Rasputin Music

One major flaw:
If you’re advertising that you open at 11am, then you should probably be open at 11am. It’s currently 12pm and the doors have not opened.
I have seen more than 10 folks (potential customers) walk away disappointed and annoyed that the store is not open. As someone who has a 15 min walk to get here, I’m not going to make another trek to closed doors.

Have always heard about this place but finally got a chance to go in today. Crazy huge selection of CD’s, DVD’s, and vinyl. You have to walk up to the 2^nd floor and from there take the elevator the 3^rd, 4^th, and 5^th floor. There is an employee working the elevator which is unique. I got all of my classic CD’s on the 4^th floor for dirt cheap. They are used and prices for the same title may vary depending on the condition. A fun way to spend some time.

Your one shop stop for obscure and outdated media.
I like my music in CDs and my movies in DVDs and Rasputin Music satisfies that itch on both fronts. If you have the time, you can spend hours digging through their miss matched stocks of entertainment, finding music and movies old and new. I found a few must have movies for as low as $ 4, but also some as high as $ 25, so there is a lack of consistency among the product pricing.
Next time I want to add some bad movies to my collection, I’ll be coming back to Rasputin.

Almost two years later, they’re still here, but they still can’t seem to open on time. Today the sign on the door says they open at 11 am, but at a half-​hour past 11 there was nobody there and the place was dark.
Hello Amoeba.

I wasn’t expecting such a selection. From the outside the building looks small, but woah was I surprised. I ended up finding all the albums I wanted. Its nice to see that there are still music stores around in the area when most of them had gone out of business. I like the feel of this store too, its roomy and the employees don’t bother you, but they help if you ask. The customer service was nice and the employees seemed happy to help out. I will be coming back to get more albums!

Great selection of DVDs and music. They have 5 floors and you can definitely find a good variety of any genre. One the 3^rd floor they have gently used DVDs that you can get for literally .95 cents. So awesome! I’m just visiting in town, but I would definitely recommend this place to everyone.

Rasputin is right down the street from where I live so instead of trudging to Haight St. to sell some stuff, I thought I’d give them a try — MAJOR Ripoff!!! I wound up selling some LP’s and CD’s there and only got $ 11…they were going to give me $ 2 for my singles… I went to Haight St. and got $ 27 for them! So angry I didn’t take everything there to begin with.
The workers at Rasputin were nice enough but they really don’t know what they’re doing.

It’s a shame mp3s came out, otherwise this would be a really cool store. Lots of albums.

If you’re selling records, don’t waste your time going to Rasputin. They only give you pennies for your records. I got like $ 3. 41 for about 50 records. I took it only because I was tired of carrying them, and because the guy only mumbled the amount, and I didn’t feel like arguing at the end when he handed me the three $ 1, and coins.

First time going to one of their stores and it’s a pretty cool place. Never been to one with 5 floors of CDs/​DVDs/​t-​shirts and more, which was awesome. PLUS there’s an elevator attendant! Would have loved to have had more time to browse, but alas, was only here for the weekend so just quick visit. Found a used copy of the new Mary J. Blige album for a great price, in addition to Janet Jackson’s first album which I haven’t seen in a store in years!

Any movie or music you want it is always here. I love this place: its location, its staff, its selection and its organize. Staff is pretty knowledgeable and absolutely helpful. This is one of the few stores in the area where is locate that has been able to maintain the flavor of the City. Ahh, prices are extremely reasonable! Now if I could had only found copies of I’ll Postino and The Disappearance of Garcia Lorca I would had happily given a 5 star.

Don’t stop here. Why would anyone shop at this Union Square Location? It’s a strange creepy place.
I strongly believe this Rasputin is haunted due in part to its ridiculously high prices, and it’s patronage.
The first floor feels like you are in a cage. The entire 2^nd floor has an uncomfortable weak nauseating with a lightheadedness and sometimes dizzy feeling.
Three weird things happened in only three visits. I saw a guy drop his bike rim (yes a bike rim) from the very top of the stairs down the steep stairs and thankfully (due to my screaming) my husband pushed people out of the stairwell without it hurting or knocking someone down the stairs. I never knew how a bike rim could go flying at top speed. Another time I saw a guy skip and fall down the stairs and was lucky some big dude stopped his fall and the third time some lady collapsed and passed out on the 2^nd floor.
Besides the bag check guys who are pretty cool, I really despise this store.

Vinyl selection is lame. Elevator situation is lame.
Goto Aquarius or Amoeba in SF or 1234 Go! If you’re across the bay in the town.

Oh Rasputin. Awesome selection, very confusing customer service. They’re knowledgeable but super hipster. Approach with caution.
I asked one of the women working about one of the albums for sale and she told me I should definitely listen to it before I buy it, and I was at the register about to buy it! It’s cool that they have listening stations that you can check them out before you get them. Pretty cool.
I feel like people don’t buy CD’s anymore but I still do. And I buy records.
They have a good selection here but warning, it does ALWAYS smell like pizza.

I haven’t been in a record store in well over 20 years. This place was like a throw back in time, but it was nice to see the t-​shirts and the selection they had. My friend was looking for something specific, and he wasn’t able to locate it, but he did try.
They require you to check your bags at the door so that they can cut down on shop lifting, It’s a good measure even if it’s inconvienient.

This local chain is definitely worth checking out if you live in SF or visit it. We saw this location during a previous trip, but didn’t have a chance to go inside. This time, we were determined to do so. We had a bit of a hard time finding it, even if it’s in the middle of everything, or maybe because of that, the address was confusing, lots of people around, but we just asked a local and she was super nice, took us right there.
This location has a few floors, you go up on some steep steps to get to level 2 and to the elevator which is a bit strange, an employee has to manage the elevator. But despite its corky features, the place is well organized, they have a decent selection of movies, prices just OK, could be a little cheaper. Service was a bit slow, too.
I prefer their Haight location, it’s smaller, but more laid back.

Gets 4 stars because its not the Original in Berkeley. It had tons of selections from new to old. Tons of local Bay Area rappers mix tapes, old movies hard to find elsewhere, such as Cheech Marin in Yellowbeard. Im kicking myself to this day that I didn’t pick it up!!!
Great deals and prices!

Can CD’s not be extinct yet?! Well you can certainly find bargain CD’s here at Rasputin.
This store is much larger compared to the one in Berkeley. The first 3 levels have lots of new and old DVD’s and VHS tapes (yes, these still exist!). The top 2 floors have most of the music CD’s, from punk, indie, rock, etc. I really like the diverse selection of music here for very affordable prices.
I usually go straight to the bargain sections to try and find older CD’s for $ 2 or more. Previously I got the Backstreet Boys Milennium CD to replace the one I lost. This time I scored Justin Timberlake’s 2 older CD’s for just $ 1.95 each. I still get a little excited popping a CD into my car as opposed to listening to the radio.
Perks:
+ Big selection of videos and CD’s
+ B3G1 free deal
Things to note:
— No student discount here
— Floors 3 – 5 only accessible by a tiny cramped elevator

Great Selection Of New & Used CDs! And VINYL!
SITREP
I almost wanted to say, «Great Selection of Hard-​To-​Find Prehistoric Mediums For Embedding Music Tracks!» But seriously, it’s getting harder and harder to find really good music stores. On this occasion, I was with my friend Megan La Chappelle (aka DJ Megz, outstanding DJ at clubs in San Francisco, Sacramento, and Los Angeles).
AGH! GODDAM PARKING!
Let’s start with the bad stuff first: PARKING. There isn’t any. First, this is San Francisco, and THAT should be a clue. Second, this store is located right on Powell Street, just a block up from the Powell Street Trolley turnstile. Barely room for MOVING vehicles as it is, let alone PARKED ones. To try to park any place anywhere in this Union Square hood is just ridiculous!
Your best bet is to do what we did and park several blocks away on the OTHER side of Market Street, down on Mission Street where the parking garage at 4^th & Market is located across 4^th Street from the Metreon. The garage is reasonable (at under $ 5 for a 1 ½ hour stay) compared to the Union Square garage that will charge you $ 20 for the same time.
«SMELL THE ROSES»
Okay okay. NOW that your car is situated (and if you don’t have one, then just ignore the above section rant), take time to look at some of the great art that place features! They have paints, they have metal work, and they have it on the walls, on on the stairwells, all brightly-​expressive and quite imaginative.
GROUND LEVEL
You are starting out on the First Level as you walk in. There is music and VHS tape sections to greet you.
There is also very high walls that feature many many MANY interesting tee-​shirts! Take a gander:
OTHER FLOORS — AWESOME MUSIC SELECTIONS
Now you can really enjoy yourself with the variety of movies and music that are available. Each Floor has it’s own «passion»:
* On Level 2 is DVDs — Drama, Comedy, Horror, Sci-​Fi, Family
* On Level 3 is DVDs — Western, Cult Films, Martial Arts, Blu-​Ray, and Collectible Vinyl Records! YES, I DID say VINYL!
* On Level 4 is ROCK CDs! Punk! Indie! Goth! Industrial! Rockabilly! SKA! Heavy Metal!, etc. etc.
* On Level 5 is JAZZ & REGGAE CDs! COUNTRY! BLUES! RAP! (I love that RAP and COUNTRY-​WESTERN are on the same floor)
BUYER
And by this I mean THEM, not you — if you have CDs in good condition, they will pay you a used CD market rate at the very least may launch you into some newer music there (or get you a BK Big Fish Combo meal at the Burger King down past the trolley turnstile). ;)
COST
The «used CD» inventory is all over the place — you just have to check which bands or music projeckts, which album releases, and how good of condition the product is, and you can see CDs all the way down to 99 cents, and in quarter and dollar increments from there. On average, I found a couple good CDs for $ 3.99.
OUTCOME
Megz bought a TON of stuff in the Gothic-​Industrial section, and I was quite impressed with selections I got.
THE LOWDOWN
Definitely the place to go when you want to ROCK IT «Old School» with CDs and VINYL!

It’s tough to say whether to give Rasputin three or four stars. There’s something iconic about it – walking in to the ground floor and dropping your bag off with that guy at the front. Scanning the used DVDs and Blu-​Rays. Walking up the steps to check out the cheesy but funny tees, and then onto that elevator with the shitty little speaker playing generally good music as surly guy or gal presses the buttons as you decide which floor you want to start with.
I guess my main problem is that this place doesn’t quite have a real identity. You don’t walk around feeling like you can spend hours here, feeling welcome. I wouldn’t say Amoeba is like a warm hug or anything, but it has an identity of its own and you can easily spend hours and hours there. Even though Rasputin’s not small, I don’t find myself feeling comfortable enough to really invest the time in it. I’m usually in and then out in a flash and I rarely find the type of deal that makes me jump up with joy.
That said, it’s perfectly fine if you need a music fix. And it’s an experience everyone in the city should have at least once.

Gigante, varias plantas llenas de CD’s, vinilos y DVD’s. Encontré varios discos de coleccionista que llevaba varios años buscando, y a un precio razonable.
Los vinilos están en la tercera planta. Cuidado! Están mezclados los nuevos con los usados.

Ähnlich wie Amoeba Records, nur mit kleinerer Auswahl, dafür um so zentraler am Cable Car Turnaround gelegen. Hier gibt es altes und neues, und wenn man ein bisschen stöbert, ist es auch hier möglich eine alte Platte oder ein gutes Schnäppchen zu finden. 2* Abzug gibt es einmal, weil die Auswahl bedeutend kleiner ist, als bei Amoeba, zum anderen, weil man an der Tür alle Tüten und Taschen abgeben muss, was nach einem ausgiebigerem Einkaufstag echt nervig ist.