Zia Record Exchange

When I come to Zia Records I expect to be thrown into a nostalgic haze for the time I’m in the store. I like the memorabilia selections, the top music in the local scene is good, to see whats hot in the area. I come here often to just walk around in my 90’s time capsule. Prices are fair and the store is nice.

My favorite place for my vinyl record obsession! Really large variety and the only place I trust to buy used vinyl records from .(many other places sell scratched and poor quality vinyl) Friendly employees, they have cool live performances/​signings, and getting a survey card and doing the survey can get you like 20% off a item. You can special order items that they don’t have in store! Even the name of the place is dope. Cool place to buy books, VINYL RECORDS, CDs, and DVDs.

Prices were good, and selection was decent. The store was dirty, though, and the staff were rude and standoffish. All except one woman, who was really kind and friendly. I passed about 5 employees who didn’t even make eye contact or say a friendly phrase of any kind, before I got to her. She redeemed the shopping experience, which my first time at Zia, but I am really not inclined to go back.
Oh, by the way, the bathroom is filthy and smells like open sewer.

Like the big location, many items to choose from, from guitars to games. Love the trade option, I usually get more music. Cant say much about the costumer service, not always as helpful and they have a very arrogant look on their faced come on I can do better then that.

Pretty nice staff and don’t forget your 20% off coupon! You can save a lot with one of those things and they usually don’t take it away after you use it, or they give you another one after your transaction. This is not the best location (that one is on Thunderbird), but they seemed to have a nice selection. Sure, you could stay home and buy your media online but where’s the fun in that?

Looks like this place could use a little love.
For the longest time the Zia Records at Dobson and Chandler had been my favorite. Items were priced to sell, staff friendly. A little cramped and a bit disorganized on Record Store Day, but minor complaints.
The new location is similar to the one they opened in Tempe as it is a larger store that follows the trend of catering to more than just records. It has stereo equipment, instruments, toys, books, video games, etc. It reminds me of Bookmans back when they were much more enjoyable to visit (and without having to go to a dicey neighborhood).
I go there mainly for music and am quite happy with the selection. I do wish they would put out more grab bags like they used to (I have a habit of finding some rather expensive gems in there — which may be why I don’t see them as much anymore), but in general a casual look through everything will net me some stuff I need and an even closer look will net me a stern look from my wife once I come home and grab the hand truck.
As for the staff, they are still great. Unlike the way I remember Zia in the past I have the joy of seeing many of the same faces there every time I visit.
This is also the store that sponsors the monthly Cult Classic showings at Pollack Cinema down the road. Mary (the manager) is usually there with some goodies to sell.

Now, i’ve been coming to Zia for about 25 years now, and since they’ve opened these MEGA stores in the east valley they’ve improved 100%. As my teenage daughter has gotten into music this has become her favorite place on earth. The customer service and friendliness of the staff is night and day from when I was a youngin. Books, DVDs, toys and video games all for sale new and used. I have also taught them the Trade in!!! Bringing their old video games, cd’s and DVDs to use for store credit. Of course you won’t get much for them BUT, better than sitting on a shelf collecting dust and its fun to have free range of the store.
Here’s my one complaint for Zia with Musical equipment…90% of the guitars and basses you have for sale are crap. You cannot charge $ 200 for a squire guitar or some other crappy model. You need to stop buying crap like that or at least mark them down ALOT.

Smelly place but hey if you want a new vinyl with 25% off coupon. Big place and very friendly employees. Come check it out. Besides where else can you buy CDs Any more. They sell and buy old videos and games.

I shop here all the time and I am so incredibly disappointed in my last experience I felt the need to write my first review ever. Having been in the market for a new receiver and speakers for awhile, I found a set at Zia I was interested in. I spoke at length, more than one time, to an employee there in regards to testing products when they come in. I was assured there were no issues with this set. I get it home and it just does not work. Nada, zip, nothing. I was completely bs’d about their testing procedures. To add insult to injury when I hauled the set back in there within the 7 days of purchase, I was refused anything but a store credit. Why? So your employees can bs me some more and I can end up with even more crap you didn’t bother to check that doesn’t work? I understand if it was buyers remorse, but the stuff just legit does not work. Big time fail Zia. Loyal customer lost.

I love zia records and have been going there for a while. I was beyond thrilled to find out that my favorite band The 1975 was going to be doing an acoustic concert and a signing. I looked online on the website to see if I need to purchase a ticket or anything and nothing came up. While I was looking through their facebook page I found that you did indeed need to purchase a wristband. I ran to the store as quickly as I could but they were all sold out. The person that I talked to about it had very poor customer service skills. I was overall disappointed with my favorite record store and am on the fence about shopping at this location again. I wish they would have made a point to advertise better. Hopefully others have better experience than my self.

I have just returned to vinyl after a long break (since the eighties). So, when I heard the new Mega Zia was happening, I had to check it out. I found tons of vinyl, new and used. I left with 10 albums for less than $ 50.
Since the grand opening happened on a Friday, and I didn’t make it until Sunday evening, I thought I’d be disappointed in the selection. This was not the case. While I had to sift through the piles of Cream, Rod Stewart and Cat Stevens, (all of which are fine, if that’s what you’re into) I still found some of my favorites. Discovering those tucked away treasures is what I had hoped would happen. They have a lot of great boxed sets, and hard to find albums on display and mixed throughout. I’ll be heading back and focusing on the new arrival section from now on; all genres mixed in together before being filtered to their respective sections. A great sampling of what you might find if you paw through all of the cases.
While I was there, I noted what seemed to be a great selection of used video games, (someone else will have to confirm this as the last video game I played was Tomb Raider in the nineties) books, cds, and TV shows/​movies on dvd. IF you do gifts in December, this would be a good place to fill up for Christmas Kwanzaa, Hanukkah, or Festivus. Whatever. That stuff’s all here. All of it. Go get some!