The Record Collector

Used to be the best record store in Michigan.
Many fond memories and will be sorely missed.
RIP

The Record Review is no longer open.

45s and 78s were completely unorganized and unpriced. We brought them up to the counter, and we had to wait while the cashier basically went on line to price everything — i.e., no deals here. That, coupled with the lack of rarities and terribly cramped atmosphere make this the weakest record store in the Detroit area.

Dean S. is 100% right.
I’ve been to The Record Collector twice and my experiences have been the same. When you walk in, you immediately see how narrow and cluttered the store is, but really that part is okay with me.
What’s NOT okay with me is how they act like you aren’t even there unless you ask a question. They really don’t make you feel «at home» at all. Their records are indeed over-​priced and you do get a sense of attitude from the clerks, and to be honest none of this would be such a big deal if their record collection was more diverse (although, they are more diverse than People’s Records).
They don’t give me a reason to come back to the store, so at most, I’ll be visiting them once every other month or so. StreetCorner Music has become a recent favorite of mine.

It was unique. I think a bit pricey for the used items but these items are coming back as collector items… When you enter into the establishment, you are hit with a wall of incense. The guys enjoyed milling around.

i am a 90s grunge and alternative music collector, i don’t know much about their jazz or classic rock selections, so this is based only from my point of view as a 90s music fan.
the record collector, which i drive by every day, was not on my list of places i had to go, but i was pleasantly surprised when i visited it for the first time. it had a lot of the music i’d been searching for, and all at pretty reasonable prices.
PROS:
— great selection, lots of stuff i couldn’t find elsewhere. quite pleased.
— reasonable prices– but not consistent. melon collie and infinite sadness (retail:$ 24 was purchased here for $ 6) but john frusciante’s solo album (retail: 16.99 was $ 11.99). prices a bit unpredictable, a little too hard to judge the whole store.
— well priced DVDs. with a 20% off sale they’re very very decent. good/​strange selection of DVDs. found some animé that i haven’t seen sold anywhere else
CONS:
— metal/​punk selection is not so good. kind of expensive, nothing i wanted. nothing older except black flag and misfits and the expected.
— the organization of the store is questionable. it kinda snakes around in a strange way. A-​Bs are on one side, snake around it and there’s B-​H, then TURN all the way around for H-​M and then walk all the way down to the other side of the store for the remainder of the Ms through the Ses and then all of a sudden it’s T-​Z. awkward. i missed the entire H-​M section.
— there’s boxes sitting everywhere. for me, a lot of the GREAT albums i wanted were in these boxes. don’t forget about them. i think they are put-​backs, but had i not looked in them, i would have missed out.
— there’s a lot of boxes on the floor. don’t get too into it and trip over one of them. they appear randomly. charming but annoying
— unlike other record stores, you’re allowed to listen to any CD you’d like for 5 minutes on their stereo system in headphones. that’s rather nice.
i like this store, it was a pleasant surprise. i’ve been back three or four times in two weeks now and never walk out empty handed. i can’t speak for everyone but as a grunge fanatic, there is plenty here for me.

Not nearly as friendly as Solo’s, not nearly as clean as UHF, not nearly as hip as People’s, and of course not anywhere as big as Melodies and Memories…but it’s nice to walk to and I always manage to find something (always on accident). Not cheap but the everyday discs aren’t a gouge either. Like other reviewers said they really know what to price things, for better and for worse. The 78’s are abused but cheap. Anyways, it is pretty picked over but if you make a habit of swinging by there are some decent surpises now and then.
Wish they’d ‘defrag’ the collection a bit to make the most of the narrow space. Hopefully vinyl continues its minor resurgances and they react to the competition a bit.

I think that the first time I came to this store I was expecting too much. From what I’ve heard I was expecting something better than Record Time and Memories and Melodies… something at least equivalent to Car City Records. What I found was a store with an OK, overpriced selection. It is a store that I will still occasionally stop at, but not too often.

Okay, record stores that burn incense need to be banned. How many times have you walked into a store and immediately be put off by that freaking smell. Record Collector is one of these places. Maybe the owners of these kind of places think it will hide the smell of old records, but it doesn’t, it just makes it worse. I would never buy anything in this place, I don’t want a record that smells like a hippie. And their selection is pretty tired too.

Awesome record shop! Tons of great CD’s and records, ranging from punk, metal, hardcore, indie, alternative, jazz, blues, etc. One of the things I really dig about stores such as the record collector is that they somehow have the magical power of having that one thing I’ve been looking for. I used to live right around the corner from here. Awesome, yet dangerous for my small wallet. Not that the prices are bad, but I could easily spend a butt-​load of cash in here in about 30 minutes if I didn’t have self control. I found a good random CD that I’ve been missing for a while and a record that I really want, but never see on the racks usually. Very happy to see these selections, but I took the high road and just went for the CD. $ 6 «used» and still in the cellophane! They carry some decent small P.A. equipment and some turntables. Definitely check it out if you need a cheap gem. Go check out their selection. It changes a lot, so there could be some things your looking for tomorrow that weren’t there today. I’ve never needed too much help here, but the staff (or maybe just the one guy/​owner?) is really nice. Happy hunting!

I have always been torn between The Record Collector and Car City Records for the best store in the area.
The Record Collector has the best rare and hard-​to-​find jazz vinyl selection hands down… BUT…it is very pricey. The owner knows what he has and he has priced all the records accordingly. The jazz CDs on the other had, are fairly well priced and I rarely leave the store empty handed.
As far as the classical selection (both CD and vinyl) goes, it’s pretty dismal, but the fact the jazz section is so good more than makes-​up for it.
If you are looking for anything else (rock, indie, soul, etc.) the store has plenty of selections on both CD and vinyl.

I love the record collector. I always find so much when I go in, I could spend an entire day browsing through their mountains of used cds. I always find so many things that I have to leave somethings behind. When I took my first trip in I wasn’t expecting to have such good luck. I was expecting a lot of dated albums and artists that I wouldn’t be interested in. Not true, I’ve walked out with CD’s from the flaming lips, miss kitten and the hacker, the cure, chemical brothers, depeche mode, and many many more. They have a wide variety of genres, I was surprised to find a lot industrial and electronic artists. Everything is very reasonably priced too.

I’ve been here a few times and love the place. Coming all the way out from Macomb, it’s worth it.
It’s very quiet and bare bones as any record store should be, they’ve just got piles and piles of records on shelves to look through. It’s a great place to find old rare vinyl for cheap. A lot of their stuff even goes as low as under $ 1.

There’s something about the scent of dusty old records that puts a smile on my face. I suppose that’s why I’m so fond of Fashionable Ferndale’s Record Collector. This joint, now with the closing of the Ferndale Record Time, is the place to get vinyl in Ferndale.
Located on 9 mile in the shopping district this is an exceptional store to fatten up your record stacks. In a well organized store, the Record Collector offers everything from rock to jazz to hip-​hop to spoken word. I scored a sweet Langston Hughes vinyl last Christmas for a competitive price. The Record Collector is always getting new stock so it’s good to venture in often. The staff is helpful and knowledgeable. The rows and rows and rows and rows of vinyl well organized alphabetically by genre, which makes the shopping experience that much more enjoyable. So, if you’re looking to score a collectable James brown album or just some Blondie on vinyl check out Ferndale’s Record Collector. I bet they’ll have you jamming in no time.

I walked into this store and was immediately reminded of the movie Love Jones. I’m not a vinyl girl and I usually buy my CD’s new. I hadn’t been to a «record store» in years. And I don’t think Best Buy would count. But I loved this record store. I wasn’t looking for any CD in particular but browsing through the CD’s and records definitely brought back memories. I came across a Rob Base CD and an old school hip hop CD that had plenty of songs I had long forgotten about. I ended up purchasing Keisha Cole’s latest CD for just $ 7 bucks. It was used but not one scratch was on it. Just like new. The store is some what cramped and the music isn’t categorized most effectively. The service wasn’t the best but I got a great CD out of it.

I stopped in at the Record Collector after lamenting the passing of Record Time’s location in Ferndale. RIP!
RC is a bit smaller than RT’s old store space, but they use their space wisely; they have long and narrow store full of stuff.
I went straight to the vinyl as I always do. Saw a few good things here and there — was an inch from buying Ladytron’s new record, but decided against it because of the price. I think I can get a better price on it at the Roseville Record Time — $ 25 is a bit steep!
If you’re a vinyl junkie like me, this may not be the best place for you. There’s so many places around Detroit that specialize according to genre, and RC seemed like it was just trying to dabble in everything so they could pay the bills. No one section was really fleshed out. I can’t blame them for having to cater to the masses, but for those with more eclectic tastes, you probably have your favorite spot already.