Split into two little shops either side of the staircase at the back of Clifton Arcade you will…read morefind this little gem of a store. This is how I remember all record shops to be - even the new ones! All items here are second hand and they do a particularly good range of vinyl. Most will be in the rock and pop genres from 60s-80s which is great for me. If you are a Queen fan I think they have everything ever made ever.... They also have CDs, DVDs (mostly in the shop to the left) which are priced around the £6 mark which is the same as online but you get to spend time shuffling round a shop which is infinitely nicer then an online buy. Also t-shirts for you retro slogan wearing kids and music sheets for the talented ones. You are welcome to browse and you will definitely find something unusual here. Like a record fair imploded.

Right at the very end of the Arcade you'll find this record shop. Not huge, but with a good…read moreselection of vinyl and a few posters and CDs as well. They'll have music on when you go in, which I've always thought is a bit questionable, but nothing my ears couldn't bear for ten minutes of browsing. Not big enough to have a properly extensive collection, this isn't really the place for music aficionados. There's specific sections for metal and prog rock, to give you a flavour of what they stock. If you've got a spare tenner and an afternoon in Clifton this is a good place to discover something new. The owner is happy to give advice, and there's just enough on offer for most people to find plenty of stuff they haven't heard before. A run of the mill independent record shop, X is good for wasting a bit of time.

Growing up with a record collector for a Dad I have always had an affinity towards anywhere selling…read morevinyl . So whenever I'm taking a walk through St Nicholas Market I take time to pay a visit to Wanted Records. Record collecting may now be seen as a bit of a dying art form, so it's always a thrill to see collectors hunting out a rarity or bargain. On the whole Wanted are on the lookout for Jazz, Soul, Funk , Reggae and obscure records rather than pop, country and western or country music. If you're not sure whether what you have to offer is worth anything, it's worth giving them a call rather than dragging your stuff down to the city centre. It doesn't matter whether you're a serious collector, have something to sell or just want to listen to some great music - it's definitely worth a visit. And remember -"we don't buy records by Chris de Burgh"!

Ok...sorry all you other record stores in town (that I love very much) I have found my favourite!…read moreAnd although you might think that is a very subjective decision to make, you'd only be half right. You see the music sold here is the best ever made and is what all the music of today is born out of. Ok needless to say any shop that makes it so the first thing I see as I enter is a label that reads 'Hendrix/Who/Floyd' and then supplies their best albums directly below it in the beautifully preserved vinyl form gets my vote. It's such a fantastic record to store to be in considering they specialise in the old stuff (best stuff), it's so clean and dust-free, unlike some record stores where searching through the boxes and shelves of dusty vinyl can get pretty tiring. They also have the most beautiful collection of records, and tell me, honestly, does anything on earth feel as nice as The White Album by The Beatles on Vynil!? A thing of pure beauty (if your answer to that question is yes, go away, you suck). This is a record store for the guys mentioned in High Fidelity who are looking for deleted Smiths singles! While the owner and his friend (or random customer) discussed a blues record from Memphis in the 60s and play it for us mere mortals to hear and enjoy I began to think that anyone who wanted to start collecting records could enter this shop with £100 and leave with an extensive collection of the best music ever made. I left as the blues singer got into his lyrics, "if you catch me sober...please make me drunk again" and I thought...time to go to the pub.

This was where I bought my copy of Dark Side of the Moon years & years ago! I went home, shut my…read moredoor and put the record on, and I don't really remember much after that. But this shop symbolises everything the Independent Record shop should be; the staff will always chat to you about music and ask you what you like so they can recommend stuff to you, or keep music behind the counter for when you next go in. If you're lucky enough to find this shop open you are in for a treat, they are always playing something you won't have heard before, and my advice is, buy the music they recommend to you. But finding this shop open is a game in itself, I had the misfortune of stopping by earlier today to find they have shaved even more opening hours from their week. So now it's just Fridays & Saturdays, which gives it more of a market stall feel. I hope by doing this they will get the business they need to stay open. So stop by at the weekend and start digging into the boxes of old records they have in the back! You'll find a Zeppelin album you didn't even know you needed.

An independent second hand record shop on Cotham Hill, The Beat Goes On is a rare find nowadays…read more Specialising in vinyl, they've got a big collection of second hand music, both on wax and on cd. Their range isn't massive, but there's definitely a few gems in here and it's worth really taking your time and having a peruse. Like the hardware store just around the corner, they've managed to cram an awful lot of stuff into a small premises, and it gets really crowded with just a few people in here. It's got a nice feeling to it - a bit messy and untidy but in a good, hippy and shambolic way. Definitely a shop that's well worth supporting, come and find a gem and spend a happy Sunday afternoon in musical bliss.

St Nick's market is full of weird, wonderful and useful stalls but Playback Records is the best of…read morethem all! In fact, my favourite by a country mile. You can always be sure of hearing some funk, soul or reggae that will blow your fragile little mind. They do stock other music, like rock and pop but they specialise in funk and soul and especially reggae and new dancehall. It must be great to own one of the stalls near Playback; knowing that all day long you'll get to hear brilliant music with no effort on your part. This hidden gem gets all the new releases from Jamaica and honestly I don't think you'll find any records like these anywhere else in town. The jazz and blues section is really outstanding as well; they've got some real vintage classics. The prices are good too and a visit here is a real must for collectors.

This is a good quality furniture shop that supplies good solid wood pieces and can custom build…read morethem to your specification. The shop itself is set out in a really interesting way over three different floors of a house, which gives all the furniture on sale a much more personal feel. They do have a collection of 'bric-a-brac', antiques and some great old framed paintings and sketches. The bric-a-brac room (as I have named it) had a really fun quirky feel to it, almost like looking through your granddads old boxes of stuff. They even had a collection of old vinyl records, randomly positioned near some old walking sticks. I did feel like this shop was a real find and that if I kept looking I would find something really special. The furniture was all nice, well-priced and extremely functional, with nothing particularly 'zany' or extraordinary but all of it practical and solid.

Absolute nightmare!! I took a very valuable and rare stereo unit in for repair. When i called to…read moreconfirm collection - they told me they had sold it (for far below real value) to cover repair costs!! When i complained they became extremely aggressive. Stay well away from these criminals. I am preparing to take court action & report to FTC if anybody wishes to join me. Let's put these con artists out of business. CROOKS - pure & simple!

Small vintage boutique tucked beside The Lanes bowling alley. This has an area for vinyl and then…read morethe shop has clothes on tall racks. There is a nice range of eras on show here, and very reasonable - I saw a 60s skirt suit here for £20. Keep an eye on their website/shop as they often hold vintage fairs here with the bigger space of the lanes available. Then shops from all over the country visit with some serious period panache.

If you're looking for a place of sanctuary, away from the generic high street stores found in the…read moreCabot's Circus/Broadmead area, come for shelter here. It's a cute little retro vintage store, with a small selection of individual items to spice up the fashion jerseys and plain jeans in your life. Found in the entrance to Bristol's city centre bowling alley, you could almost strike lucky with a well priced find. There's an especially good range of accessories and vinyl on offer here too and with a retro bar round the corner, you can't loose.

Feels like a permanent record fair in here, with vinyl lovely vinyl stacked in genre order all over…read morethe floor and secondhand CDs at hand-flicking height. Great for finding anything more than a few years old. Their dance music vinyl section is particularly strong. Go out the back and up a spirally staircase and you will find more vinyl and also lots of secondhand musical equipment and instruments for sale, from amps to guitars. Bonus is that it is open quite late as you will get sucked in here...

Plastic Wax is very much my sort of record shop. They've got stacks and stacks of second hand CDs…read moreand vinyl covering a variety of genres - I don't think I've seen such a range anywhere else in Bristol. The place has a very stripped down feel to it. This is more or less just a room with lots of boxes with lots of records in - exactly as things should be. Buying music is not a lifestyle choice here. The lack of effort at decorating the place isn't mirrored in their organisation though. The gigantic stock is well ordered, making it easy to find stuff. The prices aren't too bad, and if you keep an eye open for their clearance sales and you may well be able to pick up something on the cheap. They buy as well and claim to offer decent prices though I can't say I've ever sold anything to them. Plastic Wax Records can be summed up as a first class record shop with loads of stock.

Walking through the doors of shop is like literally taking a step back in time. Everything from the…read morefurniture to the shop assistants look as though they've come from the swinging sixties. This is a little slice of retro happiness on the Christmas Steps. They stock everything from home ware to jewellery making it a vintage girl's paradise. Not only is Shop one of the best shops that Bristol has to offer, but they also hold gig and film nights where they'll serve you hot buttered pop corn and cups of tea. Keep an eye on the website for an event that takes your fancy and then try it out for yourself.

A lot of shops have come and gone on Christmas Steps, but this little vintage shop has kept its…read morechirpy little doors open. Focusing on modern vintage ('70s to '90s with a few nods to '50s and '60s) the first room has carefully displayed homeware and little nick-nacks. Owners Jayne and Brett are always there with a 'hello' - they always look so damn happy! - and the lounge music will usher you in smoothly to the back room. Here you will find some good retro clothes, particularly nice are the accessories and brooches available. TOP TIP: Pick up a 'shop-fir-mation' from the bowl at the back, a pick-me-up fortune cookie message in SHOP's unique style.

DMT is a business that has been spawned by rave culture. On the face of it, it looks like an…read moreultra-cool indie music shop, but DMT does a whole lot more than sell vinyl. These guys hire out sound systems that could rock the city, let alone a club, or an isolated field in the middle of nowhere, (location to be revealed later).... This graffitied building on Stokes Croft is covered in art work of a more nocturnal nature, and carries posters for some of the fabled venues in Bristol. Inside you will find a plethora of flyers spilling off the counter. If you want to party, this is where you'll discover where you want to do it!

Thankfully after all the Fopps closed down last year, this one mysteriously reappeared in a new…read morelocation. It's now owned by HMV and its main purpose seems to be to sell off all the overstocked CD and DVD albums from the last 3 years or so, at discounted prices- and that's what it's good at. It does have a range of new releases and a back catalogue as well but that's just the same as HMV really. The trick is to pop in fairly regularly, maybe once a month, as the stock in their £3 and £5 sections changes fairly frequently and it's easy to see whether there's something new you want to pick up. Even if you only buy £3 CDs it's all too easy to spend £50 in this shop- on CDs that would've cost you £150 if you'd bought them somewhere else.

I was very disappointed when Fopp's across the country closed down last year. It was, however, a…read moreconstant burden on my wallet and perhaps a good thing. With many good CDs often reduced to £3 or £5, and the reduced selection changing every month or so, it was always ever so easy to wander around, ending up with a stack of CDs about 20 high. The biggest challenge was choosing which to leave, in hope they'd still be cheap the next month..!