Needle To The Groove

Stopped by today for my first time; found an original pressing of PF’s A Nice Pair for a really good price.
I was a happy camper, and will be back.

Absolutely loved how clean all of the vinyls were. Location is easy to find and the staff is very pleasant!

Nice friendly shop. Very broad selection.

My wife and I have shopped here many times for soul, jazz and hip hop records. I love that this place is small and everyone that works there is knowledgeable and genuine. I’ve referred many to NTTG and brought them much business. I still think we need more record shops in San Jose but until that happens, I’ll do most of my vinyl shopping here. –Zack

Wow, what a great find. Great selection of artists, actually more than I thought. I have been here a few times and spent my budgeted dollars every time. The prices are very reasonable. The owners are great people and very knowledgable.
Also one of the workers, tall guy, Tucker I think, has been very helpful. He was extremely knowledgable about so many different genres. His knowledge went deep; pleasantly surprised. He showed a lot of customer care and answered all of my questions. He also recommended several albums/​groups that I was not too familiar with and I loved them. Smart guy. The only reason I bring this up is that so many times when I have gone to buy music at other places, the young person helping me usually could care less and truly does not know music too deep.

great little record shop downtown san jose, a true little gem
was looking for something specific, and the owner was more than helpful to chat and help me find what I was looking for.
will definitely continue to frequent this place going forward.

Stopped-​by today and enjoyed flipping through their large selection of vinyl. They have the largest selection of jazz, Hip-​Hop, R&B, house music and electronic albums, and a smaller selection of rock. Allen is the owner… he’s a super nice guy and he does a great job filling his bins with high-​quality music. The New Arrivals box is always extremely dangerous on the pocket book.
They clean every record and protect the album with a plastic jacket so that is a nice bonus. The average price for an album is about $ 10, and they have 1 small portable turntable as a listening station.
Parking on the street could be a problem, but I have found that going on Sunday is the best day to not have to fight for a parking spot.

Visited this store today and I was impressed by the wide variety of records available. The stock was most VG+.
I managed to snag a copy of Relics by Pink Floyd, i could have spent a lot more $$$$$ than I did, but there’s always next time.
Only downside is parking and due to the small space it can get crowded pretty quickly.
Overall recommended.

Good solid record store in downtown San Jose. They specialize in jazz, hip-​hop, and house music. The prices are (mostly) reasonable, with a wide variety of bargain bin, moderate, and collector’s items. There is new vinyl but the selection is predominantly used.
I found street parking is difficult near the store — better to park in the student parking tower around the corner for $ 1 and hour. The 4^th floor is open to non-​student autos.

I didn’t even know there was a record store in downtown until my friend told me last night. The first thing I noticed walking in was the high Bjork poster on the wall. So, I knew I was in for a treat. I do enjoy the fact you can listen to practically any record before you make the purchase. The guy running the shop at the time was very helpful and informative. I asked for a new record coming out next week. He said they won’t be getting it right away but they eventually will at some point. I did find a Bjork white label rarity. This is a great place to dip into once and a while. But if you are looking for new records I would go to Rasputins.

Awesome little gem of a place in Downtown! Took my cousin from LA to buy some records and he scored a bunch of awesome finds in great shape! Have to check it out knowledgeable staff and friendly to boot!

Easily the best record store in the South Bay Area for used vinyl. Both owners are as nice as they come, and will take the time to make sure you find something you dig, whether you a newcomer to the world of vinyl or are a seasoned veteran. I find their selection of Latin records to be the best in the Bay Area and they also have outstanding soul and rock sections.
Bottom line: they have very fair prices on common /​essential records everyone needs to own, plus they offer a great selection of rare collectible records you will have a tough time tracking down even online.
Make this your go-​to vinyl source if you live in the Bay Area!

Other than tough parking, this is a great location for a vinyl store. It’s what downtown SJ has been craving! The prices aren’t too high and they have a very wide variety of records, and also sell CDs as well. They have their records alphabetized and separated by genre too. (Bonus: they have a specific section for The Beatles)
They play family-​appropriate music without any profanity, and at a reasonable volume. They have a record player/​headphones they allow consumers to test out potential purchases.
What I love most about this place are the owners! The two gentlemen (Mike and Allen) are such cool guys with such a heavy knowledge of music culture; I feel like I learn something new about music whenever I go to there. They are passionate about their store and it truly shows, thus adding to the wonderful atmosphere their shop offers. They make an effort to try and remember the names of frequent customers and are just a pair of awesome down-​to-​earth dudes.
I highly recommend this vinyl shop, whether you are a beginner to the record-​culture or have been for many years.

I’ve popped in a few times now and always enjoy the visit. I’ve always left with something, that’s saying something.
The upsides: They seem to get new stuff weekly, prices on mid condition vinyl is great!
The downsides: Very little parking (street), small space that can ‘jam up’ with people, prices on anything remotely collectible are pretty outrageous if you know how to shop for vinyl (if you’re shopping there you’re a record digger anyway), and stuff is not alphabetized, just divided by genre.
Still it’s cool to see a place like this open in San Jose. I’ll certainly return for more visits

I picked up some good finds today when I visited the shop this afternoon. I have came by once before and have to say that the guys running the place are genuinely nice and approachable. One thing I don’t like about most record stores is how uninterested certain employees can be. But these guys have been nothing but nice and informative in letting you know whats up! Thanks for the Windy & Carl EP I had no idea about. It was just was I was looking for. The place is small, but it is in a convenient spot in Downtown San Jose. This is now the closest record store to my house and I live in Alum Rock. Keep up the good work guys!

Allen and Michael are running an excellent, much needed record store in DTSJ. Great selection of a grip of genres to peep, with decent prices. I live in the neighborhood, so its pretty rad to be able to have a good record shop within walkig distance. Recently I won an ebay auction for two hip hop tapes and Allen was cool enough to let me pick them up at the store to avoid shipping charges. Those kind of considerations are exactly what you get when you shop here, and keep me coming back. Thanks guys!

Been looking for a legit record store in the Bay Area for the last year. This will be my #1 spot for vinyl from here on.

Visited this place today for the first time. So happy to finally have a record store in downtown SJ again. The 2 guys running this place formerly worked at Streetlight and are as passionate about music as can be. I’ve found some nice gems (De La Soul, Lou Reed, Husker Du) and they really have anything in any genre you’re interested in. Highly recommended.

Needle to the Groove is an awesome, new record store located a block away from San Jose State in downtown San Jose. When I first walked in I immediately loved the warm and welcoming look of the store. Record bins lined both walls along with 45’s, CD’s, and cassettes in the middle. The employees are very knowledgable and the prices are reasonably marked. I found a few cool looking jazz records that I wanted to hear before buying and was able to do so with the listening station that is set up near the buy counter. I left a happy customer with a stack of records under my arm. I will definitely be stopping by weekly to see what gems I can find.

This year, I’ve seen legends close in person, like century theater domes and San Jose Skate (Aloha!). I have even started reviews to wind up frustrated at the lack of action and support of local icons from fans and patrons. These are places where we had physical interactive memories in our formative years, things that cannot be replaced with an online «click on it» or download equivalent.
I was very happy to find a record store opening downtown. I read about in in Metro, hells yeah I’ll come for the opening! It was damn worth it!
The store was packed, the guys that run the place were pleasantly busy. There were a lot of people and I admit it was a bit crowded. People were flipping thru records, I was in a mood to browse and linger. It was like driving the speed limit in the fast lane with impatient people stacking up behind me. Stock should turnover pretty quickly. If there was any negative, I think it would be small space for any band or events that definitely help music stores with social media viral opportunities. DJ sets made it a great environment, I hope that’s a regular feature.
I never got into buying an mp3 player and downloading music. Actually, I downloaded for awhile until all the file sharing site hacking stories scared me off. But there’s nothing more satisfying in buying music than having that album art to go over, liner notes. Or even a cd case or cassette during Walkman days. I still have one from the many I bought over that span starting in school. I won’t mention what grade I was in. Just mentioning cassettes probably labeled me as ancient. Mix tapes fight for a comeback!
Online, you could pick an album and some computer algorithm can suggest things «like this» that are very much NOT! And an admitted weakness of the ol’ brick and mortar is stock available, but I doubt anyone that goes here would be clamoring for the latest pop sensation. That’s what the big box ½ aisle department store racks are for.
Here, you’ll get clerks and even customers that are very knowledgeable of their chosen genres and yet stay behind the edge of snobbery. Like so many things of different taste, people here (and record stores in general) seem to get there is no «better [than your]» or «best» but «my favorite because of that concert I was at when I was in high school» or «my (Grand) Dad loved them,» etc. You never get a memorable story from a new acquaintance by clicking a «download» box.
On a side note, I’m glad they have a (408) number. I was an impassioned minority against the (669) area code splitting San Jose. Let those adjacent chumps that are not San Jose stop riding on our coat tail & get their own area code! I’m talking to you, Sunnyvale, Cupertino, etc. And honestly, you think Apple would demand their own area code by now.
Great review from me, you could even say it glows. Get on down there!