Ah, one of my favorite stops during my North Loop Jaunts (it's when I hit up all my fave North Loop businessses every few months). The store is well-organized and the folks working here know their stuff! From the rare and obscure to the trendy they can answer you. Their opinions and thoughts on music are bar-none some of the best. You can find just about anything you're looking for from vintage vinyl to super vintage vinyl, cassettes, 7" vinyl (aka 45s), and even 8-tracks. Bargain bins where you can grab music for just a buck! I like that you can listen to music before buying it as well. Like, don't try and sit there listening to an entire recording and then leave. Listen for a sample and make your decision. They also offer repair services (turntables, cassette players, etc.). Great local business. Support them. read more

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Breakaway Records is like a records museum! The store has mainly vinyl records and a very large selection. The store is located on North Loop in Austin, TX off the beaten path. According to staff, Breakaway Records opened in 2008, moved to its current North Loop location in 2010, and later expanded the space. The store is clean, well-organized, and with items strategically arranged with excellent signage. There was no piled-on dust that you tend to see in music stores housing old vinyl records. Breakaway's true highlight was the breadth and depth of its music items and accessories. The shop had an extensive collection of used vinyl and 45s, spanning genres as well as ages that primarily focused on soul, jazz, funk, hip hop, international sounds, punk, and rock. Flipping through their vinyl records was easy and enjoyable with some surprise finds. Listening stations let you preview records before you buy. The staff were knowledgeable and genuinely passionate about music. They'll either give you space to browse or gladly answer questions, depending on what you prefer. Breakaway also sells 45, CDs (small section) and record players. The store carries stereo gear and accessories at a range of prices including turntables, receivers, speakers, and small essentials. They did not have any small music tapes or 8-track tapes...probably my nieces and nephews have never heard of these. Smile. Great discovery...great visit... read more

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I've come in here a few times and I've always been impressed by the lowkey but unique collection they have here. I got a copy of Slum Village's Fan-Tas-Tic, Vol. 2 here a while back and I hadn't seen that around. They have a great selection of curated compilations from Numero, Light from the Attic, and more, and they have curated 45s from Big Crown, Daptone, and more as well. It's always a joy to come here and dig around. RIYL: A little more unique records than your typical spot in Austin read more

Breakaway Records - Vinyl Records Near Me - Austin, Texas

This is a neat vinyl records shop. They have old and new, categorized by genre as well as alphabet. They have repair services for audio and playback equipment. They also have a couple record players out on the floor that you can use to listen to certain records, as long as the record matches their posted requirements. While they do have an international section, they didn't seem to have categories for some of the rock bands that I listen to. If they happened to carry any of the limited edition Band-Maid vinyls, I would have bought them in a heartbeat, and I don't even have a vinyl record player. read more

Breakaway Records - Vinyl Records - Vinyl Records Near Me - Austin, Texas

I my past couple of visits, I was able to find some good kpop releases at a great price and found a few other records that are rather unique and fun to check out. read more

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This is a must-visit on the Austin record store shopping trail. Lots of mostly used LPs and a great 12" selection. Prices are fair, staff is friendly and there's a vinyl listening station. read more

It's been three years since my former review so I thought I'd add a post Covid review. Much of what I said in the former review still stands, but I thought I would add a few more photos and some comments. I usually come here every other week and there's always something new in the new arrival bins You'll also find blank cassette tapes, tons of 45's, posters, VHS tapes, framed albums and rare and collectible records featured on their walls for sale. You'll also find a good selection of vintage stereo equipment and turntables. They do have a sale table that sits outside the front door filled with 45s, CDs and tapes. Open 11-7 every day. read more

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Nice and clean store. Some parking out front. Price is fair and staff can be helpful.

Found this fantastic record shop on the way to a local pottery store (ATX Pottery) and had to stop in on the way back. There's a bit shared (free) parking lot in front that a few businesses use. The lot was pretty full, but we found a spot quickly. The record store is extremely well organized. Every genre imaginable is clearly labeled, and then within each genre, specific artists are alphabetized. I was genuinely so impressed by the level of organization in this place. It made findings things so much easier. After perusing the aisles for a while, we entered the second "room" in the store, which had a massive sale section. All the records in this section were $3. We found several we loved and ended up leaving with ~8 different records from the store (only 3 from the sale section). Very happy with the selection here, and will definitely be back! read more

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This is a good record store with a nice selection of vintage used vinyl. I collect vintage LPs - Jazz, rock & soul - and I found some nice things and left some others behind that I was also interested in buying. And there was good collectible stuff across the board. I would have liked the wall to have more vintage collectible stuff, but that's just me. It was busy and I had fun looking. read more

Great, very knowledgeable staff Fair prices with a wide range of records and stereo equipment read more

Cool little store with a wide variety of genres, it really caters to the listeners out there. My favorite part is that they have a listening station where you can listen to vinyls before you make a purchase. The prices aren't stupidly steep like other places and the staff was really cool! 10/10 read more

They had a good selection of records with various genres. Newer/well known artist priced higher (which was expected) but there were some good finds for $3.99-$10. customer service was okay. Parking available and shared with a couple other stores in the lot. read more

Breakaway Records - Vinyl Records Near Me - Austin, Texas

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I love this shop nestled in shopping strip with coffee shop and vintage shop on North loop. They have some dedicated parking spots which is nice because this area is very popular. They have a wide selection of records to choose from. The staff is very helpful and non-judgmental. I really enjoy the atmosphere and the selection. I was able to find an album that I looked at several other stores for. I will definitely be back! read more

Gabe's rude and unpleasant behavior towards paying customers will convince you to go somewhere else. I've sat at the coffee shop and watched him get ugly with folks who park in his parking area or anywhere he thinks they shouldn't park. He'll come out and tell you he has written permission from the property owner to kick anyone off the property. Does that mean he can kick the property owner off the property too? Hmm... I've been a customer here but wouldn't risk it anymore. Best thing to do is park somewhere else (or go somewhere else). Being his customer is not enough. Have a look at the friendly little signs he has posted. WTH is wrong with this guy? read more

Breakaway Records - Gabe: not a happy guy. - Vinyl Records Near Me - Austin, Texas

Super cool spot! They have a great selection of many genres despite being a smaller shop. Their service is amazing and the friendly staff are always around to chat or answer questions. They have a listening station where you can check the quality of a record before you buy and also a great selection of discount records and cds and tapes. read more

Excellent record store. I find gems every time I come through here. Lots of different flavors.

An amazing place with amazing people. They were so kind, courteous, quick, and fun. I had a lot of heavy boxes to bring in and immediately the front clerk volunteered to help me bring them in. Had a quick turnaround on the pricing and it was more than fair fair. Now the embarrassing part of the story. I had my partner collect the money for me while I took the empty boxes out to our car. When we got home I counted the money and thought I'd been shortchanged. I called the store to discuss this. The manager was very courteous and in fact was the person who had paid us for the records. He pointed out that he had paid with '50s, which I'm not used to seeing anymore, and I realized I had taken them to be 20's. I'm an idiot. He was so polite and patient with me as I processed this. Please please please, go buy records here. As for me, I'm signing up for remedial math. read more

There's something satisfying about physically searching for music. You don't know what you'll find from tons of records here to choose from all organized by genre. You can get pricy rare records and bargain bin records around $3 too. Take an afternoon and enjoy the moment searching for music. read more

Wow! What gem we found on our vacation! Although we didn't buy anything, we loved the vibe! So great to see old school albums I grew up on listening to music and to be able to share what things do on the record players to my young adults. They loved looking through the albums and we talked about the artists and they know a lot from me and grandparents so they are well versed on music. Would definitely return again when we visit Austin!! Support local business! read more

Nice store. I had a little trouble finding something at first, but then I ended up with a half dozen albums. There's plenty of new titles at average prices like you can get anywhere, but there were some interesting titles in the markdowns and used bins that were definitely worth the trip. In town from Chicago, and was hoping to find Chicago/Texas blues, but ended up with a bunch of other stuff that I couldn't pass up. I'll definitely stop here again if I'm in town and recommend anyone looking for records in Austin put them on their short list of places to stop at. read more

Can not say enough good things about this shop. Excellent staff and fantastic layout. The records are meticulously organized by genre and group. Wonderful new arrivals section that was amply full of sweet records. I also noticed that they had a decent amount of vintage stereo equipment. Pricing was pretty fair in that it reflected the mid range price point on used items. My only complaint is watch for potholes in the parking lot! read more

Was able to check out this great record shop a good variety a lot of 45s a bonus ! Friendly staff ! read more

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We visited this record store while in visiting Austin. Being from Omaha we are blessed with some amazing local record stores. This record store was clean, staff were friendly, and prices were good. Nothing super cool or unique but just a solid record store. Definitely worth checking out. read more

This was a nice store, everything was well laid out and categorized. Large selection of cassettes and 45's. Mostly new and used vinyl. It was fun to look around but I didn't find anything I couldn't live without. I found the staff to be less than friendly. read more

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I was referred to this store by Tapehead Electronics. They suggested I check this place out if I was looking for quality vintage speakers for my turntable. Not only does this place have a great collection of records but they have a wicked selection of vantage turntables, receivers and other electronics. The staff was extremely helpful with answering the hundreds of questions I was asking about speakers. I'm new to the vintage world of vinyl so, I wanted to make sure I get some good speakers for my turntable and also what was going to be the best way to build my stereo. Gabe, was very knowledgeable of all things related to stereos and didn't mind helping me out one bit. He let me test out as many speakers as I wanted. He also made sure to explain the best was to set them up to my receiver. I ended up getting some acoustic speakers and they sound great! Over all I have never had such great service in any record store the whole staff was friendly and welcoming. I'm excited to start growing my collection of vinyl and this is the only place I plan to shop for records. I had also been searching for a great place where I could take my father who is an old vinyl collector. From the moment we walked in the staff was extremely helpful and friendly. My father is disabled and I was worried that the staff might treat him differently, but they we very patient with him and walked around searching for records with him. They made him feel welcomed and he enjoyed talking with them about his old collection. I'm new to the vinyl world and I had read more

Breakaway Records - Vinyl Records Near Me - Austin, Texas

I've been shopping here for a while, so this breaks my heart to say this but the tall, bearded co-owner really killed my entire vibe on record store day 2022-it soured my mood to a high degree. If this man talks to his employees like he talked to me, this place is not it. To the employees of this place, I'm sorry your boss is slightly a dick. Record Store day is stressful I understand, but I was literally the first person in line and had waited longer than anyone. I was excited! Though, this was not met with enthusiasm from the co-owner. With the opening lines of "I am grumpy in the mornings," he told me that my music I was playing on a portable speaker was distracting him from the music playing in the store, though the store door was closed and locked. This could have been said in a nice way, but it came across really aggressively condescending. To a point where when he walked away people in line came up to me to discuss what just happened, and to say that they felt uncomfortable with how he spoke to me and was staring me down. They also corroborated that the music was not loud. Shout out to the man who left the line because he was boycotting this store after the interaction, and said he knows the other co-owner, and was going to speak about it to him. Note to Breakaway, why send out the person who is self admittedly "grumpy in the mornings" to talk to people who have been waiting in line for hours and want to support you? Make it make sense. Now a day that was supposed to be fun kinda has been tarnished. :/ Furthermore, when I was inside the store I asked the employees if my music was really that loud. They told me they didn't hear my music at all. Bruh! All the employees helped me find what I was looking for today, thank you to the team. Y'all were sweet. But Idk y'all, support local record stores but the burly bearded co-owner gave me a reason to stay away. read more

My love for Breakaway has been a slow burn. It's taken years for this record store to become my favorite. I used to casually stop by after getting coffee at Epoch. Nothing serious. Just harmless rock like Elvis Costello. Then, I took our relationship to the next level. I showed up for Record Store Day. Soon, I found myself following them on Facebook. I was posting pictures of my finds. I was buying things for my guy (he was into it, totally). Now, I think about Breakaway when I'm at other record stores... and I feel guilty. It's hard to pinpoint exactly why I love Breakaway. Maybe it's their categories: guilty pleasures, rainy day albums, date night music, employee picks, rarities. Maybe it's that their records are so reasonably priced. It may even be more basic than all of that. Maybe it's simply because I always find something. I guess I could say I've never left unsatisfied. besides records, they also sell stereo equipment, t-shirts, posters & sometimes cases or shelves. The staff is aloof but helpful, if that makes sense. RSD was very calm & organized here, even with a literal storm brewing overhead. Overall, I would say the store projects a quiet sense of confidence & inner peace (like the nerdy, bookish type who secretly knows how attractive they are). Breakaway, I heart you, you humble heartthrob of a record store. read more

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Super helpful and excellent prices and great selection! I found some great Elvis records! Easily sorted too! read more

Breakaway Records - Elvis Presley records - Vinyl Records Near Me - Austin, Texas

We had fun looking at all the old records and cassettes, saw some artists we hadn't thought of in quite a while. read more

Breakaway Records - Vinyl Records Near Me - Austin, Texas

Very good store. Great selection. Prices were average compared to other record stores. I think records are completely overpriced in general as it's become a hip and trendy thing to listen to vinyl again. I prefer finding used records and not reprinted ones from my youth. They had a good selection. We will be back when in the neighborhood read more

A good friend of mine introduced me to breakaway one weekend and I absolutely loved it. Breakaway is in a local shopping lot that has a coffee shop, thrift store, and local set up tables of people selling various merchandise. It's a very homey spot. Breakaway has a fantastic of old AND new records and completely separates their records from genre to bands. It made looking around really satisfying. My find of the evening was an original "A night at the opera" album by Queen. They're prices are about what you can expect from an Austin record shop ranging from 5$ to most of them being 20-30$ read more

One of my boyfriend's and my traditions is to go to a record store any time we travel so he can get something to add to our collection. I looked up the highest rated record store in the area, and we ended up here. They have a ton of variety, and had some rare finds that made my boyfriend audibly gasp with joy. There are multiple listening stations and an area in the back where you can purchase your very own record player to take home. They also have wall displays of cassettes and a bookcase full of old VHS (Star Wars, Wizard of Oz, etc.), which were fun to browse through. The thing that makes this place is what I witnessed the staff do. A middle aged couple came in with their elementary-aged daughter, who lit up when she saw HELP and asked her dad if they could get it to add to her Beatles collection. She then went from case to case looking at records, and got very excited when she saw the George Strait section. One of the employees stopped what he was doing to go over and tell her they just got a new one in and they walked around together looking for it. They spent the next 10 minutes browsing records together and picked out a few together for her to purchase. She left the store when we did, with a bag full of new records. I also watched an employee walk a little boy over to a toy area and tell him he could take one thing with him. It's a very cool way to engage children while their parents browse the store. The only thing that stinks about this place is the parking is WILD. The space is shared by the store, a coffee shop, and a thrift store, and there was absolutely nowhere to park. There's additional parking in the back, but only enough room for one car to get by, meaning if someone is going in no one can go out. We ended up getting a spot, but then had to take 15 minutes to puzzle together how to back out without bopping another car. When we come visit, we'll definitely come back. Maybe we'll just park somewhere else and walk over. read more

Cute shop but the vast majority of records I saw were brand new and sealed. I could order brand new records to my door if that's what I wanted - it's nice to experience finding pre-loved vinyl! read more

This is a pretty cool chill place. I am pretty new to records and had a hard time finding stuff the first time I went here. The 2nd time however I walked out with about 5. I noticed on the price tags they buy a lot from Half Price books right up the road, so look there first if you want a real bargain. Obviously, you pay a finders fee on some stuff here, and to me that's ok. read more

When brainstorming for an unexpected gift for my husband on his birthday, Yelp really pulled through for me. It's always been a goal of mine to own a turntable. Though I grew up with one and enjoy playing vinyls on friends players, I never took the plunge. Inevitably, the perfect time presented itself to purchase one for our home. And so incited my vinyl record store quest. After a search on Yelp, I decided on Breakaway Records. A little intimidated as I'm no turntable or vinyl record aficionado - merely a music lover and admirer of people with deep knowledge on the topic. So, you can imagine how relieved I was when they were nothing but nice, welcoming, and educational they were. The gentleman walked me through every aspect of the turntable, phono preamp, and even suggested which used model to go with. I definitely would have made a mistake with my purchase without his guidance. We now have a sturdy and durable Technics turntable to call our own, and to make our house even more a home. My husband loved it. read more

I accidentally came 10 minutes after closing but the man working here still helped me find a needle for my record player!! I'm so appreciative. :) read more

This is my go to record shop. I just got into the game but this is where I bought my turntable (did research), I was going to buy it off Amazon but they had it in stock and I would rather support local. They have a great selection and helpful staff! read more

Don't sell your records to Breakaway Records. They will rip you off with a smile on their face.

Great place! Cool vinyl related things! So excited about my bowl made from a colored vinyl. Selection is decent but how it was all categorized is a bit odd for me. Nice people, wish I had more time to spend here and wish they had more vinyl. Definitely will be back here when I come back to Austin! read more