My best friend loves record stores so when I found Mole's listed on Yelp we stopped by during a day trip to Cincinnati. The store has been in business since 1976 and offers CDs and vinyls of every genre of music. It's packed with options so make a list of what you're hunting for and give yourself time to hunt. The owner of the store was friendly enough, making sure to greet us and let us wander the shop on our own. Prices were clearly marked (much appreciated). It was fun to admire the posters on the walls and ceilings. No finds for us today but would certainly recommend anyone who loves records stores to make a visit. read more

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Although Cincinnati has a few amazing independent record stores scattered throughout the city, Mole's Record Exchange is not one of them. In fact, Mole's is probably my least favorite record store I have been too, and believe me, I have been to a few of them. In all fairness, I have only visited the store once but I was so annoyed with this visit I vowed never to return. The first thing I noticed when I walked in is the place was completely empty, except the guy working behind the counter and there was no music playing. I found this to be weird, considering we were inside of a store that sells nothing but music. Secondly, and the thing that really made me not want to come back is the guy who was working there was extremely rude. From the moment my friend and I walked in he was criticizing me for the band hoodie I was wearing. While he continued to rip on me for wearing said hoodie, he tried to get me to buy a bunch of movies I was looking at by continuing to tell me how good of a deal they were and so on when they really were nothing special. Now, I expect people in music stores to be a tad snobby about music but this was just ridiculous. Yeah, I might only be a 20 something but that doesn't mean I don't appreciate music. Sorry cynical old man working the counter, but you won't be getting any of my money! Take my advice, stay away from Mole's and spend your money at one of the other great stores in the area. I promise you that the selection and treatment will be way better elsewhere. read more

Me and my buddy (who in full disclosure owns his own record store) decided to run to Cincy and hit some record shops. Every other shop we stopped in was extremely friendly, then we stopped here. Complete opposite vibe. Guy whom I assume was the owner was a complete jerk. Dude was not friendly at all and did not give a welcoming feeling. After trying some small talk I though maybe he had come around, nope. He reverted right back to Mr. Personality. There were several records that I was thinking on there, but after the way he acted towards us, no way, I'll take my money elsewhere. Also, half of his inventory is in wood crates sitting under shelves and stacked in corners. Don't dare ask if you can take a look. These crates looked as if they have been sitting stacked for years? How dare a record store want to actually sell records. My buddy was just scratching his head. He has no issue with his customers looking through a crate he hasn't priced yet. You pull something out, he'll take a look at it and give you a price. I could halfway understand if your shop was full of customers and you're trying to keep an eye on things, but we were the only people in there. I'll never go back! I'll take my money to Shake It Records, just like I did that day. read more

Over the years, I have spent hundreds of dollars in this store. 99.9% of what they sell is used, consisting primarily of records and CDs. I have only bought CDs. Pros -I have never bought a CD that was too scratched or defective to be played, without distortion, in its entirety. -they sell things that are not available at any other local stores. Their sources for used CDs are not just other local stores, but also out of town/state/country stores. For instance, I bought an album by a 1960's group called "The Jarvis Street Revue." -some of this extremely obscure stuff is very easy to find, for the CDs are arranged in categories according to genre. One big category is "rock," but then there are little categories, like "prog-rock," and "60's psychedelic." The latter two categories are must visits for me. Sometimes they are the only categories I visit. Each of them has very obscure stuff, and the "prog-rock" has standards, like "Yes" and "King Crimson," as well. Con -the arrangement of CDs will sometimes appear to be in a random order. For instance, in the "rock" section, all of the artists whose name begins with the letter "S" are appropriately placed together; but since there is no additional arrangement, one has to go through the whole "S" category to find something that may or may not be in stock. This would take me about 20 minutes to go through such a large collection. The good news, though, is that all one needs to do is ask the person manning the counter if they have something, and they can give an answer in seconds. read more

Today, I visited two used music stores in Cincinnati, Mole's Record Exchange and The CD Game Exchange. I LOVE Mole's Record Exchange. The shop is tucked into the corner spot on a building across from a giant church and the folks at The CD Game Exchange were kind enough to give me directions as the two establishments are within walking distance. When I got there, the guy running the counter that day, Tom, was out washing the shop's windows. After I showed up, he came back inside and I must say that he proved to be AWESOME. You'll usually find yourself at a music store talking to one of two types of people behind the counter...the first being a snooty, music snob who rants and raves about that ONE bootleg by Grateful Dead and the second being a true music-loving, helpful audiophile who seems to know EVERYTHING about music and is able to help you find things you might like. Tom is definitely of that second type and he made the experience of going to the store fun. I think I spent two of the three hours I spent there just talking to this guy and he is full of awesome insight when it comes to taking care of vinyl & turntables as well as ramping up stereo equipment. Definitely an awesome resource for music knowledge and helpful too! I was buying a Gary Numan album called "Warriors" and it turned out that the wrong Numan album was in the case, so after he tracked down the right one he helped me find the other one as well because it wasn't on the CD shelves. Super awesome guy! NOW, for the store itself. This place is the oldest record store in the city at 38 years and it definitely feels it. There's a lot of awesome old posters on the wall...I really got a kick out of the Beavis and Butthead one, as well as the one advertising a tour with Monster Magnet and Professional Murder Music. Old school! Lately, I've really been on a CD-kick as far as purchasing music goes, and I found the selection as this place to be pretty decent. The racks look deceptively slim on the CD side, but when you realize that only the booklets are on the shelves in plastic sleeves, there's a lot more content than you think. I would say that this place mainly caters toward the rock genre in this section, although there were a few good gems in other genres as well. The vinyl section was VERY good, from what I looked through. It seemed as though most genres were represented pretty decently, and they were very well priced. I think a lot of the charm of this place is in how cluttered it appears to be. As another reviewer mentioned, when you go into the CD section, all of the CDs are filed underneath their letter, but not necessarily in alphabetical order. It's like hunting through your Grandma's attic for a hidden gem...and it seems like you always have a fair shot of finding something. On this trip, I picked up: Gary Numan "Warriors" Gary Numan "I, Assassin" Peter Gabriel" "Us" Outkast "Stankonia" It came out to about $31, the CDs were in awesome shape and the two Numan CDs were actually re-releases with awesome bonus tracks. So far, out of Everybody's, Shake It, and the CD-Game Exchange...I must say Mole's is my favorite. I will definitely make an effort to come here every other trip :) read more

First of all the reason for 5 stars is based on fun factor alone. If I were to base my ratings on selection, not one record store within the Pentucky Tri-State would get more than 3 stars (but that's me). I admit that I'm supremely picky and that most of my purchases come from special orders but these guys will go out of there way with a passion in order to make every music lover a happy camper. I've come across a few gems in the bins as well, including imports that run high on ebay and Amazon. And I've gotten invaluable help from both Tom and Dean where it pertains to remasters and reissues. Moles has been solid for 38 years and though its not a sparkling attraction, it has a cool defiant buzz with experience and substance. Over the years I've grown to dig this place more and more and only wish others the same satisfaction. read more

With a name like Mole's and a location like Clifton, I was really looking forward to visiting Mole's Record Exchange. I'd seen it for years driving by and never actually got in there when they were open. When I finally made it, I realized all of those years of not stopping in was OK. The place has potential, it's a pretty large place with a large, mostly-used selection of mostly vinyl records. The place was empty though. I was the only shopper, and the owner (or employee) seemed pretty disinterested in the fact that I was there. I spent nearly an hour flipping through records and even found a few I was interested in. However, the prices are probably the most outrageous I've seen in town, with most of the records priced at 2-10x the actual going rate based on eBay or Discogs. In most cases, it was more affordable to purchase several copies and pay shipping online. Had the owner been a little less standoffish, I may have tried haggling, but instead I just left. Maybe someday they will close and a cool juice bar can move in! read more

I stopped there for the first time today. The vinyl selection was pretty crappy, and prices were over inflated. I bought a couple records, as I felt obligated because I made a special trip there. The owner was pretentious and had a "know it all" attitude. I won't be back. I will stick with my beloved Everybody's Records and Shake It Records. Those are real record stores. read more