I love a good music store. Such stores are few and far between, mainly due to a shift in how we listen to music. We are more into streaming it than physically owning a copy in some form, be it digitally as music files, or on a CD or record. Frankly, I've adopted both methods. I stream music wherever I have a wifi connection. However, at home, my music collection is a combination of digital files from my years being an iPod fan (the best device to go on a road trip and bring your own music without thinking about data charges), and playing albums on my record or CD player. I was recently in Leslieville, waiting for a pizza order. It would take thirty minutes for the pizza to bake. You can't rush a good thing. I decided to take a stroll around the area. I found In the Groove. I was first elated to see a music store full of records (vinyl to those who like that hip term), CDs, cassettes, and more. My heart sank when I saw that this store was closing for good. Wait a minute, though. A man walked out of the store. Is it really closed? I stood in front of the store and read every posted sign. The closing date was January 31st, 2023. It was February. I looked at the other sign that said that the closing sale was held over. Yes! I still had mixed emotions. It's always sad to see a music store close. I went in to check it out. I am the type that I can spend hours in a music store, looking at everything and ending up buying some good albums to add to my collection. I only had fifteen minutes before I had to leave and fetch dinner. It was the best fifteen minutes and I made it count. A man behind the counter said hi to me. We would later trade first names. I got Sheldon's business card, who is the owner of this fine business for 25 years. He lives in Richmond Hill. We both talked about how it does take a bit of time to get to Leslieville from York region. I found two albums that caught my attention. The first was Duran Duran's Seven and the Ragged Tiger. It's a classic. It was my first cassette tape purchase in my life. I still have it. I want to return and get the record version. There were two copies of the album in the store. What I settled for instead was Peter Cetera's Solitude Solitaire. I have always enjoyed listening to his music, either with Chicago or his solo work. I oddly did not own anything by him until I decided to get this album. The downside was that I did not come prepared with cash. Sheldon said that he had disconnected his payment machine the prior month and only accepts cash. He let me know that there was an ATM machine down the road. He asked how much the album in my hand was. It was going for $8. He was generous to offer it for $5 if I had cash. If you know me, it is rare that I have cash on hand. I had a $5 and a twoonie. So rare. He didn't want the latter. He was fine with $5. I got a $5 album from a generous man. He saw that love for music that we both shared. His kind gesture meant a lot. Besides being a music lover, Sheldon is a professional photographer. He told me that he has loved what he has done over the years. The pandemic caused him to lose a ton of money having his store closed. Although he originally had the end of January as his closing date, he is playing it by ear and will decided at the end of this month whether he is done for good. I need to drop again by before it shutters for good. I am hoping that his store is still around a bit longer. It's a gem, with 45 and 78 RPM records that I still need to explore. Part of me wishes that I had found this store sooner. However, I'm glad that I did recently. I met a nice man behind the business who sold me an album than now has more meaning than meets the eye. (45) read more

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In The Groove is officially closed Liquidation July 2024. All records will be recycled hand to hand.

Sheldon is super friendly and chatty. I didn't find anything that I wanted, but my friend joyfully browsed the plethora of records and ended up taking four home. While he was browsing, Sheldon kept me entertained, and another regular customer came in and joined the conversation. I can see why the other reviewers found him too busy to help since he's so chatty, but it's fine to interrupt him. He's just that neighborhood shopkeeper that enjoys chatting with customers, not necessary the corporate employee who maintains professionalism at all times. Stop by and find a good record, or just go chat with Sheldon. read more

Would never go back here, and would suggest no one go ever. This place had a huge 50% off sign in the window, so I decided to go in today. After looking around and finding some stuff to buy, I went to the cash and the man behind the counter quotes me the sticker price for each record. After reminding him there is a sale, he explains to me that the 50% off sign is only to "entice" customers to come into the shop, and there is a much smaller sign behind the counter inside of the shop saying that 50% off is only on "Groovy Tuesdays". The prices in the shop to begin with were also WAY too high. Even when thinking things were 50% off, there was really only a handful of things that I would consider being worth buying. Hopefully this store will not be around for much longer. I can't imagine it will be the way it is being operated. Even if someone gets tricked into buying a record once, there is no way I could see them returning to ever spend another dollar there. Lots of very poor business practices at play here. I go out record shopping several times each month, and will not be adding this place to my list of stores to check out. One star is generous. I will be telling everyone I know to avoid this place. read more

I've only been here once (I'm a west-ender and this place is out in the east-end which might as well be Pickering for me), but needles to say I did walk out with about 5 albums that day. This is a great place for higher-end used records and rarities (original Sgt. Peppers, etc.). I can remember raising an eyebrow at some of the prices (you want how much for Steely Dan?) but did manage to find an original Kinks album in good nick. The owner is a really friendly guy who clearly loves music and knows a ton about it, but not in an imposing or intimidating way. I get the impression he'd love to chat about music with customers all day (and probably does). Also the huge rock posters and vintage chatchkis add to the overall 'flea market' vibe, but in a good way. read more

This place has gone downhill drastically over the last 10 years. Filled with junk, and the few records that are decent are absurdly overpriced. $70 for a '70s press of Blonde on Blonde? Also, the deals/sales they promote (e.g. 25% off all vinyl) are extremely lame since every decent record in the store is exempt from the sale. Avoid. read more

I agree with everything Gary E.'s review said about the shop. Prices are higher than most east end shops but they know what they sell, what they have, where to find it and what its worth.. ie; they place a value on the content, condition and where the record was pressed, original press or later release etc.. Keep in mind, some of the more rare desireable albums are priced at $30-40 but would go for $30 in CD form if you could find them. So you have to keep prices in perspective. Their selection is very condensed to rare desireables and less so "middle of the road mainstream music". Within 20 minutes I had picked up 7 rare albums that I was looking for with help from the very knowledgeable staff. After 2 hours of pawing through a couple thousand records in some shops, I usually find something, but usually not what I am looking for. A good selection of rare and desireable jazz, latin, rock, blues .. not sure what else - my first time there, but their taste in inventory seemed to suit mine. I rated them at 4 because they are well-organized and they know the product. read more

The previous poster is right on about the absurd prices on easy to find items. I've tried to tell the owner that he's got way too much stuff on offer, but he likes the idea that if you come in dying for some Johnny Rivers, you're going to find 8 albums of his right there under the R. The whole store is like that, so expect to do some wading. He's also got a huge selection of Beatles and Stones stuff on separate shelves above the bins. He's not into vinyl reissues - it's a bit of a nostalgia trip in there because you're going to be flipping through tons of stuff that will never be special enough for a reissue. But if you're looking for a copy of Rush's 'Signals,' for example, I found 3 copies to choose from so I got a nice clean copy pretty cheaply. Best advice: wait for his 2wice annual 50% off sale. He had the 50% sign up last week (late October) read more

This place has a good selection of records. The owner was friendly and helpful. It looks to be a place for collectors. There are lots of older records in great condition, though prices seemed kind of steep in that case. ($30-40 for Billy Holiday or the Beatles as I recall. Is that steep? I have no idea.) Now, I was looking for some Sade, which is perhaps not so hard to find, but she's amazing so who cares. I picked up two Sade records in great condition for $10 a pop so there is no way I can give this place less than 4 stars. read more

A varied selection of records, prices seem pretty on par for Toronto as well - make sure to check out the shed full of records in the back as well. The rest: I've been by three times now within an hour of their opening time and it's never been open one of those times (my conclusion: it never opens on time). Another time I came by and a 'Be Back in 15' was hanging on a locked door. So in 5 times here, I've only actually managed to make it inside once... Like other customers, that one time, as I walked in, the owner appraised me of the 'sale' but when it came time to pay wasn't interested in applying it. I wasn't in the mood to haggle but know that the sale is 'flexible'... read more

I've been to this place many times and I've never bought anything there. Prices there are much higher than any other place I've been to and the store doesn't have the selection to justify its high prices (need convincing? It's a picture of a Rick Astley LP in the shop photo)....and to top it off, the owner can be really crusty sometimes...guess I'd be crusty too if I sat there looking at all those unsold records everyday. read more

Great shop. The owner is knowledgable and friendly and the selection is varied. Great if you are looking for that hard to find record. I'll be back! read more