Skippy White’s

I like to dig for records and Boston only has a handful of choices, this is definitely one of the best if you have a leaning towards a certain style.
Very distinct collection of records, mostly «black» music, a lot of soul, funk, motown, disco, hip hop records. There doesn’t seem to be much of anything else, but to a lot of diggers, this can be a goldmine if that’s what you like. The man, Skippy, is a gentleman, and he knows his stuff. He was willing to work with me on the price, which was very fair. I bought a stack of about 15 – 20 records for around $ 60. He’s got lots of unique and some rare 45’s of old soul music. I really enjoyed it.

I spent 10 minutes in here before I knew I needed to leave: There’s just too many records and I’m a poor college kid. (I still managed to find two records I had to have, and about 5 others that I mentally noted for next time…)
Great selection, good prices. The only reason it’s not a 5-​star place is that there’s little organization. There are literally boxes of records and piles of records just hanging around. They do have racks that are organized alphabetically, but you can’t help but wonder what’s in the dusty box sitting next to it. If you’ve got a day to spend looking for records, then this is definitely the place to do it.

I purchased my first 45 rpm record from Skippy’s years ago. I miss going there.

Yep, the guy behind the counter, if he’s white and older, is the one and only Skippy White. A legend of the local music scene (he actually was awarded a Boston music award), he’s sold «black music» of myriad styles in the area for 40+ years. The man is generally pretty agreeable (not that easy with so much experience in retail!) and taking the time to talk to Skippy is well worth it— he’s a fount of information, and can remember label and release information far better than you could imagine. And he LOVES to talk food. If you spend enough time in the shop, you’ll realize that it has a strong community aspect to it; regulars are popping in all the time and Skippy’s ties to Boston’s African-​American community are substantial. He also does a weekly radio show called the Time Tunnel.
Oh yeah, the music. A great spot for records, though they are very slowly getting into order. This is a great place for soul and blues oldies, as if Skippy doesn’t have it on CD, he’ll order it for you. He also sells a lot of gospel and modern Southern soul, and stocks some jazz. I recommend it more for CDs unless you like to dig a lot. But the counter is often the place to be, as Skippy can usually tell you if he’s got what you’re looking for.