I travel the country seeking out record stores wherever I go, and I got an overwhelming amount of…read morerecommendations to visit The Record Exchange. Honestly, I was wildly underwhelmed after how much it was hyped up. It reminds me a bit of Zia Records in Phoenix, but a version that has kind of lost the plot. Their record selection was much smaller than I was expecting, as the knick knacks and gifts have all but swallowed the store. I understand in this market, to survive you gotta sell socks...but the sheer overwhelming amount of tchotchkes prattling to Swifties and pop culture made the shop seem incredibly dorky and visually overwhelming. It felt more like a tourist spot than an actual record store and was not very relaxing to browse in. Not to mention how pricey the tchotchkes and such are. $8 for a sticker? No thanks. Their t-shirts have a premium as well, at least $5-10 more than other local record stores. The record selection was...okay. They had some cool stuff as far as reissues but the markup was high. (Which I understand because distributers already charge a premium). The used records were alright, I found some cheap gems in the $2-5 range that were in the VG+ range. But it was nowhere near what I expected. I still supported them, but I doubt this would be a return spot for me since I'm spoiled by Zia and Amoeba. I love what they provide for the community, but it's probably not the spot for more serious record collectors who want to browse without a bunch of kids yelling next to them.

The Record Exchange will always new a core memory for me. Growing up, we used to frequent the…read moredowntown location and their old venue off of Cole. Coming here for the dopest new music will always be a great memory of mine. I haven't been to this joint in years. It brought back lots of memories walking in today. My husband was checking out the music and I headed towards the novelty part of the store. I loved all the fun things you can look at. From magnets to hats to ramen bowls, there's something neat to look at at every corner of this store. I appreciate that they have tables that you can kick it at while sipping beverages or checking out what you purchased. I also love that they have Idaho merch for sale. If you're looking for a unique gift, The Record Exchange is your joint to hit up. I'm happy that this joint is still up and running. Music is huge in my life and some of my fondest childhood memories are from here. It was great seeing people in the store today looking at stuff and supporting this dope local business.

Great selection! Very affordable and wide variety. My family left with multiple books and we are…read moreall very excited to get home and read them!

Great selection of used books and some new. Price is half of the original list price but if you…read morebought the book on amazon, walmart.com, eBay, etc. you probably got just as good deal if not better. They also buy used books, videos, cd's, records, and games. Yesterday I brought six boxes of books, video games, and movies; most were in like new condition. They might sell one quarter of these in the store and ship the rest to their warehouse or for recycling or use in other locations. I was given the great total of $16.11. It was really an insult. Many of these were coffee table size books, and books about things like aircraft, aircraft carriers, Titanic, architecture, history, music. Many originally cost over $40 and were like brand new. Don't expect much but at least they're recycling things for you if you're gonna throw them away anyway.

Ok! This place is amazing! So random too to be located in the mall. It's like a trip down Nostalgia…read moreLane! Holy shit! I was so excited to just stumble across this place yesterday. Remember back in the 80's, 90's, 2000's going to the mall and having stores like Sam Goody, Virgin Records, or Borders Books and Music?! How much fun that was! Was always exciting for us 90s kids to spend some time in any music store back then, getting the newest CDs, going through the insert & then basically memorizing the entire cd in a matter of days lol...as long as it was good haha! In the late 90s and early 2000s I ran a music store and then mid 2000's worked at a Hastings in Flagstaff. This place is VERY similar to Hastings. Aww I miss Hastings. What a great store. Music stores in general I miss so much. tons of CDs, Blu-ray's, and DVDs. Pretty sure I saw a shit load of games as well. LOTS of stuff to go through! It was busy as hell in there too which made me even happier to see. Used or not, what a fantastic place and I am so happy it's in existence. Even if it doesn't last as long as it should, it's wonderful to see it and to see so many people there and going through the music and whatnot. I didn't get to interact with the staff. They were busy. I only saw one employee. Hopefully he wasn't the only one there bc it was definitely busy. I get the crowds there have to do with Christmas shopping, BUT! seeing the store and the tons of people there, it gives me hope. Want a cool little flashback to the 90s when life was incredible..and the music was top tier...check this store out. Just getting traffic in there will help keep this place going. Maybe it's pop-up? Who knows. I love it. Thanks for reading, YelperEntertainerees! Cheers!

Nerds Unite! I first read about EntertainMart via one of the apps I follow for new businesses…read more To see EntertainMart through my eyes of complete nerdiness was something else entirely. Let's start with the basics of what they have DVDs CDs Records Movie Posters Funko POPs! Anime Comic Books Manga Baseball Cards Pokemon Cards Game Systems and their cartridges I was browsing the Funko POPs! when my brother yells from across the store, 'Yo Bro! Check this out!' I was thinking he found something that I probably had seen before but not today! There was a section of classic Atari 2600 game cartridges. Here are some of them as of Sunday Adventure Battlezone Centipede Crystal Castles Defender Football Joust Pele's Soccer Star Raiders Yar's Revenge but wait there were more... Activision game cartridges as of Sunday were Boxing Dolphin Enduro Dragster Tennis Freeway Kaboom! Pitfall! Starmaster Stampede and Barnstorming Oh Lordy! A flood of memories hit me like a Kaboom! bomb. I was instantly transported back to my sweaty teenage room of the early 1980s, with my Atari 2600 connected to a small black and white television that had a rabbit ear antenna. If by chance you were able to get a high score on one of the Activision games, and then take a picture with a polaroid, you could send it to Activision for a game patch. Each game had its own unique patches. For Freeway, the patch was from the 'Save the chicken foundation' and featured a chicken running in a blaze of glory For Kaboom!, the patch was from the Activision Bucket Brigade and looked like the one in the picture attached to this review. The most coveted one was for Pitfall! It depicts Pitfall Harry swinging over a pit and into a pile of treasure. I attached an image to this review. After about several months, I had most of the patches. My mom was so sweet that she ironed them to my backpack and like the nerd I was, I went to middle school in my OP socks and Sperry Topsiders, and my Activision Patched backpack. I remembered all of this when seeing the games at EntertainMart. It's a super cool place that will fill the void when Hastings left many years ago. A couple of notes EntertainMart will buy, sell, and trade your DVDs, CDs, Funko POPs! and more. EntertainMart has a lot of specials and deals. There are mystery bags of music and DVDs. Check them out, they are near the Dillards top entrance at the Boise Town Square Mall.

The overweight sales rep with short hair is the worst customer service rep I've ever experienced…read more Personality is absolute garbage. And I say this understanding that she is a cashier at video game store & would probably be doing something else were she capable. When you have zero personality & customer service skills, at least try & fake it. Line was forming, and she would not ring up anyone until another person working there was finished "buffering." She was extremely annoyed when I asked if she was able to ring anyone up while the other employee was buffering. She snapped "well if I do, I would help the person in front of you." Well I would hope so, thats how lines work, next in line. This employee obviously could care less if she worked there, was not interested in selling the store's merchandise and she has undoubtedly cost the business money in the past with her terrible attitude and customer service. Look elsewhere until this person gets fired.

Bought a controller for 60 bucks and it doesn't even charge. I had broken my old controller and…read morebought a new one and I connected it but it never stayed on i plugged it in doesn't work and I left it in for 4 days and still dident hold charge.

If there is anything more wonderful than lots of books, it is lots of books mixed in with the aroma…read moreof freshly brewed coffee wafting in the air and the sound of classical music playing in the background. Well, maybe not entirely classical as there was a bit of Katy Perry's "Fight Song" set to violin and that was pretty sweet too. Add the friendly "welcome to the store" when we walked in (through the music section...and they have vinyl records there...do people still play vinyl...I remember when it was the only option) and we were inclined to like this B&N right out of the gate. All of the constructive criticism offered by Charles F in his good review are spot on. This is like a gigantic swap meet in some respects too with the old records and he racks and bins of deep discount books along with best sellers. But depending on what one is looking for, that could come in handy too. And then there is the huge selection of their regular stock. And a big children's section if you are trying to encourage children to learn the value and delights of holding a good old fashioned book in their hands and diving into the world of possibilities books hold for them. We went in for what we thought would be an hour and but for needing to be somewhere else, we reluctantly left two hours later with still more shopping we could have done. The customer service people were very helpful too. There was a specific book in which I was interested and while they had one on the shelf the book was damaged. Or as the service person says, "This looks manhandled." Yep. And since I plan to display it, that is a problem. She offered to order another one for us and have it delivered to our home or to the store. Nice. We took her up on it. (I'm doubtful though...this book is out of print...if the book actually arrives this will be 5 stars. :-) ) We three years after moving to the Treasure Valley to explore Boise's Barnes and Noble. We will go back soon. THIS N THAT: 1) PARKING: Private lot which seemed to have lots of space. 2) ACCESSIBILITY: Accessible parking in lot. Level in and throughout the store. Aisleways are ample. Coffee bar is "set up" but there is a ramp on one side. Standard height seating in coffee area. Accessible loo for him and her. 3) COFFEE BAR: We didn't sample the brew or snacks there, but there is a coffee bar in the middle of the store that appears to offer both Seattle's Best and Starbuck's. Several tables with chairs and a few stools at a high counter. The tables had lots of people reading and working at them.

I'm giving stars for the people working because they're delightful! but my god. I don't want to…read moresound horrendous for this but the homeless man allowed to just hang out there with his dirty cups and shoes off is so gross. it's got to be a sanitary issue. he's reading all the books and PICKING AT HIS FEET. WHAT!?! How is this acceptable?! I'm never touching a book there again. I get its warm outside, but set some boundaries for the love of god.

Fell in love with this shop the second I walked in. The couple that run it seem so polite, kind,…read moreand professional. While they did not have the book I was looking for, I wasn't able to walk out empty handed. They have a wide variety with great prices! I saw this display on my way out and was so tempted to get one. But I will definitely be planning a return trip for a blind date with a book.

This is actually inside the Avalon Antiques shop…read more The owner has a table where he inspects the records by hand for scratches and other flaws. He cleans up the records and puts them in a plastic record bag with pricing on the outside. Everything on the top of the table is guarenteed to play and are all the cleaned records. Everything is sorted by genre and are in alphabetical order making things easier to find. All of the bottom "bargain bins" are $2 or less and aren't inspected but of the few I've gotten from these bins work just fine. You could spend over an hour in here looking and still find something new. I highly recommend coming here and looking for old records.

From the owner: We are located in Caldwell inside Avalon Antique Mall Are…read moremission is to make shopping for music as much fun as listening to it! Our Inventory is Organized and features a friendly, knowledgeable staff.