My review is based on one visit, so keep that in mind.
Looking at a record shop, I consider the following:
1. Selection
2. Price
3. Service
This place is reasonably close to my office in the Warner Center, so I stopped in to get a load of CD Trader. When I was a kid, there was a place in Reseda called Record Trader. Is there a connection? I can't say there's any resemblance, but at one time, there may have been a move from Reseda to Tarzana... I can't be certain of the history.
Back to CD Trader; the store is large-ish. It can be hard to gauge the selection of a place that seems to deal primarily in trade-ins, but they do carry new stock, and a lot of the basics were missing (only a couple of Miles Davis records in the Jazz section, etc). I did leave with a few LPs and a couple of CDs, but they may have made more sales if the stock was arranged correctly. That is to say, genres were off, artists weren't correctly alphabetized, and it's not just that there was some sloppiness, the overall organization is just "off."
Luther Vandross filed under "Rap?" Is that because there's no R&B section, or do the employees not know the difference? Again, every genre I visited, either in CD or LP, was totally disorganized. I found a Love and Rockets CD three rows down from where it ought to have been. I know record store patrons can be rude jerks, but the two staffers sitting behind the counter really could have been out there sorting the collections rather than making snarky comments about the patrons after they left the store.
Prices... all over the road with the price scale. I picked up a few titles that were ridiculously under-priced (vinyl in great shape, cover near mint for $1.99) and some stuff was just way out of whack (not making any judgement on new-stock vinyl for a relatively small store - I don't know what their margin is), but for garden-variety used CDs, I was constantly surprised how much they thought they could charge.Usually they wanted more than the iTunes price, if I was a retailer, I'd try to avoid that, considering I'd probably given the kid I bought the CD two bucks store credit for the thing. As I said, you might get lucky. The staff seems to have no idea how to price the inventory, and that may benefit you.
Service... I can't make a judgement there. I didn't ask for help, except to ask if they carried fanzines/magazines (answer was "no") and they were friendly enough during check-out.
I walked out with six titles, and paid $30, averaging five bucks per. Not too shabby.
ALTHOUGH - I accidentally bought a Wu Tang best-of CD that turned out to be the "edited version." I should have been warned! Who wants a cleaned-up, censored Wu Tang Clan CD? That's like buying a Picasso where the eyeballs have all been moved to the correct positions on the lady's face as not to confuse anyone. Boo!
I threw it out the window on the 101 somewhere near De Soto. I should have been warned, but I will not hold it against CD Trader. read more