Went to go check this place out with a friend because according to Yelp it's a "Record Store"…read more
All I can say is WTF Yelp?
While this is certainly a unique and interesting little spot, there's virtually zero reason to visit here unless you live on the UC San Diego campus. Finding parking anywhere at the school is a real B, and it gets pricey very quickly if you have to purchase an hourly pass. As far as "records" are concerned, they do have a handful of vinyl here, however, seeing as how I was looking for CDs (I don't have the six figure salary seemingly required to collect decent quality vinyl these days) the aforementioned sonic dinner plates are likely the basis of Yelp's inaccurate recommendation, and lemme tell ya, the vinyl selection was nothing to write home about.
What Red Brontasaurus TRULY is (I know, it should be obvious based on the name, right?!) is a GENERAL STORE for students who live ON CAMPUS. Great place to go if you're looking for scantrons, blue-books, pencils, random dry foods which can be stored/cooked in a dorm room, etc.
But wait! Don't think this place is just for squares to gather study supplies. No, they also sell old video games (which I guess would qualify for vintage by now?) for the Original Xbox, Playstation 2, Playstation 1, Gameboy Color, and a few cartridges for older consoles (if I recall correctly). There's also a random Sega Dreamcast controller if you're in the market for one of those. There was additionally an offering of used DVDs which were at a great price (don't recall exactly but it was somewhere around 3 DVDs for $5) and some extremely random dorm-room decor. There are comic books too, but they're overpriced so don't even bother. Oh yeah, and they also sell graffiti artist quality spray-paint. I'm not joking.
This business is a student-run co-op, so it's pretty difficult to describe. It certainly defies expectation, and I find it ironic that there are marijuana references on the pricing signs all over the store, seeing as how most of the items for sale were likely pawned off on them by students who've run out of weed money.
When I went to check out, I just kind of stood there awkwardly for several minutes waiting to be noticed, as two students behind the counter just kind of tangentially ranted to each other a la "Omg, college!"
"Omg, I know rite? Hashtag!"
Funnily enough, the only person (of THREE) behind the counter who acknowledged me was some dude so far towards the wall that I figured he was one of the other two's friends just loitering around.
I guess I can't blame them though, I mean if I was a teenager running my own business and there was zero chance of failure, I'd probably just hang out and do nothing too.
Don't get me wrong, this is definitely a coooool spot maaaaan. It just doesn't offer much value to outsiders besides a through-the-looking-glass view of what it would be like if Peter Pan's Posse ran a junk shop nicknamed "The G-Spot" (You think I'm joking about the name too, don't you).
