I went to 4 non-chain record stores when visiting the East Bay and this was by far my favorite. In fact of all the indy record stores I've visited in the last 3 years, this is my favorite. Well organized, easy to browse bins. Collectables and dollar bin affordables. I picked up some great lounge records in excellent condition. Great sound system in the store and excellent music selection by the owner. When I got there I saw that he was cleaning records, a welcome site! Put this shop on your must visit lis. read more

Whenever I'm in town, I go to Dave's. Whenever I go to Dave's I spend money on his impressive stock.

Too notch used record store. Dave plays records that you either remember or had not heard before and you end up buying. Terribly elaborate selection.Rock to Jazz to Hip Hop and a lot in between. Definitely a dig in the crates store. read more

DO NOT BRING YOUR VINYL LPS HERE TO SELL!!! I am older and had a record collection of over 500 LPs. Much of them were 1960s and 1970s classic rock. I also had some jazz. What I really loved was my collection of about 50 blues albums. Some of them were really scarce or rare. I decided to part with my collection. I have never sold LPs before. I brought about 25 of my blues albums here. I know a lot about blues, but am not familiar with the resale process. I had some wonderful blues albums. Dave went through them. He then offered me the sum of $100 for the entire lot of 25 albums, which I reluctantly accepted. Some time later I brought him some different albums to sell. I saw that one of my blues albums which he bought was priced at $50. Another one was priced at $40. Again, these are just 2 of the albums he bought out of 25 total. The owner of Moe's Books in Berkeley, gave me the name of Rick Ballard. He is the owner of Groove Yard, a record store in Oakland. He has an encyclopedic knowledge of music and is as nice a guy as I ever met. I brought him my remaining 25 blues albums or equal scarcity as my albums I brought to Dave. He paid me over $400 for all of them, or more than 4 times what Dave paid me. I also brought him other albums, for which he paid 3x or 4 times what Dave paid. If you have any LPs you want to sell, take them to Rick. He has an international clientele and is honest. For Dave to do what he did is just sleazy. His store is also really tiny. read more

The best record store in town. Dave is a great guy, his products are priced competitively and are always well packaged. He has the great taste to stock 78s, and his sound system is stunning. read more

Digging through the new arrivals boxes, I found a rare, beautiful copy of The Blue Nile's "Hats" (gorgeous ambient pop from Scotland, The 1975 happily admitted they ripped them off for "Love It If We Made It") and an awesome glow-in-the-dark reissue of Spiritualized's "Pure Phase." To my delight, I also found an OG pressing of Lucinda Williams' s/t debut in the shelves ("Passionate Kisses" is on this album; it sucks most people don't know she wrote it and sang it way better than Mary Chapin Carpenter.). But what I loved about Dave's were the crazy great speakers blasting The Cars' "Just What I Needed," which sounded glorious on them--and I'm not even that much of a Cars fan. read more

Vinyl. No Dave. Alan is cool. Small, but excellent selection. Love Dave's. 5 stars. BTW, vinyl is super cool. read more

Dave's Record Shop - Vinyl Records Near Me - Berkeley, California

We've been to a couple of record stores around the east bay & sf. It had the best selection of dollar records by far. The prices on the other records were also great! Loads of 25 cent 45's you just have to look through the stacks! read more

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Went in looking for a record player, he didn't have one but schooled me up on what to look for, price range and even gave me a few places to check out. Has a great record selection (especially if you like jazz), super knowledgeable and friendly. Would recommend checking out. read more

Great local shop. Worth checking on the regular. Nice guy. Fair prices. Also has used stereo equipment.

Great selection of Jazz. Very fair pricing. Kind and helpful service! Can't wait to go back when I'm in Berkeley again.

Love this shop. Well curated collection to choose from. Found some really good stoner rock albums. Plenty of Jazz and a nice $1 bin. Will be back again. read more

Keep trying to check this place out but has wrong hours listed. I'll just stick with Strictly Vinyl in Albany.

This is my favorite record shop in the East Bay. Dave is super friendly and low key and plays awesome music.

This shop is pretty small but there were some good jazz selections there although pricey ! The owner was pretty nice and offered to help locate what I was hoping to find. I got lucky and found a record that I was looking for at a halfway decent price but make sure you bring some $$$ if you want the collector editions. read more

Dave's Record Shop is the sort of place that if you are coming here to buy vinyl, there's a good chance you will walk in and think, "Damn I want to be Dave." This small, but neat space is the kind place you want to work in. You get to listen to great music all day, you get to talk music all day, and since its vinyl, the store really attracts people who are passionate about music, no matter what genre it is. I have a theory that the more time you spend in Dave's, the more you will inherently learn. Just by hearing something old that is really something new...and by suggestions from Dave or other patrons. If you listen to vinyl or have a favorite album you want to own in every medium, make sure to stop by Dave's. I think I'm going to apply for a part time job here.... just to have a reason to hang out. Great $1 album rack. Various selection of classic rock, jazz, & soul records. read more

Dave's Record Shop - Vinyl Records Near Me - Berkeley, California

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Love this record store! Most of the store is dedicated to jazz records, with a sizable rock and soul section too. I usually dig through the new releases and $1 bargain bin before seeing what else is in the store. I also love that they have a listening station if you're undecided about what you're going to buy. read more

Best digging spot in the East Bay & Best dollar bin anywhere. Prices are great and selection is too.

I can't believe I'm only barely writing a review now after years of going. One of my top three record shops in the Bay. I appreciate Dave's knowledge and his jazz section. Also great rock and soul selection. I always go straight to the new records section. During covid shut down recommend calling for hours! read more

Decided to take myself out on a date on my day off and Dave's Record Shop made that day that much more beautiful. I got some amazing $1 vinyls such as the Commodores, Johnny Mathis, Samantha Sang, and many others! I am so grateful for this shops existence. I don't see myself getting vinyls from anywhere else now. read more

Dave used to be the record guy at 33 Revolutions in El Cerrito. That space was too large for the shop to survive and it closed in December. He's reopened in Berkeley on San Pablo, just down the block from Black Oak Books. It's a small, tidy store w/ a hand lettered sign in the window. It looks like a store out of my childhood in the 50s. He was playing a record from the 60s or 70s. I didn't ask what it was, but it sounded good. He sells vinyl only. He also buys. He's a nice guy and deserves support. We have a bunch of vinyl and no functioning turntable. We had a turntable but rarely used it and now it doesn't work. We are music lovers but not audiophiles. The radio and CDs work for us just fine. Alan collected a dozen or so of our LPs and today we took them in to Dave, who looked through them and offered us $30. That seemed fair, particularly because they weren't being played. There are three more places where LPs are stored in our house. We're going to go through them and take more down to Dave. Might as well put them back in circulation. There are clearly people who will play and enjoy them and we're happy to clear more stuff out of our house. read more

Nice little record shop nestled in the surprising environs of West Berkeley on San Pablo. Dave has got a good selection of older rock records (heavy on the 60's and 70's titles but with other gems scattered in as well) and a strong Jazz section. Prices on the rock LP's are generally great, while the rarer Jazz stuff is pricier, but that's just a fact of life I guess. I went in for the third time yesterday and came out with a clutch of cool titles for less than $30. Miles Davis' Live-Evil, a D12 album, and a bunch of 12" singles, including the Bangles' Hazy Shade of Winter cover from the Less than Zero soundtrack. I had a nice little chat with Dave about that last one... He's quite friendly and we seem to always have something to talk about. All in all, Dave's is a great addition to the East-Bay record scene. I'll continue to siphon 5% of every paycheck to Dave for the foreseeable future... read more

This store has: Knowledgeable owner who can recommend previously unknown records that you may like, but not in an overbearing or creepy way. A record player to check out the records before you buy them. Wide selection of mostly pre-1990s music, across almost all standard record store genres. There's 2 reasons this isn't a 5 star review- not much punk/d.i.y. vinyl and almost nothing past 1989 besides 12" singles. Here's to Dave's surviving this crap economy for decades, cheers! read more

I actually sold a lot of LPs to Dave a few years ago -- offered them to him instead of getting ripped off by Amoeda or Rasputin and he came out to my house to get them -- but have never been to his store until now. It's a small store with only LPs. Reminded me of an LP store that I use to go to in the Sunset District in SF; only a bit smaller and much cleaner (less dusty). Selection and condition of the LPs -- mostly R&R and jazz -- is pretty good and prices are reasonable. Doesn't take long to go through all of the bins. Not sure if it's a regular thing at the store but the best deal there is the 25 cent (or 5 for $1) bins right in front of the door. Mostly common R&R but I found some mint classical SETS (with 3-4 LPs in them) and some hard to find popular albums in the bins that I got for just $1 which really is a STEAL!!! Also bought a couple of regularly priced albums but the thing that will draw me back are the 25 cent bins. If you're into LPs, it's well worth the trip there just for that! read more

If you're one of those people with a sickening and unrelenting obsession with vinyl, you should really check out Dave's Record Shop. It's a small store, with a small selection compared to places like Amoeba and Rasputin, but on my first visit there were lots of quality records, and the prices were totally reasonable. I was mainly interested in the rock and jazz sections, and while both certainly had plenty of things you can find in any record shop, there were also some pleasant surprises. And again - the prices were very reasonable (they really don't seem to be trying to gouge their customers). What made my first visit to Dave's particularly memorable was when flipping through the robust and eclectic new arrivals section, I happened upon an incredibly elusive EP by an insanely obscure early-80s British post punk band that I never in a million years expected to see in a brick-and-mortar shop in the States. The price was fair, the condition was great, and a purchase was made. I'm admittedly a bit late to the Dave's train, but that's only because I was living abroad for 3-4 years from the time the store opened. When I got back to the states, I heard some murmuring about Dave's and finally had the chance to see what all the fuss was about. At any rate, Dave's might not blow your mind, but it's definitely a business worth supporting, and it's nice to have a newish little hole-in-the-wall record shop at a time when so many of them have disappeared. read more

As good as a local record shop gets these days. I went on Record Store Day and found many decent vinyl selections with fair prices, slightly below Amoeba and way below Ebay. Prices matched conditions, and a couple rare records (Harrison's Wonderwall, Crazy World of Arthur Brown, etc) were under $20. YAY. read more

I hesitate to write this review, because I want all the records for myself, but Dave and his record shop deserve good feedback. If you are looking for a good selection of jazz, funk, soul or classic rock records, efficiently organized, and at good prices, Dave's should be your first stop. He doesn't have a huge selection of new records, but that's because he's careful with what he buys and understands what his customers are shopping for. I always find something to buy something at Dave's. His dollar bin often contain great, lost artifacts--sometimes records sold for five or ten times as much elsewhere. If you ask, he'll play any of them for you, so you don't get robbed on a crunchy record. And watch out, you may find yourself buying the record he's playing when you walk in--I've discovered more awesome treasures walking into Dave's than anywhere else. read more

Dave's holds the honor of being the smallest record store that I have ever entered, however in this quite cozy little store is quite a nice selection of jazz, soul, and rock vinyl. The jazz selections in this store were the highlight, encompassing the most shelf space (the two islands in the center of the room) along all four walls were the soul and rock records. The front side of the first "jazz island" is dedicated to $1 records. The prices in the store were very reasonable and the selection was fairly good. read more

Really great small shop. Seems like the kind of place you check out once a week on your list of other similar places to see what's come in. The guys working here are super nice and very helpful. I picked up a used turntable here and was given a ton of helpful info both over the phone and in the store. This is definitely a place to frequent and shoot the shit while digging through records. read more

This place is an awesome find. I've been 3 or 4 times now and Alan was really chill while I browsed the selection for ten or fifteen minutes. He changed up the records a couple times while I was shopping around. While ringing up my selection he was friendly and shared some knowledge of my choices and offered some more recommendations. It's hard to review this place cause on one hand it feels like a hidden gem, but the place is so likeable they deserve the promotion. If you dig vinyl, checkout Dave's. read more

I heart Dave's! After years and years without, I've finally got a record player and I'm slowly but surely building my collection. Dave's is a gem. It's a good, old-fashioned record store with a focus on classic rock, jazz, blues, and other standards. It is primarily a used record store, so I recommend frequent visits to get the best out of your record-finding karma. While I might not find the beautiful new indie releases at Dave's, I can count of finding a pristine or playable favorite from the 1960s-1980s. Prices are really fair to excellent, and the $2 bins on the floor are full of playable favorites that still sound fine. If you're into discovery, there are boxes of inexpensive, well-worn 45s and 78s in the front window and a free box outside. A listening station in the corner allows you to preview your purchases. I give Dave's four solid stars for stock, location, and the great tunes he plays in the store (thanks for cueing up the Stones). Five stars is for service and honesty - I purchased a record a couple of weeks ago that I didn't preview, and it just wasn't what I had hoped it would be when I got it home. Despite the lack of receipt, he took it back and exchanged it for a record of equal value. Super solid! read more

Great selection of vinyl, dished up by an extremely knowledgeable proprietor. I love vinyl records, I love the smell of a real record shop: Dave's is treasure. read more

Great shop with a well curated selection and excellent background tunes. Glad they're open again - keep the music alive.

Dave's rocks hard. Everything is fairly priced in regards to its quality. Never picked up a record of poor quality from Dave's. Great selection of "vinyl-era" stuff that you don't always find everywhere else. Always a satisfied customer. read more

I like this record shop. A LOT. For one, its a real-deal record shop. They have RECORDS. And, lots of them, in all different genres. In fact, they ONLY have vinyl. And, that's a treat in these times. Dave is super friendly and genuinely enjoys what he does. You can tell he enjoys all kinds of music based on what he plays while you're in the store and he always plays something interesting. The speakers set up in the store sound really good and it's likely to get you to buy something you didnt intend on getting. Another plus, there's now a listening both. Which for me always helps with experimenting and buying things that I would normally pass on. I'll recommend Dave's to all my fellow collectors and hopefully in this growing vinyl market he'll keep on truckin' read more

Cool little vintage vinyl shop which specializes in Jazz, and also has Rock, Soul and lots of other records - and tons of dollar records. The owner is super nice! Amoeba and Rasputin are fun to visit, sure - but there's something so nice about visiting a smaller vinyl store. Five stars for a great selection, lots of hard to find goodies, super nice owner, sweet location and adding more vinyl to the Bay. read more

Love this place. Small demure dusty record shop and you can listen to the records before buying too. Dave used to sell out of the 33 1/3 spot down the road. You can find some pretty unique and rare vinyl here and not spend a fortune like you would at an amoeba or larger store. Love this place. Vinyl!!!! read more

I visited Dave's for the first time today after hearing that a new record shop opened in town. I'm happy to say that I was very impressed with my first visit. It's a small store, which is very nice after being used to Rasputin and Amoeba (not that they aren't great too). There is just something nice about walking into a record store and being able to chat with the owner. Dave seems like a very nice guy as well. My only complaint is that some prices were a bit higher than I would expect, although I don't think that's too bad for a brand new store that needs to try to keep its head above water. I was able to find several things that I've been seeking for awhile, so that was great too! Please visit and help keep this store alive! read more

This is a really nice, low-key, small, ultra-local, vinyl only record store, clearly being operated just for the love of it. They specialize in jazz and soul, and rock to a lesser degree, with modest selections of other stuff (I'm more of a world/country/roots music guy myself) with more turnover in the larger categories. The prices are remarkably fair and the stock is well-chosen and well-curated; in an era when many sellers are jacking up the prices on badly damaged vinyl, Dave's has LPs in good condition at reasonable rates. I like it so much that I'm probably going to take them some of my overflow, just to help them out. The store has a great vibe and is a pleasant place to browse and, if you're in the mood to schmooze, the owners are very personable and down-to-earth. Combine this lack of 'tude with the steady stream of excellent music, and you'll find this to be a pleasant shopping experience. This is what the best records stores used to be like, way back when. read more

I've been trying to buy a turntable for a while now so I thought I'd stop by here and hopefully help out a local business. Unfortunately the owner did not express any interest in chatting with me in general or finding out why I walked into the store in the first place. Very cold reception and even when I asked for help I didn't receive much back. read more