Sterns Music

I’ve been going to Sterns Music (no apostrophe) since 2000, when my cousin took me there to pick up an awesome new Zairian Soukous album.
Since 1983, this store has been a foundation of access to African music of all sorts, with a bias towards sub-​Saharan genres.
Their selection is wide and deep. By genre, you can find Soukous (Zaïre/​Congo), Highlife (Ghana/​Nigeria), Juju, Afrobeat, Apala (Nigeria), Wassoulou (Mali), Chimurenga (Zimbabwe), Funana, Batuque (Cape Verde), Bikutsi, Assiko, Makossa (Cameroon), Biguine (Martinique), Benga (Kenya), Kwaito, Mbaqanga (South Africa), Mbalax (Senegal), Zouglou, Ziglibithy (Ivory Coast), Kizomba (Angola).
You can also find compilations and special editions of North African flavours like Chaabi (Morroco) and Rai (Algeria) as well as sounds from around the planet like Zouk (Guadeloupe and Martinique)
5 Wholehearted Stars!

My parents brought me up on world music, so I had been to Sterns Music Café before I even knew it.
Along with (I believe) one of the largest collections of world and in particular African music which you can listen to before you buy, there is also a café serving drinks and build your own salad type dishes.
The café is not the greatest, rather cramped and a bit unsatisfactory, but the music collection is excellent and the staff, incredibly knowledgeable.
This is basically Fopp, if it were taken over by hippies on their way to WOMAD.