This establishment is absolutely incredible. They love their customers. I have gone there several times and was treated with the utmost kindness and respect. Very hard to find business owners treat their customers the way these gentlemen do. sometimes I will come to their store and if I can't find what I'm looking for they have no problem doing everything they can to help me out. maybe the people that had a bad experience with them was a communication problem on the customer side. I will always be a loyal customer to Variety Records. read more

This is an old school record store located at the corner of Foster and Powell. It is one of those places where the stock of vinyl, CDs, and DVDs has taken over every corner of the store in a mostly organized fashion. If you are someone who enjoys hunting for diamonds in the ruff then this spot offers ample opportunity to come across an unexpected find at a decent price. The owner is pretty chatty and more than willing to look up a title or two if you're looking for something particular. read more

Amazing record store with great prices! He has records, DVDs, and CDs Gilmore and you need at least an hour if not more to go through this place properly! Will defiantly back to browse more! read more

Variety Records - Records and DVDs - Music & DVDs Near Me - Portland, Oregon

Great Shop, Great Owner He's from Washington state with a great attitude towards customers Huge selection of vinyl records priced at good reasonable prices with an excellent DVD and vhs selection You can your entertainment needs here read more

I used to shop there all the time until recently. The owner Guilbert acted really nasty and rude to me and my family after shopping there for years. Let me tell you my experience. I took some dvd to trade in for store credit. I didnt care about the amount, just looking to clean my closet and buy more dvds. Guilbert offered me a low amount and before I could respond another person in line offered to buy them for more money. Guilbert than went on a tanget for the entire time I was in the store talking about how he would ban anyone from selling dvd's in his store. I didnt have any issue with this, though I didnt like his hostility. I was with my family, with two toddlers, as we were leaving he decided to threaten me again about selling dvd's outside his store. I told him I didnt like the way he was speaking to me and continued to walk out. Guilbert than followed my family and I outside the store yelling at us from down the street that we better not leave a bad review. He was litaraly standing on the street yelling at us from a block away. Had the children not been there I might have lost my cool and given him a piece of my mind. I was shocked. We all were. After years of shopping there and hundreds of dollars spent I will never, NEVER, go back to that store. Guilbert was a complete jerk and acted unhinged. I dont leave reviews but after my experience I wanted to share why no one should give this person any more business. That was a really dispicable way to behave to a longtime customer who brought his family in to buy some dvds. You should be ashamed of yourself Guilbert! I hope this review gets around. read more

huge variety of records i love it. it's a pleasure to visit!!!!!!!! the guys i met were very nice

Holy smokes!!! After searching for 6 years my wife and I were able to snag a beautifully working VCR/TV combo at a local garage sale, but that it not where our journey ended. We began thrift shopping for VHS cassettes that were most nostalgic to our younger years. We found a few personal gems, but while visiting Portland for a concert, we came across Variety Records, an establishment that caters to CD's Records blu ray's DVD's music cassette tapes, and yes VHS so we dropped in. My friends, this place was walls to wall and boxes and boxes filled with VHS tapes. My wife and I were overwhelmed and freaking out like children. I could not post a photo because I was so busy digging through the library of titles that it never crossed my mind to take pictures, and yes, we found a lot of great tapes we had on our wish list. Also just a great amount of all other media as well. The owner was very kind to us and informed us he brings in new stuff every day. I already can't wait to visit again, I have a couple of movies in mind I'm on the hunt for. I gave four stars because my only complaint is, it is a very small space. If you are skinny, you will have no problem getting around, but if you are a husky, big guy like myself, it will be difficult and occasionally awkward getting around, but this fact will not keep me away, nor should it you. It is just that packed with awesome stuff. "I'LL BE BACK." read more

Excellent variety for new and old movies, tv shows and music besides the wonderful owner Gilbert he's very friendly and funny to if I may say so myself and he's great pals with my dad especially my dad, I well definitely recommend this place to my friends and family for the years to come. Joseph Carrasco read more

Variety Records - Music & DVDs Near Me - Portland, Oregon

Located on Foster and Powell and from the outside looks like any older shop in that area. What you will find in here is a surprising good selection of record albums (most of what is in stock seems to be vinyl) a decent selection of CDs, a lot of DVDs and a huge amount of VHS and cassette. Now that cassettes seem to be making a bit of a comeback this would be the place to look. Unlike most of the inventory the cassettes are not in any order and guy behind counter said only on certain days do they have the full back room open for all the rest of the cassettes. Most of the albums are all mixed together in alphabetical order. County and a few other genres are separate. I give this place 5 stars because of the selection of titles I have found on several visits, the reasonable pricing (they do know what they have so rare items are priced a bit higher) but most of all the excellent friendly and knowledgeable people who work here make it a fun shopping experience. If we lived on this side of town we would be here a lot more often. It is not really in the used vinyl circuit so I suspect it is overlooked by many. I do hope I am wrong in that assumption. read more

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This place is really great! I'm reluctant to write a review for it as I don't want all the hipsters to discover it. The outside is really nondescript, in fact I think I'm guilty of having gone past it many times without knowing it was there when I used to live in SE Portland. Once you enter the building you will be amazed at how well they have used every square inch of this retail space. You can find just about any variety of multimedia in this place. Blu Rays, DVD's, CD's, Cassette Tapes, and tons of Vinyl (which is the reason I keep coming back). From time to time they set up a bunch of boxes out on the sidewalk in front of their shop. The boxes are filled to the brim with dollar records. My husband and I ended up with a huge stack of great old school funk albums! The staff have all been super nice and helpful and have even offered to play records for me to check on their playing quality. read more

Variety Records - Front of shop - Music & DVDs Near Me - Portland, Oregon

This is the place to go to find a treasure, whether you are looking for something specific or seeing what jumps into your hands. Cassettes, vinyl, CD's, VHS and DVD, etc. Super amount of stuff, and Richard and Gilbert very helpful and friendly if trying to find something. read more

Well arranged selection of CDs, vinyl and DVDs. I noticed in the vinyl section they seem to have a nice collection of vintage PUNK. My interest was in the used CDs and I was certainly able to scrounge up something I don't already have. I will certainly have Variety Shop on my short list of places to check out again in the future. read more

Variety Records - Music & DVDs Near Me - Portland, Oregon

For the avid dead media fanatic.... this place probably has the largest selection of VHS tapes for sale that I've ever seen. Get ready to spend A LOT of time looking through all of the available titles. read more

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I stopped by the store looking for Conan the Barbarian, but left with the best joke i've heard all day

All you folks that have gotten yourselves back into records, forget about all the other places around town and come down to the Variety Shop for some dirt cheap music. This isn't the place to find a large selection of high end and hard to find records(they do have some) but the guys here get used collections from OUTSIDE OF OREGON. They get nothing in from the immediate area so that it's not materials that have been circulated around town. Smart. I've been here a number of times and purchased both records and dvds and I've even gotten others to come down to the shop. They carry dvds, blueray, vhs, some laser discs and even cassette tapes as well. It's a great hidden spot that not many know about and you can spend hours sorting through all they have. Just grab a seat and go. Enjoy. read more

Impressive selection, marred by the some of the most condescending staff I've encountered in my life. I've been there twice now, and fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice... I... uh, won't be fooled again. read more

lots of great records, not much contemporary music. classical selection is pretty vast although be prepared to dig through to find what you want since it's not categorized. extremely cheap stuff, some staff are very friendly. however, there are some rather rude staff members, so be aware of that. read more

I went to buy one record and the man working, I'm assuming the owner started talking about politics as soon as I tried to make pleasant small talk during the transaction. I did not ask for that, and I almost returned the damn album because it was so rude. Also, the cities named in California were not because of Mexico...they were named for Spanish catholic saints... what an idiot! I hope my straight face and way I ran out of your store gave you a hint that I was not happy. read more

Great selection of movies and music! We always discover something new every time we come in! Staff is also great! Very friendly and helpful!

They offered to send someone to my house to take a look at my entire VHS collection of rare and hard to find blues, rock and other great music on VHS tapes. I am willing to let go of these to the first person who can offer me $200 CASH for all I have! yes, that is alot. you wont be disappointed bring plenty of boxes or bags. Must sell to make room! read more

I really wanted to like this shop. As an avid collector of books, music and odd things, it's not uncommon for me to spend hours at a time and hundreds of dollars a pop in stores like this. Not only will I NOT be doing that at this store any time soon, I was so affected by my bad experience with the shopkeeper that I am now taking the time to write this review. When I walked in the door, I was definitely impressed by the large array of offerings. What I thought was going to be a quick pop-in-and-see was starting to look like it was going to be an extended visit. The guy behind the counter gave me the rundown on how it was organized and I got to searching. I found a few DVD's and VHS tapes and decided to check out the music. I noticed that the records were priced on the high side. Lots of $15-$20 titles should have probably been about half that price, but I was willing to give them the benefit of the doubt as I kept shopping. After a bit, I found an Almighty Defenders record that was priced kind of high. I asked him (and I quote), "If I buy a whole bunch of other stuff, would you be willing to come down on this one a little?" Well... based on his answer you would think I asked him if he would be willing to drown a basket full of kittens. He proceeded to condescendingly slide a pile of movies aside that were hiding a small sign on the counter under the glass that read "We will not negotiate prices" or something like that. I responded that I didn't know that because it was my first time there and the sign was covered. He responded by saying that they've been open for 16 years and they have good customers who spend hundreds of dollars there and they would never ask for a deal. This started to get me riled so I shot back at him, "How do you know who I am? How do you know I wasn't going to spend a lot of money here?" This set him off, and he proceeded to yell at me like a total jackass while several customers looked on. He continued his diatribe, repeating himself a few times and I kind of walked a few steps away. A few minutes later, I came back to the counter and said calmly that we got off on the wrong foot, I didn't know the rules and I was hoping we could talk it through. I was trying to figure out why he thought people buying used stuff wouldn't try to negotiate and why this was such a hot button issue, but apparently this was a challenge to his sense of order. He went on another tangent about small business and how you would as WalMart for a discount and 16 years and the fact that he has good customers and HOW DARE somebody comes into HIS store for THE FIRST TIME and asks FOR A DEAL?!! Essentially he said he didn't want or need my business and told me I could just leave. Now, I'm from NJ and I have no problem telling people what I think about them, but I had a fairly rare VHS tape in my hand that I didn't want to leave without. So, I swallowed my words, waited for a few minutes again and said, "Look, I am going to leave, but first let me just buy this." I gave him exact change and he gruffly snatched it off the counter. It took a lot for me to not give him a much more colorful piece of my mind, but instead I said, "Thanks and good luck with your business but I won't be coming back here again." Needless to say, he was still yelling as I walked out the door. I was conflicted by the whole experience, stuck somewhere between wanting to be a good person and wanting a small business to succeed, but also feeling like, why should this guy get to treat me like crap with no repercussions? I mulled it over for a bit and now her I am, giving you my version of today's events. If you're on the fence about visiting here, I would urge you to skip it and support any of the other fine music and movie selling establishments that Portland has to offer. Literally type records or DVD's into the search bar, pick any of them and try them out and you'll have a better experience. You might not get exactly what you go in looking for, but it'll for sure be better than this place. I know I'll be spending my money at Mississippi Records or Movie Madness next time. I'm giving them one star because there are a lot of good titles there. I just don't have the time or energy to deal with Portland's version of the soup nazi. read more

doing a art project with some record sleev's! They gave me a discount on a whole crate of records. Also found some cool stuff!!! Thanks read more

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Ran across this randomly while running errands. They had a tent setup with $1 vinyl. Great selection to choose from! Ended up with 28 new records. Staff was really friendly. Place had a huge selection of VHS, tapes, DVDs, etc. We'll definitey be stopping by to pick up treasures from yesteryear. read more

great inventory and a wonderful, knowledgeable staff! the shop itself was a little cluttered with inventory, but that's not necessarily a bad thing! i was able to navigate pretty easily and find some records i've been after for a while at some great prices. worth the stop if you're in the neighborhood! read more

This store has an amazing amount of music packed into it. Great place!