That's Entertainment is a small chain of video game/dvd/cd stores, owned by Music Magpie with 29…read morestores across the UK. With my "regular" store on Market Street in Manchester City center closing I decided to visit this slightly smaller branch in Oldham, which as I recall is my first time visiting the That's Entertainment franchise outside the now closed Manchester branch, This store is quite new to Oldham and it does look nice to brighten up the Spindells Mall but sadly it seems to not do anything more than that, as inside it is like a dumping ground in a way especially for the decor. The cases and stands used to hold the CD's, seems to be cracking and falling apart and it was hard to get your game out etc because of the layout of the shelves, which was quite frustrating. It was quite hard to find games such as for the Xbox too due to the layout of the store really not being very good to be able to find your way around, without having to look at everything else first, a staff member pointed me in the right direction, they didn't seem too welcoming or friendly and eager to do more to help. This store in a way can seem to be forgotten, being tucked away into that corner of the mall and sadly it doesn't seem to be doing anything to block that from happening, when I visited the store it just seemed like they didn't care, which was a shame. This store is dwarfed by the selection and customers in CeX nearby especially for used gaming, so sadly I don' feel this branch has done enough to stand out or even be worth a second visit for me too meaning I sadly feel it deserves a single one star.

It's funny how you can live somewhere for ages and still make joyous discoveries, such as this. I…read morecame in here a while ago (having some how missed it!) and was delighted to see a shop dedicated to retro gaming. Although as I entered the front of the store had a few bare shelves, next to the DVDs that were on sale, as you delve further back there are many retro gems to be found. All kinds of old school games and consoles are on offer here, from Sega Saturn, Nintendo 64, Mega Drive and many more. I'm always on the look out to find old games and was really chuffed to see they had quite a few of my old favourites in attendance! All the classics, Golden Eye, Sonic and a range of Disney games to name but a few, were there before my gleaming eyes. They also buy in old stock, which is great news for me as I have a hoard of items that I really can't see myself playing anymore, so promised the guys I would be back soon with a bag of goodies for them! One of the best things, other than the old school haven of games, was that they had a whole hoard of Tartan Asia Extreme films on sale too. To any other fans of Tartan, you'll know this is pretty awesome, since Tartan Asia is sadly no more! I'd strongly advise getting in there and stocking up, if I don't beat you to it that is... To conclude: Friendly staff, awesome retro games, Tartan DVDs. That adds up to a win in my book!

This is a brilliant little shop which ok is not as cheap as cex most of the time, but the fact…read morethat majority of the time they have DVD's and games that cex don't more than makes up for it and are generally in better condition as most discs i get from there don't have a single scratch or finger print!! Considering its only a small shop they have a very large selection to choose from, for example you can get anything from super nintendo, and dreamcast to PS3 and XBOX 360 games and video cassettes to DVDs. Its deffinatly worth a look if you want to buy a box set as they are quite often fairly cheap. The service is very friendly and they know what they are doing I would recomend anyone to go in and have a look.

As the name implies, Endless Music is a secondhand music store that sells racks and racks of vinyl…read moreand CDs. Stock is arranged by category with sections devoted to rock, pop, punk, metal, new wave, funk, soul and folk. A lot of the records are too mainstream for my taste - think Madonna to Meatloaf, Bowie to The B-52s - but I was impressed they had about half a dozen early Dylan albums in top notch condition. The owner clearly has an equal passion for film and as a result, there's shelves devoted to film memorabilia, signed posters and photos, videos and DVDs. A note to sci-fi lovers, they also have a bewildering amount of Star Wars figures and memorabilia. Whether or not they'll be happy to part with them however, depends on two things: The size of your wallet and the size of your obsession with all things Luke Skywalker!

Confession: I actually didn't see the original Star Wars trilogy until after I saw the first two of…read morethe prequels. I blame my age. Customers of Endless Music may well want to tell me off for this as they stock Star Wars memorabilia. Ah, when those of the male species really like something they really do go to town don't they. The guys at Endless Music really like Star Wars and they really like records. They have an amazingly named Ebay shop too - blacktiewhitenoise and their website encourages you to have a look on there for some bargains. The shop buys records as well as sells them, and it stocks the artists you want on vinyl. If, like me, you are young enough to love the film Almost Famous despite not having nostalgia yourself yet secretly wish you were one of the characters: Led Zeppelin, the Rolling Stones. That kind of thing. Because lets face it, you can trawl round every Oxfam in the North West but no-one gives away these kinds of vinyl - they sell them.

A good mix of CDs and vinyl that also tailors to the more eclectic tastes. Friendly employees each…read moretime I've visited. Deals in new product mainly. If you have more eclectic tastes this is well worth your time.

Sizzling Soul Fabulous Funk…read moreBrilliant Broken Beats Awesome Abstract Hip Hop Fantastic Free Jazz Dazzling Dubstep Sweeeeeet Lovers Rock Beautifully crooned Country Amazing Americana Classic Chicago House Tantalising Techno Pogo-ing Punk-Funk Perfect Pop Gorgeous Psyche-Folk Blistering Garage & lots of cool Rock & Roll Don't mean to get all High Fidelity on y'all but Piccadilly Records is the Northern equivalent of Rough Trade East. They have aisles of incredible vinyl on 7", 12" and long-players, tons of new and re-issued CDs and listening decks where you can check them all out. Even better, most of the staff are deejays so can give you the lowdown on the tracks that are the most fly. They also host in-store gigs from emerging and established artists. What more could you want?

Hmmm, in my opinion, Cheshire Oaks should have something a bit more well known such as HMV or…read moreZavvi...anyway, this shop is ok, sells most CD's and DVD's and games that you would expect but considering it is on the outlet side, prices don't seem all that much cheaper.....

DJ Shadow would have a field day in X-Records…read more From the outside it looks like your average, old skool music store. Walk down to the basement however, and you're greeted with the sight of thousands of 7" singles, 12" EPs and 33" albums stacked floor to ceiling on weight-bearing shelves. Look around and you'll notice there's thousands more records housed in boxes and crates all around you. Some of them are clearly marked Hip Hop, Reggae, Northern Soul and so on, others are simply marked Sale and have reduced stickers on them. Gloriously, X-Records sells a combination of new and secondhand vinyl, making it a bit of a one-stop destination for collectors and deejays. Naturally, there's some records that were destined for landfill but dig carefully and you'll find plenty of gems from Patti Smith and Television to Frank Zappa, Captain Beefheart and Can. Prices are low, most of the stock is in great condition and there's lots of deleted and obscure titles in-between popular albums. As for the kind of music they stock, X-Records sells everything from prog-rock, punk, indie and heavy metal to country, folk, blues, hip hop, rap and ska to free jazz. DJ Shadow's score to Dark Days: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IgWn9ZdyiAE

X Records is a real forgotten gem of a record shop which should certainly be on the radar of anyone…read morehalf serious about their records. Basically, as no-one ever remembers this place exists outside of Bolton, you can find loads of ace deleted stock, usually at knock-down prices because the owner doesn't have a clue what he's doing. That means stock that is not available anywhere else, not marked up as a 'rarity'. There's a decent array of styles and genres, with modern releases nestled up against an extensive metal and hard rock selection. There's also a load of decent reissues on the shelves. Tucked away in the back is a dedicated dance area where you'll find shaven headed lads nodding furiously along to kiddiecore donk or whatever they're listening to that given week. Thanks to some changes in staff (be it that they left to pastures new or were 'let go'), X Records has sadly lost its way slightly and these days, it seems to be afloat thanks to Kiss memorabilia rather than selling records to enthusiastic teenagers. That's a shame as this is a shop that has done wonders in shaping me and my musical tastes over the years.

this is good shop for guitars drumsetc. tiny shop but jam packed with musical goodies ie straps…read morestrings electric acoustic amps and loads more

This HMV store is located inside Intu Potteries in Hanley, Stoke On-Trent. It is quite a nice…read morestore, it is a good size and a good selection of dvd's and cd's. I mainly come in to take a look at the cd's, especially albums from Englebert and Frank Sinatra, I noticed a wide selection of CD's, in some form of alphabetical order, yet I found it to be disorganized, it was arranged into categories and then alphabetical order, hence became confusing, and I didn't realize that until I got all the way through the alphabet a good 2-3 times. The layout of CD's really needs sorting, as it did seem confusing, as they was such a big selection it always would be hard arranging them, but they didn't seem to do a job here. Prices for me seemed a little pricey, a little expensive but still some of them were on par with Amazon's price for new, but considering what used CD's can be bought for and from other sellers new on Amazon, it was a little pricy. For example, as CD's are going out of fashion, they should be much cheaper, and I still was hesitant about paying £6.99 The signal in this store is weak, so it can be hard to price-check on your phone. As this store appeals to a younger market, selling entertainment products, this is one of the stores that doe and should have some sort of wi-fi, or at the very least some 3G/4G signal, and considering even Lush has free wifi, HMV should too! The staff here seemed okay, although he seemed hesitant about signing me up to the loyalty scheme and telling me it wasn't free, as I thought it would have been, which is a little bit of a rip-off and makes it less of a rewards based system, and more of a punishment. I decided not to subscribe as I rarely visit HMV. The range of all other items was okay / good, but still the prices remained poor / satisfactory, even the offers were confusing, for example Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked can be bought for £5.99 or £2.99 for any purchase, but still it remains £3 to buy on Amazon and it sells for about that, making it not much of a savings. The 2 for £5 / £10 offer also was confusing, it was on cheaper albums that were not really worth much online, and only few of them. Overall, it is just too pricey here and they make the prices seem great by using "Special Offer" promotions which is a little misleading, considering this factor, an issue with the arrangements of the CD's, the staff being merely average, I feel I can only give this HMV store 2 stars.

HMV in the Potteries Centre has a very large selection of DVD's, CD's, video games and consoles…read more The prices tend to be quite good and they regularly have special offers such as 3 DVD's for £20 or cheap games console bundles. The store layout is very good. Everything is arranged into different categories with special sections devoted to things such as the current top 40 singles so it's easy to find the what you are looking for. The staff are friendly and even though there is sometimes a large queue, they are very fast at dealing with people so you don't usually have to wait long.

Northern Quarter, you're spoiling us with all your record shops! Next thing we know we're not going…read moreto be able to choose one! Like Piccadilly Records, Eastern Bloc, Vinyl Exchange and so on and so on, Vox Pop offers a ton of records for your inner DJ. Or your outer one, be that your profession. Shifting between mainstream and obscure is its forte and if you can't find that coveted rare 70s disco compilation elsewhere, chances are it'll be here. The website's pretty amazing too, you'll find a hand-picked collection suggestion from that epic Manchester stalwart Mr Scruff and you can even order online. But why would you when there's a treasure trove on Oldham Street just waiting to be unearthed? Spanning across genres, the shop's repertoire is darn large and stopping here is a must for any discerning music fan. If you're a collector or even just looking to liven up your musical life, I couldn't recommend Vox Pop more.

If you're a music lover and record collector you won't want to pass this gem of a store by. Vox Pop…read morehas spent a decade winning our hearts by stocking hard to find records from just about every significant music genre to have graced our ears in the last 40 years. From Hip Hop, Rock, Punk, Dance, Soul and obscure Disco, there is a record in here waiting for you to find it, whatever your style. Luckily for Vox Pop aficionados who spend hours upon hours lost between aisles of audio bliss, there's some light relief in the form of deli Love Saves the Day where you can refuel on coffee and snacks to keep you going well into the afternoon.