Academy Records

Should I write in Spanish or English? Oh well, whatever. Te amooooo Academy Recordsssss!
I was looking for another shop, which I never found, and suddenly I stumbled upon Academy Records. Without a second thought, I went right in.
The music playing was awesome. In my opinion, this was probably the busiest record shop I’ve seen in my LIFE, and believe me, I’ve been to more record stores than night clubs. People of all ages skimmed around the aisles of music, which ranged from classical to metal, punk, rock, jazz, soul, man you name it, Academy Records probably had it. It had vinyls, cassetes, CDs, blurays, DVDs; used, rare, new. It was all there, stuffed somewhere.
What surprised me the most were the prices. There were great records (i.e.: Ten by Pearl Jam) for, what? 4 bucks? awesome. I stocked up with seven records, which I think were used, but in perfect conditions, for less than 50 dollars. Now that’s what I call a good deal. Records nowadays range from 10 to 20 dollars, new. And everything in Academy Records was in great conditions. There’s something in there for everyone, I swear!

Checked this out for my first time as a new record player owner. Grew up with one when i was a kid but parents got rid of it around the 2000s, so this is bringing me nostalgia. The selection is fantastic, every genre you could want. some record stores specialize in genres, they have everything here. Disco, hip hop, rock, punk, metal, new music, classical, whatever your heart desires. It was awesome to get a copy of Thriller, after my parents’ one went missing, a beastie boys LP and a Cherub record for my boyfriend all for just over $ 30. Prices definitely reasonable. So dangerous it is 3 blocks from where I live. Super chill guy behind the register who just hangs out until you’re ready. Also, props to them playing old school Will Smith & DJ Jazzy Jeff while I was browsing.

Props to Academy. The five-​star rating is mainly for the fact that they don’t turn around and list every single collectible record they take in on eBay. I prefer this location for jazz, while I prefer the Brooklyn store for rock. The owner is a stand-​up guy that has been very helpful to me over the years, and the staff is cool, not too cool. :)

Nice people, good selection and prices. Its cool that they have turntables set up to listen to stuff.

I went to this place while visiting New York for work. It’s a brilliant shop. It has a great selection ranging from Jazz to Hip Hop, Reggae to Hardcore. Given the fact that New York is so expensive I was amazed by the great prices. If you’re a big vinyl fan I’d highly recommend going there. I loved it.

They have 2 turntables where you can listen before you buy which is essential when buying used vinyl. decent size inventory of old and new

I’m always impressed with their shop.
The house music is always so good. Almost hard to shop because the instinct to rock out is almost too great to overcome.
Once you’ve settled into the groove, immerse yourself in an excellently curated selection that hits just about any spot.
One of my selections lacked an inner sleeve, which they happily rectified.
Good listening station setup.
What more can I ask for?

Went to Academy today. Charles Kynard on Prestige I had never seen before. Score!
Met the owner today. He gave me a great price a big box set I needed to move for credit. Thank you.

I absolutely love this shop!
Great selection and amazing staff.
Really neat Jazz collection.

Very chill place to browse records. The guy at the counter when I was there was damn near like a zen master, just imbuing the place with his calm vibe. An annoying customer even came in at one point, but he handled it like a pro, diffusing the customer, never once letting the customer’s annoyingness ruin his cool or the cool of anyone else there.
A wide selection, but not too huge a selection, which I think is a good thing, because an overstuffed record shop can get pretty daunting. This place has just the right amount.
Some of their selection is expensive, but I bought four great records from them and every one was fairly priced, some maybe even a little too fairly priced. So, definite gems to be found, if you flip through. Nothing better than stumbling on a record you’ve been looking for for ages, and its like $ 2.50. Will definitely be coming back.

The best place to look for used records in Manhattan. They seem to have an endless supply of great vinyl and their prices are fair. Very nice staff too.

If you’re looking for used hip hop, then this place is well worth while. I scored some very nice LPs at reasonable prices, and they had some new LPs I’d been wanting to get too. Jazz section also has some gems at good prices. Far better than most NYC record stores.

I stopped by Academy during a recent visit to NYC and was happy I did. The store was packed w/​a lot of people (which is a good sign) and was pretty easy to navigate around.
They didn’t have the biggest section of punk records (my fave) but I still managed to find a few rare punk records here. They carry a wide variety of music and the records were in good to great condition and reasonably priced.
I will definitely stop by again the next time I’m in NYC.

I’m more partial to its sibling store, the Academy Annex, but this is also a wonderful place to buy records from. A pretty vast selection of almost every genre, it also has a good selection of new/​reissue vinyl.
One of the staff members put on some John Lee Hooker. I asked him who was the artist and what album it was. He was very friendly, then took the album off the record player and sold me it then and there. Well, that was my introduction to a great artist. It probably harks back to how people used to find out about music.
Academy Records will always have my vote!

Fantastic record store. My significant other is a vinyl junkie and he swears by this place.
It’s not the biggest store, but they always have great stuff (and sometimes very rare finds) at reasonable prices. It’s also the place to go if you need to sell or trade LPs. The Annex in Williamsburg is decent, but Academy LP’s is the best.

I’m a huge fan of Academy Records and CDs, so it was certainly worth a shot to see what the other two stores were all about. I recently got a chance to walk around Academy LP’s to see why vinyl enthusiasts appreciate it so much.
What I noticed immediately was the shape of the store. It had an interesting crooked shape, with the left side of the store angling deep underneath the building while the right side remained relatively shorter. I also noticed that most of the LPs were organized in genre and alphabet sections instead of individual artists. Sure, there’s an individually tabbed rock and jazz artist section near the entrance, but everything else is placed in general sections. For those looking for something specific this can be a little frustrating to find something, but then again it helps with music exploration. As they sorta say, maybe you won’t find what you want but you’ll find what you really need.
The prices really ranged all over the place, but one won’t likely find a record priced less than $ 8. However, for those looking for something more affordable one could comb through the somewhat battered $ 3 each or 2 for $ 5 section. This area mainly consists of 70s and 80s artists that were popular at the time but have since fallen into a ‘to each their own’ niche. For $ 2.50 one may find something affordably worth taking a chance on.
And hey, even if you find your couple of dollars hard to part with the store has two fine listening stations around the corner. This is actually one of the more important aspects of the store, since vinyl fans usually have to cough up a decent amount of change to get one used record. Getting the chance to gain confidence in what you’re interested in buying by listening to it really helps. Since there are only two to use, though, one may have to wait a little bit. You could take an extended lunch break on a weekday and go when it’s less crowded to increase the availability of the stations I suppose.
One of these days I’ll get to Brooklyn to check out the Annex, but as far as I’m concerned Academy and its stores are doing things right.

I came here for the first time yesterday after a storekeeper at the Flatiron location made me aware of it! I’m so glad he did because I fell in love with their selection of LPs and 45s! Its just as good as their Williamsburg location, which is closer for me, but this one is worth the subway ride over too! I liked being able to sit down and enjoy the music. I think I spent over $ 100 yesterday on 45s because I need my collection to grow faster. I bought Joy Division, Joan Jett, Bad Brains, Bad Religion, Sex Pistols boxed set, and a few others!
Smle at the window display because they have an old school Cher make up kit doll. Ha

Academy LPs is fair. No messing around — stuff is priced to move, and I always end up finding something on every trip. I never feel like they’re pricing to take advantage… and the bargain bins often turn up some gems…
Good rotation of new merchandise, decent selection of new releases — primarily rock & jazz, with some hiphop tossed in as well. Decent amount of 7″ vinyl as well…
I’ve never had an issue with the employees — they don’t come across as typical record store douches…
Well worth a visit at least every week or two… and be sure to check out the sister store in Williamsburg…

I really like coming to this record store. Their selection is one of the best in the city. As being an audiophile junkie, one is to many and a thousand never enough. Whether it is a copy of Billie Holiday, Yard birds, Coltrane, Monk, Fania All-​Stars, Hendrix or any other type of genre. You have to dig a little to find that gem. And I have found a number of gems in this place. They have two turntables to listen to your selections before purchasing them, that’s very important. And the prices are somewhat in line with the bearing market.

I love record stores; I used to go to Tower (remember them?) and flip through the bins for hours. Academy is a great store, and I love their 12^th street location; lately I’ve been in the habit of buying vinyl and stockpiling it without listening to it – just gotta have Plastic Bertrand and Lene Lovich. When Jim Carroll died, I went here and got a copy of Catholic Boy.
I think my musical taste stopped evolving about the time they stopped pressing vinyl anyway. I’ve found such gems here, for such good prices – I’m just really happy they’re so close to me.