I haven't been in the store in a very long time, but back in the day it was one of "the best" stores to find great vinyl records for cheap prices! read more

3 stars for not being so cheapo after all. Collection is great however the prices do not reflect reality. What most businesses do not realize is, in this era with mailing not being so pricey anymore, the shops have opened up a whole different market. Then there are platforms like amazon and etsy and OfCourse discogs. The same shop now has multiple channels and yes, even those are buying local. Do i come here often? Yes, I do as this is entirely based on emotion and availability but am I extremely satisfied? No. read more

I was traveling when I stopped in here so I wasn't going to get any vinyl - tho I did see they had some gems. What I did dig into was the graphic tees. They have such a diverse collection of original stuff There are great band tees, Ghibli stuff, and more on quality blanks. They seem to be printing their own stock and doing it on quality blanks. Best of all, it's 3 for 50$ which is pretty ... cheapo. read more

Great selections but it isn't even cheap. The person working the front up charged me by $9 and was rude to my friend when she wanted to pay. I ended up getting posters instead of records, because it was a buy 3 for $25. I got 3 posters and 4 stickers which would be $33 but i was charged $42. They didn't give me a receipt and all the worker at the front did was type on a little keyboard numbers and he was awfully rude. I do not recommend going here. read more

Boston and Cambridge used to have so many excellent record stores when I was growing up, most of which have long since closed. Fortunately, Cheapo records has been holding its place on Mass Ave for many years. Cheapo Records is a moderately-sized store with a mix of new and used records, across lots of genres. My partner and I had the chance to visit again recently and both walked away with a couple selections. In fact, both of us found titles that seemed to have been eluding us elsewhere (her a soundtrack and me a couple reissues from the 60s/70s). Gotta love that feeling of finally scoring the record you've been coveting. The owner(?) at the register was super friendly and we had a good conversation before we left. Hope to be able to stop by again next time we're in the Boston area. read more

Cheapo Records - Outside - Vinyl Records Near Me - Cambridge, Massachusetts

We asked the staff if we could try on the T-shirts, only to get chastised by the neurotic owner for... trying on a T-shirt. Seriously? That's retail 101--people try on clothes before buying them. Maybe stick to online sales if in-person shopping is too much to handle read more

I feel like a fool for continuing to patronize this record store. I won't do it again. The current owner (not unlike the last one) treats his customers like they are a nuisance. He has repeatedly rung me up without even once looking me in the eye, talking to someone else behind the counter like I wasn't even there. Who needs that? read more

Most reviews of this store are older so I'll review after a single visit to note: they may have some obscure titles but mostly what I saw was a Newbury Comics-like selection. Not complaining that Keep It Like a Secret spotted me as soon as I walked in the door, but others I found were the National, Pavement, Angel Olsen, Pixies...all music I like, but not obscure by any means. And prices are $25+ for reasonably recently released stuff. read more

Cheapo Records - Vinyl Records Near Me - Cambridge, Massachusetts

The last of it's kind in the area. Hard not to appreciate that. Decent bargain section and good selection of some rarities. They're definitely fair with pricing. Minus one star only because they're 100% selling bootleg tshirts. read more

Shop: cool exterior with neon lights, awesome record sales at $1 and inside music lovers heaven. Cassettes and Cassette players, Cassette and cd players, record and record player, posters, uniquely designed clothes, vintage clothes,, pins and more! Service: there was one person at the register but the we came in near to closing so they weren't too busy and we had plenty opportunity to ask for assistance or checkout . Price: there is definetly something for any price range here something cool to visit if you're touring around town for the first time like my family or coming back for deals like my boyfriend and I will be. Tip: They are also at the SoWa markets on Sunday and have a couple racks of clothes tops, shorts, pants, vintage etc for sale in addition to posters if you want to check them out there as well I'd highly recommend! read more

Cheapo Records - Vinyl Records Near Me - Cambridge, Massachusetts

Not much house or techno, everything else seems well stocked and store is easy to navigate. If you are looking for some gems and keepers, this is the records store to go to. Fair when it comes to selling and the prices on all the items are as expected. Bottom line is Fair and honest. That goes a long way. Some record stores will lowball you and be rude when selling. They are the opposite and hope they continue that service. Its a nice store, lots of good records to buy new. read more

A cheap O is not necessarily a good O. I've paid a lot of money for Os. It depends on who you're paying, I guess. And I suppose, an O is an O. Now these are what I call memories. A truly remarkable and legendary record store that used to be located in a subterranean shop just down the street, and now has expanded to this larger store which has extremely high prices, but so much variety and selection and so many hidden gems, and such a history, not to mention such a nice - and left wing - owner, that I can't help but to give it a 5 star. I first came in here when I was 16, and last came in here about 2 months ago. And many, many, many times in between. read more

See all

Followed the inviting website to Cheapo's to sell my DVD collection where I was flat out told they aren't buying DVDs. Not what the website states. Tough location to get to, no parking, and after schlepping three bags of discs to the shop there was no love at Cheapos. Planet Records and Stereo Jack's had no problem cherry picking through the collection and saving the day from being a waste of my time. Poor location. No parking. Unwelcoming staff. No love. Not again. read more

Great selection of new and classic vinyl. Well worth the visit. Best in the area !!!!

Been there several times over the last year to re-build my vinyl collection of my youth. Have a great experience with the staff. The used selection has been fantastic. I love flipping records the way I did in the 70's. The store is a bit cramped on a weekend visit. The price of used is comparable to anywhere else. Consider me a fan of cheapo. read more

I have been a customer since I was a teenager. I am recently retired and have been collecting vinyl through my years working in a few large Boston clubs in the DJ booth. Cheapo records is not cheap anymore. Horrible customer service. The guy behind the register has way too much attitude as he was scanning the several albums I purchased. I felt like walking out but spent lots of time searching and finding music from my wish list. There is no excuse for rude behavior and bad attitudes these days especially for overpriced vinyl. Now I realize why I was the only person in the store. In Your Ear on Comm Ave is so much better and the owner is a really nice guy. read more

AN ABSOLUTELY MUST DO! 4 & 1/2 STARS. VINYL, ALBUMS, 45s, Disco Discs, CDs, Cassettes VHS & other formats from a bygone era. They have both New & USED. Some are still shrink wrapped in their original jackets after many decades. Although this shop is small it is jam packed with MUSIC. If you are familiar with Amoeba Music in California this place is like a smaller version of that store. It's been in existence since 1954 in Central Square Cambridge. They both buy & sell records & have very knowledgeable people working here. You got to support your local record stores. It used to be, you had to have mega bucks & be really rich to have the Good Life, not anymore. The Game has changed. You've been Upgraded. Now You Can Live Like a King on a Limited Budget! read more

Incredibly rude staff. Nothing else to say really. I come in here on my lunch all the time but thats at an end. Also quite overpriced.

Owner is rude as all hell and pushed customers away because we wanted to try on clothes we were going to buy along with multiple records. When we asked how it would fit his response was "small medium large" shrugged and walked away. Not even the first review that says this guy is rude shame read more

What the hell happened to this store..?! I know it is under relatively new mgmt. But wow it's gone totally downhill from its past glory. Overpriced common junk is the only way to describe the records here. Sorry. If you are into vinyl and know your stuff, there's nothing to see here. I was in and out in under 10 min.. Focus is now on clothes and posters..Shame really..used to be a great place to score some rare gems with the constantly rotating vintage LP stock. Used to have a great dollar bin..No more. Tons of modern reissues now. Reminiscent of Newbury Comics. Probably will not visit again. RIP Cheapo. read more

A staple of Central Square. Cheapo has been in the Square since the beginning of time. Original pressings. Re-issues. 33, 45, 78, 80 Edison and CD and DVD. Buy, sell, barter or trade. You cannot go wrong. I saw today, they are selling new rock T-shirt's and used winter jackets. Priced very reasonably and a great staff too. Parking?! Meh, it's Central, you'll park far away and hoof it. read more

Came here for records and found two "limited edition" records. Both were 50 dollars. both of them were in poor condition with dents and scratched. These people are scammers read more

Staff is rude and act inconvenienced if you dare ask a question. The owner constantly has a scowl on his face. Majority of stock is overpriced junk. Worst record store in Massachusetts by far. read more

I really want to like this place. Yes, it has a great selection, especially blues...but the pricing kills me. Discogs/eBay pricing like you wouldn't believe, which is okay, but I'm talking high high end of Discogs pricing (ex. If median Discogs sale price is $7 and highest ever paid is $14, but somebody is selling on marketplace for $22, it's going to be $22 at Cheapo. It's worth stopping by to take a look, but don't expect a deal. read more

This place has a decent selection of records but to be honest I haven't found anything too out of ordinary and the prices are slightly higher than I've seen else where for the same thing. Also customer service is a little rough around the edges. Not my favorite spot but they do have some good stuff. read more

This is a legendary used vinyl store that dates back to the 1970s. Cheapo's has been in continuation operation at or near its current location in Central Square since Central Square was an undeveloped war zone full of hippies, reggae bars & petty criminals back in the day. This is the Holy Grail of used music in Cambridge, MA. You walk DOWN into the store, bypassing the most utterly vintage rock jazz & blues posters imaginable. This place is so hip & has been so hip for so long that the locals dont fully appreciate it. This place is a Goldmine (pun intended) of used music. Visiting or living in Boston, do not midd a visit here. read more

They have some pretty cool vintage clothes. Found a pretty cool sweater, so I tried it on. A worker came over and told me I can't try on clothes. "Oh, sorry," I reply. He says, "There's a sign right there." "Ok, sorry..." He then snatches all the clothes I was interested in buying and whisks them to the back room??? Would be a pretty decent establishment if it wasn't apparently run by assholes :/ read more

I've seen many other reviews talking about the short guy who works here. But jeez, he really is a complete douche! I asked him to see a record behind the counter to check the condition and he didn't even let me hold it. It was $80, and I said I was gonna buy it. I continued to browse and I had some of my other shopping bags in an area of the store, so I didn't have to carry them around. The short dude walks up to me with a super rude tone and starts giving me shit for keeping my bags there. Which was strange and annoying because they weren't blocking anything. Really weird to be rude to a customer who's about to spend $80. Anyways I bought the record, but I wish I hadn't. I wish I just walked out and didn't give them my money. The other employees actually seemed nice tho, so nothing against them. But the dude I'm talking about has a huge case of the short-man syndrome. IDK maybe his wife left him for someone taller or something. Also, the actual records here aren't impressive, too many reissues and very overpriced, like probably 30% higher than what the actual price should be. They sell fair condition records for $20 and more, labeling them "As Is" knowing it's gonna play bad. Just put it in the dollar bin! Don't come here, Stereo Jack's is a great record store in the area, which isn't run by a douche bag like this store. read more

Cheapo Records holds a special place in my heart. The first record store I went to once I took up collecting vinyl records as a hobby. I usually dig for Rap, R&B and jazz and they have wide selection of records and a really cool & knowledgeable staff. I told Brendan (store manager) I am Cape Verdean he was able to bring up a band from my parents day that I wasn't very familiar with. Kinda cool when I can talk to someone about Nas' Illmatic album and a band my parents listened to. Highly recommend this place for a newbie looking to get into vinyl or a seasoned vet looking for some gems. read more

"Can I take your bag?" "I'm sorry?" "I need to take your bag" "I'm sorry I'm not sure I understand." "There is a sign to check in your bag" (Indeed a small barely visible, blending-with-the-background, hand written sign on a teared cardboard box is there) "Is there any reason behind this?" The owner from behind the counter steps in: "Because you are in my store and I said so!" "Hey dude, you don't have to be rude about it!" The attitude and rudeness of the staff made me just speechless and I left. Sorry for just barging in, it won't happen again. Music selection? Well, I'm not sure, they intimidated me out of the store in under one minute. So let me get this straight, you assume everyone walking in is a thief and came in to steal. You are afraid someone will steal $10 worth of records and that's why you need to check in their $2000 laptop with you. Yeah right, get a grip please. Despite all of this, if they calmly explained their bag policy I might just have handed mine to them and bought some records. Instead I spent my $50 in a competing store in H. Sq. The irony of all this is, they did not look that trustworthy to even trust my bag with them. read more

Cheapo Discs in Central Square has a lot going against it. For one thing, it's the most expensive place in town. Discs average $12-13 each, noticeably more than they do in every other place in Cambridge. For another, I can't figure out if they merged with Skippy White's or what, but I had this terrible experience with Skippy White's once where they sold me an empty CD case and then I had to argue with some dude for like ten minutes to get my money back. Seriously. Skippy White's sign is now outside Cheapo's, along with Cheapo's sign, and I don't know what that's supposed to mean but I feel conflicted. Anyway, the selection turns out to be pretty good, although the hip-hop area is negligible. But the dudes behind the counter are still kinda dicks. And my wife - you know how cats can sense ghosts? My wife is like that. Including the part where cats can't actually sense ghosts, they're just crazy sometimes. My wife felt so crazy about Cheapo that she just took off after a few minutes. Met me outside. And this is a woman who's usually cool with me spending 45 minutes going through the quarter bin at some dude's yard sale. I don't care whether it's ghosts or the greasy guys behind the counter: if my wife gets skeeved that fast at any place, I'm either gonna take off or tell your mom to put her pants back on. I BOUGHT: The D.O.C., "No One Does it Better" ($13). The D.O.C. was a member of the NWA family who released one album and then got into a car accident that severed his vocal cords. To Death Row's credit, the dude is still hanging around in like every video those guys make. They took care of him. And this album's pretty good. I was psyched to find it. read more

I had been to the old location of Cheapo Records quite a few times, but since I left myself out of the loop in regards to its new location (yeah, I thought they were defunct) I've only just managed to check the new store out. Four years. I guess this proves I don't walk around Central Square much anymore. Cheapo Records looks like they got the organization thing down now. No more cheap CDs in milk crates underneath a table. No more tricky vinyl searching. But yes, they still have the bag check-in sign (now even more prominently displayed right as you walk in). The most prominent medium that Cheapo sells is records. Tons and tons of vinyl records splurge out before you as you enter the place. I can't speak for depth, but given the amount of genres it certainly looks like they've covered variety. They also have 7" records if you prefer the lighter vinyl. The CD section is pretty good in respect to quantity and price. Each new disc tends to go for around $14-15 while used discs vary from $6-9. I didn't see a really cheap bin anywhere. Most main artists had a good selection of their titles. Like the vinyl, most genres can be found here, though I'm not sure if one will always be able to find that new release. However, like someone said earlier one can likely order something through these guys if they want something in particular that they don't have. They still sell some antiquated media like VHS tapes, but also include DVDs for sale. Due to its volume of material and competitive prices, Cheapo Records is an excellent music store to stop by in Boston. read more

The manager (short guy with short cut) very rude and lacks customer skills. I didn't know asking a question about YOUR inventory results to you having an attitude. I was excited to spend my money but I'll take it where it's valued. read more

My favorite record store. Ever. My dad has been taking me here since I was a wee bebe. The first time I saw "High Fidelity" I immediately thought of my dad and his pals at Cheapo. These guys know their shit and will help you track down rare items. read more

They get an extra star simply for being a surviving record store. A lot of people swear by this place, but they never seem to stock the sorts of records that I'm interested in. The last few times I have ventured in, my reason for walking out the door was some intervention from the extremely rude, condescending staff. I can handle a little snark and even a bit of well-placed surliness, but getting mocked because I didn't notice their "no bags" sign written on a piece of cardboard box is not acceptable... particularly when said bag had no chance of ever concealing a record due to its size. My friends who buy old funk and soul records say this is the place, but as a rock guy, I rarely find much in here worth buying. Looney Tunes, In Your Ear and Stereo Jack's are all better bets. read more

Anytime I walk out with over a $100 bucks worth of records I'm definitely a big fan! I wasn't sure what shop I wanted to end my trip with so Cheapo Records was recommended by another shop and I'm glad it was! I picked up a lot of records I've been on the hunt for and can now cross off my list. The condition of the records I bought were great and there wasn't a lot I looked at that were in bad shape. Granted, they have a LOT of records. With the time I had I scratched the surface and made out well. They have a lot of stock for the soul/r&b listener, jazz, rock and pretty much anything in between...tons of singles. The guy behind the counter was friendly and cut me a deal if I paid with cash. Next to In Your Ear, this was my favorite record shop in Boston based on what I found and walked out with. read more

The problem with Cheapo, as I see it, is what others may view as its greatest attribute: they only have the weird obscure stuff. Case in point: look in the Miles Davis section. On a recent visit, there was only one disc in this section: not Kind of Blue, not Sketches of Spain, not Witches Brew-- but the tribute to Jack Johnson album. No, not THAT Jack Johnson (thank god their paths never crossed!), but still-- a record store that doesn't have Kind of Blue? Huh. Same goes for the Beatles section. You'll encounter bizarro picture discs and interview albums, but the classic full-lengths themselves are MIA. This likely owes to Cheapo's status as one of an increasingly rare breed: a record store whose stock is almost entirely-- perhaps 95% or more-- used. This means the stock depends on what the people are bringing in, and when the people are beginning to think it might be good to hold on to that old Miles record, after all, they probably won't sell it to the store. Yet, for deep appreciators of obscurity like my dad, whom I previously thought owned every single record ever pressed, Cheapo is a godsend. Here he encountered what I would perceive as mediocre, but what he sees as memory-provoking, long-lost pop records he hadn't seen in twenty years and probably never thought he'd see again. Pricing is OK, averaging about $6-8 per record and about the same for CDs. There are a lot of sealed LPs, but very few are actually "new", leading me to believe Cheapo landed itself a huge pile of deadstock at some point. And with a huge selection of oldies, rock/pop, world, and even gospel, Cheapo can appeal to a wide audience. The CD selection is not great but not shabby, and there are some hidden gems to be found in the video section as well. read more

Had one of the worst experiences of my life. Horrible experience with the male white employee working on 5/27/22 at ~2pm who lied straight to my face and almost stole my quarter zip. I was shopping around in the t shirt section, and took off my quarter zip because it was a warm summer day. When I later left the store and realized I didn't have my quarter zip with me, I went back to look for it and he was incredibly rude and said he didn't see anything. He also claimed that I had left shirts all over the place, which was completely false ... it was another girl that was there that did that ... I don't know if there were microaggressive racial undertones involved because she was also Asian, but will give the benefit of the doubt. When my friend went back to check for my quarter zip a second time, she found it hung up on a rack, with the zipper zipped up and ready to be sold. This is absolutely unacceptable behavior, and by no means an innocent mistake because my quarter zip looked NOTHING like the other pieces at the store and there was no tag. For fucks sake, it was from Brandy Melville if that helps paint the pictures. Disappointed and will be spreading the news. read more

Excellent record store. Conveniently located and great selection of vinyls, including rare albums difficult to get (unless you order them online and pay for shipment). Prices are perhaps on the high. However, you can also get some really good deals if you take some time to browse among the thousands of records they have. Also, all records I got from Cheapo are in really good shape. So far I visited the store twice and I can tell you there will be a third one... (and fourth, fifth...) read more

Beware of scammers, bought a t shirt in June and still have not received it. Called records store number no answer was able to call number on my emailed receipt. The guy never followed up after he would refund my money via check and send me another t-shirt. Didn't send tracking ID for package like he said he would and stopped answering my texts. read more