviously very excited about a record store in the hood, but things haven’t worked out.
There’s a sign above the register proclaiming (I paraphrase):: Discounts: $ 0 – 255: 0%; $ 26 – 50: 0%; $ 50 – 100: 0%.” That’s great, guys. Message: shop here, be loyal, get nothing.
Every time I’ve been in they were playing music I would describe as cruddy, low-​fi, teenage angsty rubbish. Playing noisy music really loud might work for some, but I ‘d prefer a less abrasive shopping experience.
I’ve discovered some new music on the CD sampler, but much of the music in there falls under the noisy/​low-​fi spectrum.
All in all, the selection is almost all rock/​punk/​indie/​emo/​etc. Some reissues of classics, but mostly young rock.
Prices are standard for the most part for new vinyl and CDs.
The used selection is not carefully maintained — some of the records were in poor condition (by my standards), though of course there must be some gems in there. The conditions aren’t marked on the outside, which makes the whole thing a waste of my time.
It’s really the staff that made me give up on the place. In my experience, they have been rude in the stupidest, most incompetently untrained in basic customer service ways. We’re talking not greeting the only person in the store level poor customer service — too busy updating your cruddy band’s myspace page, pal? Other times I’ve asked a basic question and similarly got a «I’m too busy doing important work» kinds of responses.

i think this might be my favorite record store in chicago. unassuming and awesome. great selection of music and everyone who works there is really nice and helpful.

Hey look, another record store. Take that iTunes! Real cool place and huge. Good selection of records from your indie stuff to jazz to oldies. CDs, new and used LPs, books, crazy crap, just a little bit of everything at this store. They do a bunch of instore performances and have seen some great free music there as well. A fun store in Logan Square. Oh, and its by some great Mexican food so you should make a afternoon out of it!

Great new and used selection at unbeatable prices.

The guys here are super helpful and cool. I’m hoping they expand the used sections out alot more, as they are in a pretty secluded neighborhood where there are no other used record stores around, and have no other competition on the west side really. I’m not a fan of the big record browsers they use, but they have a focused selection, and lots of cool records to browse through.

I’ve never left this store with just what I went in for, much less empty-​handed. It’s not the biggest, but they have a good selection of vinyl and I usually find something interesting I didn’t expect. They also have a bunch of staff picks. Speaking of staff, they’re really friendly. I had to return a defective record and it was very simple and a good excuse to browse for a few more… I also saw one of my favorite local bands Califone play in store for free! Overall, good enough experiences to make me drive a little farther for this shop.

A great palce to purchase Vinyl, cd’s, books and art. They carry alot of local and hard to find vinyl and CDs and Records. Instead of shopping at a large now corporate Insound, or a smaller non-​local forcedexposure, or local yet not locally owned Reckless check out saki for your blog-​o-​sphere music needs.
They also have current pop releases to, and are happy to order anything that is in print and available.
Plus they will e-​mail you a copy of your receipt so you dont lose it or have to chop down any extra trees!

I was pleasantly surprised to find a really good record shop on this lonely stretch of Fullerton. Saki was pretty quiet when my wife and I stopped in last Saturday afternoon and so we were afforded ample space and time in which to browse. It was a refreshing alternative to busier record stores in Wicker Park and Lakeview. I found exactly what I’d come looking for (the new Fennesz record on Thrill Jockey) and was sorely tempted by a number of small label jazz releases that I imagine I’d be lucky to find even at the mighty Jazz Record Mart.
Genre-​delineated sections would have been nice (currently, CDs and vinyl are essentially categorized alphabetically by artist) but I suppose that there’s something to be said for encouraging serendipitous discovery of records never-​before-​considered. I appreciate Saki’s work to curate a high-​quality selection of music and would absolutely come back if I were in the neighborhood and looking for something new and interesting.

God bless the independent record store! While music gets easier and easier to access, it seems to me that it is getting harder and harder to find. Enter Saki, where many of the albums have handwritten reviews by the staff. Would I ever have bought a Southeast Asian 60s pop girl band from the internet? I think not. But after reading the review, and listening to the album, and reading the beautiful liner notes, I am so glad I did.
The compilations they have in stock look stellar. Music put out by small labels of forgotten singles really strike a chord with me these days. And speaking of chords, they also sell guitar strings and a bunch of other needed musician consumables, which is great to have in the neighborhood.
It seems like almost every weekend now they are having in store performances from a lot of Chicago and touring rock bands. How cool for us! Seeing The Bitter Tears on the tiny Saki stage was just slightly cooler than seeing Great White perform live at Strawberries in Worcester in 1988.
I will return.

I don’t own a turntable. My last one was ruined during a basement flood in ’97. So, I’m still scratching my head over why I walked out of Saki with two hunks of vinyl. Could it be the excellent show I just saw there? Could it be the unpretentious and helpful proprietors? Or perhaps it was the listening station, which intro’d me to several artists whom I now love? Probably all of the above. To be fair, I also left with a cd of 60s Filipino soul. (which is GREAT!)
If you’re one of those people who believe paying for music is for suckers… get over it. If you really want to fight the power, buy music, books and merch from this mom-​and-​pop who carry almost nothing but small and local labels. And stay for the show.

Saki has only been open a little more than a week, so it’s hard to judge … Definitely a fan of their selection, but I’m disappointed that there’s no listening station for vinyl. The other day I had my hands on an Atlas Sound 45 that I hadn’t heard about, and would’ve liked to give it a spin to see if I wanted to buy it, but no luck.
I am excited to see how this place will develop a month from now, a year from now, etc.

Yea for saki! Great mom and pop store with hard to find music mixed with a large selection of great picks in what seemed like mostly independent music. These folks have been an indie distributer for years (CTD) so filling the shelves with tons of new and interesting titles from interesting bands and labels was probably a pretty natural thing for them to do. The staff is young, helpful, and very knowledgeable. For those that love Other Music in NYC, this is your place!
They opened with a ton of free in-​store performances by local and touring bands and plan on much more.