Vinyl LPs have been making a specialty come back over recent years, and Marvs is a welcoming and…read morecomfortable place to add to the collection. This is a well displayed LP only establishment, so Cassettes, CDs, and 8 Tracks might be harder to find locally.

Small shop but decent selection. Pretty much all new records if I remember correctly. Prices a…read morelittle high but it's downtown so I'm sure the rent is too. The woman at the store was very nice and welcoming. I'd definitely visit again on my trips through the area.

A classic old school record shop. Dusty stereo equipment piled high in all the corners, mounds of…read moreunsorted LPs everywhere else, and tightly packed bins of well-chosen records comprising the majority of this unassuming storefront. Has it been vacuumed in the last 10 years? Who cares? Does he have the best collection of vintage rock, heavy metal, and country in Des Moines? Absolutely. The owner is quiet and leaves you be. The music he plays is low-key and innocuous, alienating no one. His prices are just right: $30-50 bucks for most original pressings in good shape, and very rare ones are $100ish. If he charged less there'd be nothing to look at here. It's like a great guitar shop - you go there partially just to look at all the cool stuff. The new vinyl record stores are fake -everything they carry is was made from a digital master; just a vinyl version of a CD. All the other old record shops have a lousy collection and completely arbitrary prices. This place is totally legit.

Red Rooster is an awesome little record store that knows what to stock, but also knows what to…read moreprice the records.. No fooling this guy on that copy of Jame Brown at the Apollo... He know's what it's worth. But with that comes a knowledge of whats great to stock and he always have killer new records coming in.. He will also cut you a deal if you are going to purchase 4-5 records at a time. Red Rooster does not really stock new releases or local stuff, so if your looking for the new Arcade Fire LP this is not your stop, but if your looking for that rare Zappa record to fill up your collection this might be your best stop in town.

Amazing bar, beer options, records and atmosphere. 10/10 best dive bar ever. Ben, the owner, is a…read morefriendly and present face!

What a fun place to visit and chat with the friendly staff and patrons. Everyone was having a good…read moretime. Enjoyed the awesome retro decor and furniture. Halloween decorations were outstanding! We had fun browsing the vintage records for sale. Nice little patio out back. We had called ahead a couple days to let them know we were coming out for a quick stop with a big group and the owner was excited and welcoming. If you like quirky places don't miss this!

We happen to be in town for Galaxy con and wanted to see if there were some great records nearby…read more This place had great reviews so we came to check it out. They had a very large selection of 70s and 80s music. I was shocked that they did not have a David Bowie section. They had a great selection of folks from the Des Moines area such as really rare slipknot albums. It's a pretty compact area. I did find Viagra boys which I did not expect I would ever find in a location.

Really nice store, but so nice that it was a little picked over. They had the plastic dividers…read moreshowing me they had stock before. Must have visited at a bad time. I did find a couple things, the counter guy was very nice, and the prices were extremely reasonable. Would definitely make a point of visiting again when in town,

Overpriced crap. Lots of good titles but the condition didn't meet the price point. The smell of…read morethe used clothes was pretty unpleasant and kinda just felt like I needed a shower when I left. Owner was pretty stoked about his vintage sealed record collection but failed to offer any return policy on them. Sealed records from back in the day are often warped. You gotta be a good business and take care of the customer. Speaking with the other record store owners in town, they kind of had the same negative vibe I got.

Steve is a great guy. His shop has autographed items & non. Vinyl records, CDs, cassettes,…read more8-tracks. VHS, DVDs, blue-ray. Band shirts for men & women, dresses, skirts, pants, hats, scarves, belts, purses. Incense, lighters, ashtrays, vapes, glass. Novelty items, shot glasses, jewelry & body jewelry. Candles, greeting cards, magazines, comic books, flags, tapestries. Artwork. Largest collection around of items from local bands & local artists. Bicycles. And a music venue in Summer playing rock & metal bands. They buy, sell, and trade items...

Best coffee & coffee drinks in town. Funky, friendly atmosphere. Friendly, funny employees. Nice…read moreselection of gently used albums & unique art.

My favorite coffee spot in Ames. Great coffee, really cool music collection, and the artwork is…read morefantastic, I've wanted to buy one for years. Get the Deep Cut if you go, the conversations with the owner are so much fun as he assesses your vibe and creates a specialty cup just for you. 10/10.

Super rude customer service. Very limited selection with terrible prices and not good value all at…read more I'm SHOOK at the audacity of the gentleman in the front, very very impolite and PRESSURED us to buy stuff. Do not go here, seems like they just want vulnerable peoples money - and will take advantage of you at any means necessary.

Really expensive and wasn't a great selection. I didn't see anything under $25. Bought a Johnny…read moreCash record for 60 and it was scratched.

A hidden gem. We stumbled upon this place and chatted with the owner for quite a while. He was…read morefriendly and knowledgeable and had an amazing and well-curated collection of vinyl and some great recording and audio equipment, too. Worth a stop, both for the records and for the conversation.

Stopped by this shop today after seeing some pictures of the interior on Craigslist. I was…read morepleasantly surprised at the variety and quality of their selection of LPs. There was a very large selection of high quality albums from the 70's, 80's, 90's and 2000's. Warren, the co-owner, was very nice and conversational. They have cool rare and hard-to-find stuff such as a NIN triple album brand new in the shrink wrap for $100. They had a couple thousand albums in the main store plus a ton of compact discs and vintage video games. The owner stated this still have a few thousand albums to go through to add to the main store. Great shop, good prices, discounts with multi purchase. Check it out!

Definitely worth the stop. I came in because they were listed as a Daptone dealer on the record…read morelabels website. Unfortunately I didn't find an abnormal amount of Daptone, or any of the Daptone 7" records they're famous for. I was also hoping to find Daptone accessories and didn't see any, like the 45 rpm branded weights. However, it is a good store, I did find a new sealed record and a used record. I could have bought more, but the prices were a little high, and I owned most of the stuff, it didn't go too deep, lot of the basic popular stuff and modern stuff. One thing I saw was a lot of representation of local artists, which I really like and respect when a store helps their local scene. Staff were very friendly, and helpful. I overheard someone getting a recommendation and they were cared for well. Great store for the area, I'd stop in and check them out again if I were nearby.

Thinking about 35mm film and vinyl records, digital is certainly convenient, but not necessarily…read morebetter in spots. And if you look hard enough, there are places that analog luddites are welcome. One such place is the Record Collector in Iowa City, alive and kicking since 1982. They sell "almost as ancient" CDs as well. I stumbled upon Record Collector by accident as I was passing time before the nearby 2022 Homecoming Parade. The place is full of vinyl goodness, and even a few turntables if you need equipment support to play these beauties. Heck, my favorite thing was to just look the various jackets over and reminisce about where I was in life when that record came out. Also enjoyable is listening to whatever they're playing over the loud speaker. Unlike a good used book store, the Record Collector is easy to navigate with well defined and organized racks. The also have website of which all sorts of ordering possibilities await.