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?

A smaller shop but always has choice vinyl and CDs. A large selection of Manchester artists and a…read morelot of really cool artwork on the walls. All of the employees I've encountered are too guys who are there to make sure you find what you're looking for.

Whilst Vinyl Exchange and Piccadilly Records stock an incredible range of music from americana,…read morepsyche-folk and rock to blues, soul and punk-funk, Vinyl Revival is more of a specialist store that deals with everything related to Manchester's musical history. We're talking rare and hard to find posters from The Hacienda and Factory Records, limited edition 12"s and promo pressings of early Stone Roses, Smiths and New Order and every album by A Certain Ratio, Durutti Column, Buzzcocks and Magazine. If you're after something in particular - like Barry Adamson's* brilliant imaginary soundtrack album Moss Side Story - just ask and there's a chance they might have one or know someone that can get you one. It's that kind of store! * Who's Barry Adamson? The charismatic bass player in seminal post-punk band Magazine, early member of Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds and now a full time solo artist and soundtrack composer of course!

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.

Clampdown record is a well-organized shop with a solid selection of harder to find titles. As I…read morebrowsed through their indie and Manchester sections, I saw a lot of titles that are well sought after. Pricing was fair and the clerk (owner?) behind the counter let my partner and I browse without any of the bother you sometimes get in record shops. I would mark this as a must visit when visiting Manchester and hunting for vinyl.

Great record store right in the heart of Manchester city centre. Small store, but lots of vinyl to…read morechose from & reasonably priced. If you love Japanese or audophile pressings, this is a store you will love. I also found a section dedicated to bands from Manchester like Oasis, Stone Roses, Happy Mondays & New Order ect which is cool to see from a store based in the city centre. If you are after signed LP's you are in look as Clampdown Records features a nice little section dedicated to this type of collectible. Overall this is a great little store that I have visited every week I pop into Manchester & have bought quite a bit of stuff from here. The owner is friendly & very knowledgable about his stuff. I was asking one time I visited about Japanese vinyl as I had heard their pressings are superior when compared to American or UK pressings & pretty much gave me the full rundown of which periods this is true of + things to look out for. Great store with a very honest, helpful owner.

If it was in the Northern Quarter, Deco would be constantly bustling with deejays and producers…read morelooking for new sources of inspiration. Tucked away in suburban Withington however, it's a bit of a well kept secret. I've only popped in a handful of times myself but each time I spent a good twenty to thirty minutes flicking through the racks looking for treasure. There's hundreds of CDs for the iPod generation and crates of lovely, dusty old vinyl for record collectors. As all the stock is secondhand, the quality varies record to record with the cheapest records usually being the most scratched or warped. Genre wise, Deco seems to have a bit of everything from pop and rock to funk, soul, reggae, hip hop and jazz. You're unlikely to find a rare Ornette Coleman or Karen Dalton album here but you could probably find lots of Ella, Louis and Billie. The first time I went I picked up a Kate Bush album I'd been after and the second time, a mint copy of Johnny Cash Live at San Quentin. Endearingly, Deco also sells the kind of secondhand books you'd find at Record and Tape Exchange in London. We're talking hefty rock biographies, contemporary fiction, crime fiction and the occasional cool comic book. As you might have guessed, I'm a bit of a fan. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5Ts4M3irWM

One of the things I miss about my South Manchester days is the collection of treasures it threw in…read moremy general direction. Sure, I'm surrounded by this sort of stuff in the Northern Quarter, but the jumble and bargains of Withington were pretty awesome. If you take a trip to the Post Office, bet you'll get seduced by Deco. This shop's achieved its five stars for me because even though I no longer collect DVDs, here they're mostly £3, which is technically cheaper than renting a movie for the night (after all, it is mere minutes from our apartment) - and you get to keep it! They're arranged by genre too which is lots of fun. Good way to test your definition of "horror" against someone else's. I was pulled in by the immense tractor beam of a selection of Cure LPs. I don't have a record player but have often toyed with the idea of obtaining one. Lo and behold, they sell record players. My friend snagged an old Bang and Olufsen treasure, similar to the one my father had. £40 and a fiver for a Cure album? Bargainous. And I never even looked at the books! If you're near Withington, you need to give this place a blast.

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.

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.

I have to give a major shout out to Paramount Books - a fantastic independent bookstore nestled in…read morethe sometimes overlooked and forgotten Shudehill area of town. Ok so there may be a million KFC ripoff takeaways and a few random shops that have seen better days around it but Paramount stands out as a well looked after 2nd hand book store with loads of character! I was pulled in on a wet and windy Monday by their comic book sale - in fact there's a whole area in the back dedicated to rare comics and graphic novels (fantastic selection) - inside there's a fantastic selection covering everything from music and film to politics, history and philosophy - really good to browse and possible pick up a tome to take home (wow that rhymes...) The best part of this place is the owner who basically is exactly what you'd be looking for if casting this place in a Hollywood movie. With glasses dangling from his neck and a scholarly look as he sorts the shelves - the classical music in the background makes you really feel what a unique place this is in the world of chain stores and amazon. Make sure you check out Paramount soon and enjoy a slip back into yesteryear!

Thank the lord for Paramount Book Exchange…read more One of the few independent bookshops left in Manchester, it's a strictly DIY affair run by a genuine book lover. The sign outside suggests it's only open Fridays and Saturdays but it's usually open Monday to Saturday unless the owner has popped out for something. The lively window displays give a great indicator of what's in store with stacks of new, vintage and secondhand books everywhere. Fans of cult fiction, sci-fi, horror, crime noir, queer fiction, biographies and pop culture will find much to treasure here as the stock leans more towards William Burroughs, Poppy Z Brite and Neil Gaiman than Harry Potter. There's also a small selection of 60s-90s vinyl for crate diggers. All they need is a coffee machine and I'd happily move in!

One of the best online music shops is Manchester based Boomkat Ltd…read more Run by a group of passionate music promoters and deejays, it stocks a wide variety of incredible underground and eclectic music from a wealth of international labels. We're talking beautiful electro, IDM, broken beats, grime, ragga, dancehall, dub, deep house, disco-not-disco, no wave, post-punk, psyche-folk, bluegrass, weird country, gospel, drone, classical, musique concrete and everything inbetween! If you''re the kind of music fan that spends your free time surfing and crate-digging for Kraftwerk or Steve Reich rarities, chances are you already order lots of stuff from here. If you're not familiar with them, sign up for their weekly newsletter giving you details of their new releases. Each one comes with a link so you can hear samples of tracks and they sell vinyl, CDs, tapes, MP3s and Flax recordings. They also sell soundtracks so I'm sure there'd be something to please my favourite Stuart Copeland fan in Baltimore :)