Growing up with a record collector for a Dad I have always had an affinity towards anywhere selling…read morevinyl . So whenever I'm taking a walk through St Nicholas Market I take time to pay a visit to Wanted Records. Record collecting may now be seen as a bit of a dying art form, so it's always a thrill to see collectors hunting out a rarity or bargain. On the whole Wanted are on the lookout for Jazz, Soul, Funk , Reggae and obscure records rather than pop, country and western or country music. If you're not sure whether what you have to offer is worth anything, it's worth giving them a call rather than dragging your stuff down to the city centre. It doesn't matter whether you're a serious collector, have something to sell or just want to listen to some great music - it's definitely worth a visit. And remember -"we don't buy records by Chris de Burgh"!

Ok...sorry all you other record stores in town (that I love very much) I have found my favourite!…read moreAnd although you might think that is a very subjective decision to make, you'd only be half right. You see the music sold here is the best ever made and is what all the music of today is born out of. Ok needless to say any shop that makes it so the first thing I see as I enter is a label that reads 'Hendrix/Who/Floyd' and then supplies their best albums directly below it in the beautifully preserved vinyl form gets my vote. It's such a fantastic record to store to be in considering they specialise in the old stuff (best stuff), it's so clean and dust-free, unlike some record stores where searching through the boxes and shelves of dusty vinyl can get pretty tiring. They also have the most beautiful collection of records, and tell me, honestly, does anything on earth feel as nice as The White Album by The Beatles on Vynil!? A thing of pure beauty (if your answer to that question is yes, go away, you suck). This is a record store for the guys mentioned in High Fidelity who are looking for deleted Smiths singles! While the owner and his friend (or random customer) discussed a blues record from Memphis in the 60s and play it for us mere mortals to hear and enjoy I began to think that anyone who wanted to start collecting records could enter this shop with £100 and leave with an extensive collection of the best music ever made. I left as the blues singer got into his lyrics, "if you catch me sober...please make me drunk again" and I thought...time to go to the pub.

Small vintage boutique tucked beside The Lanes bowling alley. This has an area for vinyl and then…read morethe shop has clothes on tall racks. There is a nice range of eras on show here, and very reasonable - I saw a 60s skirt suit here for £20. Keep an eye on their website/shop as they often hold vintage fairs here with the bigger space of the lanes available. Then shops from all over the country visit with some serious period panache.

If you're looking for a place of sanctuary, away from the generic high street stores found in the…read moreCabot's Circus/Broadmead area, come for shelter here. It's a cute little retro vintage store, with a small selection of individual items to spice up the fashion jerseys and plain jeans in your life. Found in the entrance to Bristol's city centre bowling alley, you could almost strike lucky with a well priced find. There's an especially good range of accessories and vinyl on offer here too and with a retro bar round the corner, you can't loose.

St Nick's market is full of weird, wonderful and useful stalls but Playback Records is the best of…read morethem all! In fact, my favourite by a country mile. You can always be sure of hearing some funk, soul or reggae that will blow your fragile little mind. They do stock other music, like rock and pop but they specialise in funk and soul and especially reggae and new dancehall. It must be great to own one of the stalls near Playback; knowing that all day long you'll get to hear brilliant music with no effort on your part. This hidden gem gets all the new releases from Jamaica and honestly I don't think you'll find any records like these anywhere else in town. The jazz and blues section is really outstanding as well; they've got some real vintage classics. The prices are good too and a visit here is a real must for collectors.

A fine Frome institution and worth the trip to Frome just to go to the record shop. Tucked away up…read moreone of the small side alleys/street at the bottom of the hill that runs up through the town. The place is a gold mine for lovers of music of all tastes with a wide range of CDs, DVDs and vinyl records. Every nook and cranny is crammed with musical delights and upstairs there is a wealth old vinyl sorted by decades and genre. They cover most bases from 50s and 60s rock through to modern dance music (although its not a dance music shop by any means). It like the record shop from film High Fidelity or how I imagine Wuxtry Records, Athens were Michael Stipe meet Peter Buck and formed R.E.M. You could get lost for hours inside (and I have in the past), if you dig around the website they often have a 10% off code as well.

Raves from the Grave is a very awesome shop which I have used to buy some of my favourite band CDs…read more I usually go there to look at their Goth collection, and I have walked out with a nice collection of CDs. They also offer music-based merchandise which I have walked out with before, many times. Some CDs can be a little pricey but this is due to their rarity, so I'll let that slide. The shop is small, but much like most shops in Frome, they did a good job of trying to organize it in a neat and tidy way which gives more room. They also sell DVDs. I have seen a number of wrestling and anime DVDs. I haven't bought one yet since they didn't have anything to my taste, but it's nice to have the convenience.

I'm writing this review begrudgingly, as I want all of the albums at this brand new shop for…read moremyself. Hot Wax Records has yet to launch officially, so please excuse the austere interior and lack of stock in place (there's not even a sign up, but owner Dave is still trading). Offering a wide selection of 12-inch albums, DVDs, modern collectibles, posters and comics, Hot Wax is one of Cardiff's newest "music and more" shops and soon to become my favourite place to spend money. I stumbled upon this jewel in the alluvial deposit that is Cowbridge Road East just the other day. Oh, but the vinyl, the glorious vinyl, many of which comprise my "dream collection" and most are all priced less than a fiver. If I didn't have somewhere to be, I would have happily spent the entire afternoon here, digging for musical treasure. Please note the store is closed from 1-2 for lunch, and as of last week the card machine system is not in place so only cash is accepted. Won't deter me, though!

This is a good quality furniture shop that supplies good solid wood pieces and can custom build…read morethem to your specification. The shop itself is set out in a really interesting way over three different floors of a house, which gives all the furniture on sale a much more personal feel. They do have a collection of 'bric-a-brac', antiques and some great old framed paintings and sketches. The bric-a-brac room (as I have named it) had a really fun quirky feel to it, almost like looking through your granddads old boxes of stuff. They even had a collection of old vinyl records, randomly positioned near some old walking sticks. I did feel like this shop was a real find and that if I kept looking I would find something really special. The furniture was all nice, well-priced and extremely functional, with nothing particularly 'zany' or extraordinary but all of it practical and solid.

Absolute nightmare!! I took a very valuable and rare stereo unit in for repair. When i called to…read moreconfirm collection - they told me they had sold it (for far below real value) to cover repair costs!! When i complained they became extremely aggressive. Stay well away from these criminals. I am preparing to take court action & report to FTC if anybody wishes to join me. Let's put these con artists out of business. CROOKS - pure & simple!

Feels like a permanent record fair in here, with vinyl lovely vinyl stacked in genre order all over…read morethe floor and secondhand CDs at hand-flicking height. Great for finding anything more than a few years old. Their dance music vinyl section is particularly strong. Go out the back and up a spirally staircase and you will find more vinyl and also lots of secondhand musical equipment and instruments for sale, from amps to guitars. Bonus is that it is open quite late as you will get sucked in here...

Plastic Wax is very much my sort of record shop. They've got stacks and stacks of second hand CDs…read moreand vinyl covering a variety of genres - I don't think I've seen such a range anywhere else in Bristol. The place has a very stripped down feel to it. This is more or less just a room with lots of boxes with lots of records in - exactly as things should be. Buying music is not a lifestyle choice here. The lack of effort at decorating the place isn't mirrored in their organisation though. The gigantic stock is well ordered, making it easy to find stuff. The prices aren't too bad, and if you keep an eye open for their clearance sales and you may well be able to pick up something on the cheap. They buy as well and claim to offer decent prices though I can't say I've ever sold anything to them. Plastic Wax Records can be summed up as a first class record shop with loads of stock.

From the outside this shop looks every inch the perfect record store. There's graffiti, vinyl in…read morethe window and posters supporting the latest cool bands. Inside is just as trendy. Filled from floor to ceiling with LPs, EPs and CDs. Having a record collector for a Dad I'm used to trawling round record shops, trying to find an elusive 50s jazz record, or a sought after first pressing. But Rooted Records is better for DJs than collectors - especially those who love jungle or drum 'n bass. This shop has a great atmosphere, but sadly I've always left empty handed.

This shop really does give out a vibe of "don't come in unless you're cool enough and know your…read morestuff". It always reminds me of the record shop in Nick Hornby's book, 'High Fidelity', where the guys live their lives through their record collections. Having said that, once you get inside it's a pretty cool little shop. The guys are actually really friendly and helpful. Gloucester Road is definitely a great place to come vinyl shopping in Bristol if not in the whole of the South West.

A warning to all you ladies out there: if, after dragging your doting boyfriend around the retro…read moreshops of Park Street, you loving ask, 'is there anywhere you want to go?' you may just end up at Forbidden Planet. This comic book and sci-fi mega store is every boys dream and every girl's nightmare. Be prepared to lose several very important shopping hours here. Having said that, it's easy to admire the scale of the store and the quality of the goods they have to offer. Even I, a sci-fi phobic, enjoyed flicking through the comic books and eyeing up the DVDs. It's a great place to shop for presents for boyfriends, friends and little brothers. And, luckily for me, the shop assistants are so helpful so even the clueless can pick the perfect stocking filler.

Comic book nerds and geeks (or those that think Sci Fi is so square that it's hip) from all around…read morewill love forbidden planet. It's not the easiest place to find - it's on the less visited part of triangle, so a little away from the main shopping drag on Park Street, but definitely worth making the effort for. If you're not into comics too much yourself, this is definitely a brilliant place to grab an original gift for someone who is - there's endless amounts of memorabilia. The stuff here is pretty expensive though.