She Said Boom!

She Said Boom is a really great book and record store. They have great selection and reasonable prices. The people behind the counter seem pretty cool but are kind of inconsiderate.
I work late nights and I live above the place and it’s a nightmare being woken up by blaring music every morning/​afternoon accompanied with a mean headache sometimes. I’ve spoken to one person behind the counter and they replied with «well, it’s a record store». They were nice enough but seemed not to care at the same time. I’ve emailed. I’ve even spoken with the landlord who said they would ask them to not play it so loud and respect the tenants above. All this and it seems like the music is being played even louder than before.
Am I out of line to ask for it to be at a reasonable volume level? I’ve been in the store when they’ve been blasting it and it doesn’t need to be so epically loud.
This place would receive an awesome 5 stars if I didn’t think the staff were disrespectful. They just don’t seem to give a shit.
(I invite anyone to come up to my apartment and hear how loud it really is)

I wish this store were not out of the way for me; if I hung out on Roncy more often, I’d certainly be here more often too.
I have been in at least two times.
The first of these, during Doors Open 2012 or 2011, was where I may have scored my very all time best CD score. Twee kids, are you ready for this? Are you sitting down? THE FIELD MICE: Where’d You Learn To Kiss Like That. Yep, no joke.
For the non brit indie music geeks reading this, the above CD is the band’s greatest hits, a double-​CD import-​only (as far as I know). Very rare – it never came up at Amoeba in Hollywood and I checked that store every time I went in over the course of about seven years. When you found it online, used, you’d have to shell out at least $ 50 and probably a large shipping fee from the UK. As for the band itself, in my book it is one of those that separate the men from the boys in the world of British indie from the 80s-​90s. Either you’ve done your homework and dug or just stayed at level one.
The CD (s) was in good shape (paper sleeve of course!) and less than $ 20. Score of the century.
And if that were not enough, on the same trip I found Colossal Youth by Young Marble Giants. This is kind of like another one of those super unknown indie bands from the American nineties scene. I would find this one new from time to time but wasn’t willing to shell out $ 20 for it. Hey, I might be an indie music snob but I’m also practical. ha.
ANYWAY, trip two. I’d since discovered jazz and wanted to hit up all of the old used CD haunts to check out the bins (jazz) that I never paid any attention to. I was sure they would have all kinds of treasure. No luck. They really didn’t have much of anything jazz wise.
ACTUALLY, unless I’m remembering wrong, they did have a used-​but-​new-​and-​in-​excellent condition Penguin Guide. This is kind of like the Bible for jazz in terms of discography information on what one should listen to. I wish I had bought it.
So, 1.5 for 2.
I’m confident that it was all just good/​bad luck. It can be real hit or miss with the smaller stores. Some music fiend, collecting since the 80s has a kid and finishes MP3izing his collection on Friday nigh, sells the CDs on Saturday and has it refound by a hungry new collector on Sunday. So, I won’t go out of my way to look for jazz CDs here but, if I’m in the area…
As for other stuff, they have a lot of records, books, etc. The store is nice for browsing. May we never lose physical media and the shops that pedal forms of it that were previously loved.
Highly recommended! And give the Field Mice a listen too!

Great bookstore if you’re in the High Park area and have some time to kill or just enjoy perusing used bookstores (or CDs, movies, etc). (And there’s quite a few in this same area).
Very helpful, friendly staff.

She said Boom! Is located in the Ronci /​High Park area and offers a wide variety of new and used vinyl records, cds, books and movies. The employees are not at all pretentious and they are very helpful in tracking down obscure requests. They have an extensive selection of used vinyl records and some super fun $ 1 album bins to rummage through for your discovery of a bevy of bizarre music treasures. Prices are reasonable and fair for most merch. I would strongly recommend that they become a provider of concert tickets, like Soundscapes and Rotate This. If they did, they would quickly become my favorite music store in town! However, they are still my favorite music store in Toronto for used vinyl shopping. Stop in, pick up an interesting book or movie, listen and discuss music with the store keep=)
I highly recommend this establishment!
But make um understand its Westside foe life
Thanks so much for your time.

i’ve been coming here since I moved to toronto for all my used books & records. this location carries a lot of obscure fiction that you probably will not come across at the college location. it’s smaller then the other location but still packed full of goodies. the staff here is friendly and always has great recommendations for books & music if you want to try something new. you can often times find books that are in exceptional quality for more the 50% off the cover price. you can also get really worn down gems for $ 1 – 3. occasionally she said boom has brand new books that are still cheaper then anywhere else. i love their rare & unique finds placed behind the counter. they have a great selection of art books too. i’ve purchased some of my finest and most cherished collectable novels & music from here. i’ve also purchased signed copies of books, rare records for under $ 10 and out of print publications. she said boom has my heart forever!

so this experience has prompted me to use the word: kismet.
after having gotten my second (unwanted) cappuccino for the day, im about to cross the street for the streetcar home. ive had enough window shopping for the day and my legs are tired. and besides, its raining. instead, some place with a cool name strolls up beside me in black and i sigh to a stop.
«Fine.», i say, as if im doing myself a favour.
she says «Boom» as i open the door and instantly theres records and books everywhere. turning to my left i meet eyes with the saleslady. after a beat, she brightly asks if i need any help and we’re off to find some elmore leonard. there are a few and i take one and go straight to the comics. i buy the leonard, batman: year one by miller and mazzucchelli and a graphic novel called «Persepolis» by marjane satrapi. its twenty four dollars and as i pay i notice the saleswoman handling a book ive always wanted to read.
it hasnt been priced yet and i want it (but maybe the bibliophile owner wants to hog it for himself for a bit first so ill have to wait. its a find.) she says «Boom» and its already on hold for me with a phone call after its been given the go ahead for sale by the owner. i should have it within the week.
nice.
i didnt want to go in, i did anyway and got three high quality used books, all in excellent shape and with great prices to boot.
see, kismet.

A really great little shop with a little bit of everything — music, movies, books. If you have a half hour to kill, there are much worse ways to spend your time than idly perusing the shelves here.
I like used book stores because generally I feel like if you can get something in good condition cheap, there’s no reason to pay full price and put more waste out there in the world. The best part is that sometimes people will pencil in funny notes in the margins, or write in their own editorial or revisionist remarks. Bonus! It’s like the MST3K for books!

After going from bookstore to bookstore trying to find F Scott Fitzgerald’s «The Curious Case of Benjamin Button» (yes, I know the movie version is coming out) I was almost ready to give up… but then SHE SAID BOOM! And I found it.
What a great book/​CD/​DVD/​vinyl store! My only complaint? I wanted to stay. But there were no seats… so it’s sorta an in-​and-​out concept.
But hey, I got what I came for so no complaints…

She Said Boom! has a nice mix of used and new books and media – not just books and CDs, but graphic novels and LPs. You can pick up some recent indie CDs here, or a Robin Williams comedy album from his Mork from Ork days.
As far as the books go, Classics and Literary Criticism are jammed in the same corner as Erotica, so you can feel nerdy and dirty at the same time. I felt nerdy and dirty when I came across a neat old Penguin edition of works inspired by Juvenal; I’m still considering going back to pick it up (if it’s still there), but the backlog of books I own but haven’t got around to reading is already pretty long.