Piccadilly Records

I am from New England and recently moved to California. I visited Manchester in January and went to Piccadilly Records. I have been to some amazing records stores in my lifetime, from basements in Brooklyn to Amoeba in LA. I appreciate each for what they are. Some stores cater to an audience based on their geographic area but Piccadilly was one of these stores that catered to all. It was neat, orderly and had actual cards with explanations of the genres of music as a helpful guide. I am someone who is always in search of new music and enjoyed having something like that out there for reference. I have been a huge fan of English (UK) music for most of my life from classic rock up to the electronic music that has come out of those islands from the 90’s — today. I was able to find a lot of albums that are not readily available in the US or that I would have to order online and shipped. The gentleman working at the counter was nice and chatted with most of the patrons that were there asking questions. Cool place on a cool street in a great city. I look forward to visiting again. Dry Bar is right across the street as well for those who are into Manchester’s music history.

Since 1978, Piccadlilly Records has created quite a legacy! Nice finds from the Buzzcocks and the Ramones found here!

Best musIc shop I have visited, the staff are immense and the CDs that they promote are well descrIbedI went in there and based on the albums of 2012 came out with two Immense albums. I have bought loads from them and always been very happy. Love the Promotion of indepents and small record labels and bands. hmv is nothing compared to this!

Manchester’s homely record shop where you can buy any music under the sun. Absolutely brilliant place to go and browse the shelves for hours. Nearly every genre is available in this shop from Dance to BritPop to Rave to Alternative Rock. This place is a Manchester magicbox which is definitely worth a visit for anyone with any music taste.

Helpful employees, and lots of concert tickets. Don’t want to pay an online booking fee? Buy your concert tickets here (most of them, anyway).
They have all kinds of music, and play all kinds of good music in the store as well. They have posters and displays of «Best of 2010» etc., which I think is cool and helpful.
They as well have lots of vinyl,…obviously?
I really love this place, I just wish they had places to sit along with a barista to make it perfect!

I have to admit I’m not much of an indie fan anymore, I’ve lost touch with what is right way to move in that particular genre. So, I thought, where better to try to get reacquainted with the genre than Piccadilly records, which i had been reliably infomed was the King for indie records in this part of the world.
Entering the shop you’re confronted with a daunting sight… zillions of records — most of them by bands/​musicians you’ve never heard of. Apparently the store is particularly good for «krautrock and acid-​folk vinyls» which tells you everything. This store is specialised!
Luckily the staff are more than willing to help the ludites and elctronic music peoples of this world looking for something different to their usual. I spoke to somebody called Andy for gave me a few recommendations and I left with a few 7″ singles. I have to say I was underwhelmed by each of them, but it wouldn’t stop me going back there again, if only to liberate the store of the fat city records they carry!

One for the vinyl collectors, this shop serves all your needs. It couldn’t really be located anywhere else but the Northern Quarter, it’s completely perfect — and on the central stretch of Oldham Street as well, priceless! Can’t go wrong really. It’s for those in the know. The sheer range of genres might be baffling for a beginner but don’t let it put you off, its friendly, High Fidelity-​esque staff are there to help.
As far as I’m concerned, you can’t beat the way vinyl looks on your shelf, or that crackling noise it makes when it’s played. Beautiful. So at least make that your reason to come to Piccadilly Records.

Piccadily records is basically vinyl exchange, except there’s less emphasis on the exchange and more emphasis on the simply buy. It’s goooood. The guys before me seem to know this stuff better.

A Manchester institution.
I’ve been coming here for years& it never dissapoints! Fantastic independant record shop. I usually feel out of my depth or intimidated in record shops (high fidelity style) but NOT here. Helpful postits explaining genres etc are great as is the monthly booklets with top releases etc.
The best record shop in Manchester if not in the whole of the uk!!!

This is a Manchester institution. Having been in a touring band for several years before I moved to Manchester, we always paid a visit to this place whenever we played a show here.
They’ve got an awesome selection of new CDs and vinyl. They’re likely to stock (or be able to get hold of) the indie albums that HMV won’t even know exist. The staff are cool, knowledgeable and a bit geeky. Perfect for a small, independent record shop.
Piccadilly Records is a valuable part of Manchester’s music scene and is something to be supported. We should all try and buy a few CDs every year from somewhere like this.

When I was 15 or 16 and first starting coming into the city centre on my own, I thought Piccadilly Records was the coolest place in Manchester. I still reckon it’s the best place to buy vinyl, especially if you’re looking for DIY and Indie releases.
Sometimes visiting this shop can feel a bit like you’re in High Fidelity. But even though the staff seem like real musos, they’re nice, friendly and non-​judgmental. And believe me, I’ve bought plenty of stuff from there that could have been sneered at!

Piccadilly Records is a Manchester institution and it doesn’t half know it.
For the travelling record buyer, the place can seem moody and aloof. That said, after a handful of visits, you’ll find that the reality is that half the staff are so shy that, if they had fringes, they’d hide behind them.
Anyway, they’ve got a great and varied amount of stock in there if you’re after the kinds of things record shops sell — by which I mean, go to HMV if you want the latest Michael Buble LP, Piccadilly Records is more likely to have Elliot Smith LPs on the shelves alongside Can reissues and great new comps from underground labels.
Split across loads of genres and styles, Piccadilly really is a very good record shop and once you get past the Oh So Coolery of it, you’ll be fine.
Essentially, Piccadilly Records suffers from the same thing that most record shops do, and that’s a sense of boredom when faced with a request deemed ‘obvious’. To slate ‘Piccadilly’ for that would be churlish.
Away from records/​CDs, there’s a decent range of label T-​shirts and record bags behind the counter.
It’s a big ol’ shop and worth spending your wages in if you’re neither a hardened crate digger or mainstream pop fan. It sits exactly in the middle of those two.

Sizzling Soul
Fabulous Funk
Brilliant Broken Beats
Awesome Abstract Hip Hop
Fantastic Free Jazz
Dazzling Dubstep
Sweeeeeet Lovers Rock
Beautifully crooned Country
Amazing Americana
Classic Chicago House
Tantalising Techno
Pogo-​ing Punk-​Funk
Perfect Pop
Gorgeous Psyche-​Folk
Blistering Garage
& lots of cool Rock & Roll
Don’t mean to get all High Fidelity on y’all but Piccadilly Records is the Northern equivalent of Rough Trade East. They have aisles of incredible vinyl on 7″, 12″ and long-​players, tons of new and re-​issued CDs and listening decks where you can check them all out. Even better, most of the staff are deejays so can give you the lowdown on the tracks that are the most fly. They also host in-​store gigs from emerging and established artists.
What more could you want?

I don’t buy music as often as I should — I have two record players, one broke but looks beautifully retro so it stays — but I generally listen to the radio for new music. Zane Lowe and Annie Mac. I think it has something to do with the whole movement of not needing to physically own everything — like music.
That said, I am slowly beginning to really appreciate the difference between vinyl and the so-​called ‘tinny’ sound of ipods that last year, say, I would staunchly defend as being inconsequential. So, when I do buy vinyl (and CDs) where better to go than Oldham St and around, pretty much the only place I know of with a dense group of record shops.
Piccadilly Records must be very well informed on their music, think John Cusack and Jack Black in High Fidelity. Like the independent Rough Trade shops in London, they make sure you know which artists they are loving at the moment as well as having bands come in to play. Their website also has a cool blog-​type bit and things like their artist of the month and albums of the week. I like.

Hands down the best record store in Manchester. Extremely friendly staff who have amazing recommendations and highlight great music from across the globe. Their mailing list is also superb with all their new releases with notable information. I am pretty sure everything they sell has been listened to by at least one member of the staff and everybody is well versed in what’s selling, what’s new, what’s local, what’s good, and what you want. One of the best record stores in the world (and i live near Amoeba in Hollywood, so that should say something).

Located in the Northern Quarter, Piccadilly Records offers a wide variety of cd’s, records etc. A much better place for music lovers to go and add to their collections than HMV!

Piccadilly Records is the main independent record shop in Manchester and is located on the fashionable Oldham Street in the city centre. It has a good range of CDs catering for people of all tastes and is a great place for finding out about new artists. The shop sells a big selection of vinyl as well which is nice to see now that most places are scaling the amount of it on sale down. They also have a good selection of CD and 7 singles as well as selling tickets for gigs across Manchester. This is the best place to go if you want to pick up something that you probably wouldn’t find in HMV.

Some of the vinyl in here is so expensive! Most i could find on the internet cheaper!
Also the staff seem to be a bit moody and are posers. All seem to be the I work in record shop and i’m better than you types. They never seem to step onto the shop floor.

Fantastic stalwart on Manchester’s record shop scene.
This shop gave birth to itself back in 1978 when ‘CD’s’ and ‘Mp3 waps’ were more akin to citizen band radio speak than anything related to home music listening.
In 1997 Piccadilly Records moved from it’s home just off Market Street to a more suiting home on the Northern Quarter’s Oldham Street nestled like a vertically stacked collection of classic vinyl amongst what is quite possibly the most concentrated collection of record shops in the uk, if not the world (neighbours on this street alone include Eastern Bloc Records, Fat City and Vinyl Exchange)!
Aside from the quality staff (though don’t go in asking for ‘local hero Shane Ward’) who posses a great knowledge on musical history, past and present gems and a largely versatile Vinyl and CD collection (the good vibe to the place), Piccadilly Records is reputedly doing very well notwithstanding the current climate of ‘Digital Downbits’ and ‘online carrier bagging’ (others, I’m led to believe are finding it tough) this is most likely down to their extensive online web presence.
Last year Piccadilly Records won the inaugural Best Record Shop award as voted by listeners of Giles Peterson’s Worldwide show on BBC Radio 1 and it’s not in the least surprising.
Everything is catered for here from avant-​post rock, new-​psyche-​folk to nu jazz, broken beats to the self proclaimed ‘weird shit’. I asked if they stocked any ‘Pre Organic Quaver Grime’ and lo and behold a rare Vinyl piece by ‘Fitz Stummer and the Shin Pieces’ was produced. Probably.

Frequently voted amongst the best record shops in the county, Piccadilly Records stocks most genres of music. Staff can be a little standoffish, but are extremely knowledgable, and it’s possible to spend hours browsing through the racks. Many of the cds are accompanied by short, heplful reviews written by the staff to help in your selection. There aren’t many places like this left, so it’s a genuine treasure.