Excellent selection and friendly employees that will help you find what you are looking for. Check their website because it is updated daily with their current stock. They also have a handy pick up desk downstairs if you order online. It's a good mix of CDs and vinyl so give it a shot when you're in town. read more

I've lost count of the amount of time and money I've spent in Vinyl Exchange over the years. Suffice to say, it would probably mount to quite a lot! Housed in the heart of the Northern Quarter, it's a two storey building solely devoted to secondhand music from indie, power pop, psyche-rock and folk to electro, hip hop, rap, disco, funk, soul and nu wave. Upstairs is devoted to racks of nearly new, secondhand and promo CDs and DVDs whilst the basement is packed with all kinds of vinyl from rare 7" and 12" to albums and box-sets. Prices are reasonable, the staff are friendly and passionate about music and you can trade and sell records and CDs. It was here I managed to track down copies of Mo' Wax Headz 1 and 2, Sonic Youth 'Beat On The Brat' 12" and Miles Davis's seminal Bitches Brew album one lucky afternoon! read more

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If it has ever been on a vinyl or some form of plastic that is read on a gramophone etc vinyl exchange will have it. They stock a wide variety of classics from every corner of music, downstairs they have one of the most intense dub step and DJ sets around. If you've got any old vinyl's either considering there in good nick the guys will weigh up a trade in for cash or other vinyls. Home to all things old skool in music and those few who pursue this passion. read more

Vinyl Exchange - Music & DVDs Near Me - Manchester, XGM

This place is like a budget shop for music. Great if you know what your looking for and want it at a good price, however if you go in this place for a wnder round your likely to emerge an hour later. This place has a huge COLLECTION of C.Ds and vinyls. Staff are really friendly and passionate about music. On most occasions you will walk away with change from a tenner. Winner all round! read more

Vinyl Exchange - Music & DVDs Near Me - Manchester, XGM

If you're a music fan, then you probably already know all about Vinyl Exchange. It's an awesome record shop that's a brilliant addition to Manchester's music scene. Vinyl Exchange has loads of excellent quality pre-owned CDs and records. They also have loads of rare promos that you'd struggle to even find on eBay. The staff are really knowledgeable and it's the kind of place that you can while away the hours flicking through records without getting hassled by pushy sales staff. That's the beauty of shopping for music, screw iTunes! read more

Vinyl Exchange - Music & DVDs Near Me - Manchester, XGM

One of the best record shops I've been to in in the UK - straight up if you're looking for inspiration then just have a walk past and check out all the classic vinyl records they have in the window - there's some truly awesome stuff! Upstairs it's cd's, boxsets and collectors editions where you can buy your own second hand ones or trade in your collection and downstairs you've access to all sorts of vinyl - rare singles, deleted albums, white labels - especially a good range of dance and hiphop! I've been coming in here for years and love it - highly recommended. read more

If you're a music collector. This is a place to be. It mainly sells second hand items. Rare vinyls, CDs and DVDs. Fantastic prices! I like this place because they have huge selections of this particular genre that I'm looking for: trance, techno and electronic. In general, they have all types of music to fit your taste. Get ready to spend hours in here. Staff are just as crazy about music too. read more

I love this place! Sometimes I go to Manchester just to visit this store as it is a goldmine of collectible promo Cd's and cheap albums. My particular favourite feature of the store is the 50p CD rack which as you've probably guessed features a range of Cd's, both albums and singles. It's a little annoying that there's no way of telling what CD is where in this rack, there's no genre dividers and you just have to flick through them all to find a bargain. The rest of the store is arranged in a very customer friendly manner with all genres marked clearly and organised well. The staff usually have a list of everything they have so if you're looking for one particular CD then they can check and see if it's in rather than you sifting through for ages. I also appreciated the local bands noticeboard which gave me some indication of where to go for live music and provided a platform for up and coming artists to promote themselves. If you're in Manchester city centre and are a music fan, this place is a must! read more

ah the mythical Vinyl Exchange! I used to love this place and I was convinced I always would...however I used to be convinced I'd love Michelle Peters forever but times change and she didn't age well. The same can be said about this place. Its been here in the Northern Quarter since God created MANchester (on the sixth day of course ok fine 1988). Sadly so have some of the records. Notoriously slow in turning over its vinyl stock, Vinyl Exchange has long since ceased to be one of Manchester most vital record shops. Having said that if its CDs and DVDs you're after then this place could yet command a place in your heart. With about 50 trillion CDs and DVDs all at low prices. The selection of underground stuff on these formats is staggering. However for the price you can now get digital music it hardly seems worth taking the risk buying second hand stuff. Vinyl Exchange is still beautiful looking on the outside in my opinion but sadly my love affair with this place has been consigned to the past. read more

Manchester has a reputation as a serious music city, and hitting all of he record shops was one of the things on my to-do list when I was here for the weekend. Vinyl Exchange was the first shop I visited, purely because I started at the bottom end of Oldham Street. It took a significant amount of restraint to stop me from spending a lot of cash here, and it's a great shop to spend a few hours in. The ground floor is all CD's, with a good selection of discount singles, as well as a good amount of albums. My one criticism is that these are on the shelf in plastic sleeves rather than in their original jewel cases. I can see what they do it, and this is how I keep my CD's at home, but it makes it difficult to browse, and after a while I kind of gave up. If you're more patient than me I'm sure you can find a good bargain though. I was really here for the vinyl in the basement though. There is a fantastic selection, but I spent my time on the rock and alternative section. The dance and R&B sections looked of a good size, but as they're not my expertise I can't comment on the selection. The thing I really liked about what they had was that each album had a description on the outer sleeve, which gave you some idea as to what each thing was, and importantly gave you an indication on the condition of the record and the sleeve. This is great, as it shows that they actually take some time to look and assess the stock they receive. Prices are good, but the chances of getting a bargain are pretty slim (you can pretty much guarantee that they're on Discogs!). This is a cracking record shop, and a great match to Piccadilly Records across the road, where you should go for all your new stuff. Take some time to spend in the racks and you'll really enjoy yourself. read more

Yes, you can almost certainly buy what you're looking for online and yes, you can pick up new albums for a couple of pounds cheaper at Fopp, but it is heart-warming to see that Vinyl Exchange still seems to be as popular as ever. There's just something about rummaging through rows and rows of CDs with little hand-written price tags that will (hopefully) save shops like Vinyl Exchange while CD shops such as Music Zone and Fopp close down. I never really venture downstairs in this shop as the lower floor is dedicated to vinyl, which I have no means of playing. Instead I enjoy flipping through the hundreds of well-categorised and alphabetised CDs on the upper floor. I've bought a few albums from here and never spent more than a fiver on one. It is also possible to buy random CDs in bulk - I think it's about £4 for a bag of 30 CD singles. And when you're fed up of them the shop will buy them back off you or exchange them - if you hadn't already guessed by the name. When I walked past this week there was a sign in the window saying that the shop had recently purchased an excellent collection of roots reggae CDs and dubstep vinyl, so if that's your cup of tea then get down there ASAP. Long live Vinyl Exchange. read more

Vinyl Exchange is a place of pilgrimage for all those lovers of music, film and media. There is very little I could say that would express my true love for this shop. I found Vinyl Exchange completely by chance, one afternoon just after I had moved to Manchester, when I found myself lost in the Northern Quarter. I have never looked back, and am still loathe to leave the shop once I have dropped in for a browse. Browse is used loosely here. When it comes to Vinyl Exchange I am a scavenger. The range is amazing, and it would take you days to look at the shop's full stock. It is on the corner of Oldham and Dale Street, and for me, marks the centre point of the Northern Quarter, and in shopping terms, of my universe. For a film lover, like myself, Vinyl Exchange is beyond words. The range of DVDs may look fairly small when compared to HMV or Fopp, but the sheer number of titles the shop holds both in front and behind the counter is staggering. If they don't have it on the shelf, then ask. Always ask, as they may well have what you want somewhere else. Not only is the range excellent, but the pricing cannot be beaten anywhere in Manchester. I paid £1 for a basically brand new DVD of Watchmen. No scratches or blemishes - the perfect bargain. I cannot normally leave Vinyl Exchange without paying a good £20 - I cant seem to resist the cheap prices (it makes me feel obliged to buy), and I have never once felt short changed. Happily, they offer a 10% discount to students when you spend over £10, and it is an offer I am always ready to take them up on. As is often the case when writing some of these reviews, I am somewhat begrudgingly recommending Vinyl Exchange to you all - largely because I want to keep it all to myself. Therefore, if you ever see a Gollum like creature crouching in the DVD section looking possessive, you will know why!! read more

Keep small business alive! As Kirsten points out, yesss, you can buy on Amazon and save and then they'll email you, saying "ooh, you bought this, how about buying that?". Or, orrr, you could support a local, homegrown, home-run business that really actually cares about the music. The customer service here is rubbish, in terms of "hey-how're-you-have-a-nice-day-now!", but that just pisses me off. Here, you get a nice, honest, gruff treatment. You could browse for an hour, and they leave you be. You ask for help and suddenly a river of knowledge bursts forth. Brilliant. The prices are cheap and these guys know their stuff. They also buy your used CDs and vinyl, which is a good way to make a few pennies and to feel like you're doing your bit for local enterprises. read more

A legend in its own postcode area, over the years I have probably spent more at Vinyl Exchange than I could ever hope to earn in a year. However, this is not a place for the faint of heart (or of pocket). The staff can frequently err on the side of surly, and you need to prepared to develop industrial sized callouses on your hands from the amount of vinyl and CD pockets you need to root through in order to dig out some hidden gem. Yes, it's disorganised, yes it's dusty, and yes, sometimes you have to have a gob the size of a small African country to get the staff to pay any attention to you. Butr, if you've got a spare afternoon on your hands, it's a cracking place to waste away an hour or three, especially seeing as they often have album promos smuggled away in their racks weeks before they're officially released! read more

When I'm up North I will make a special trip into Manchester just to go to both Vinyl Exchange stores. Despite their small size their stock range is amazing, if you're willing to sift through the cardboard placeholders rather than flick through racks of the actual CDs. I'm mainly into electronic, breaks and beats and every time I go I will find several bargains, some new albums, some classic albums, all cheaper than I'd find them anywhere else. Plus a £5 'lucky dip' bag just on the offchance as well Great stuff. read more

The Vinyl Exchange is an absolute gem of a store for any avid music fan irregardless of which genre tickles your fancy. My husband and I used to frequent here when we lived nearer and plough through the stock finding many underground items and at bargain prices that you may have difficulty finding in stock at more mainstream outlets and obviously you'd pay a lot more. The staff's musical knowledge is second to none as they are all specialists in at least one genre. Not only can you buy here but providing you have ID you can also sell your unwanted items and either get cash or exchange them for other goods they may stock, everyone's a winner! They have two stores in Manchester one on Bridge Street which is smaller and the larger one on Oldham Street which takes up two floors (if you go downstairs it's vinyl heaven for all you old school addicts!) and is slightly better if you're into extreme metal (death/black/doom/thrash etc) If you want to listen to something, just ask at the till and they'll put it on the speaker system for you providing they're not too busy. The only thing is, think of shopping here as an experience and it's best to go if you have some times on your hands as you have to flick through a lot of stock and will be surprised at what you may find. read more

I was 12 years old and had some older friends who tipped me off on a bunch of tunes they thought I'd like. In my hometown, nowhere would sell albums by the Flying Burrito Brothers and the like, so I made my way into Manchester, alone in the big scary city and found myself in Vinyl Exchange. I nervously made my way around the dizzying amount of racks and cardboard sleeves, making very little progress. "I'll ask behind the counter" I told myself. Approaching the big scary men, I said: "Do you have the Palace of Gilded Sin? I think it's Gram Parsons..." I was cut short by a sneering twerp who immediately corrected me: "The Gilded Palace of Sin. Classic. Flying Burrito Brothers. Surprised you don't have it already." "Erm..." I blushed. Then, looking in my little wallet, noticing I had enough for two albums, I said "The Byrds? Something to do with 'rodeo'?" "Yeah. Classic. 'Sweetheart of the Rodeo'. Check the alt-country section." The what-now? Such was the surly attitude of this poindexter that I turned away and went somewhere else... somewhere else that was very friendly and surprised that a child wanted these very-grown-up LPs. I vowed never to return. However, during my older years, I have sporadically re-entered the fray and, to be quite honest, I've been left cold every time. Vinyl Exchange is a place that suffers from Comic Book Guy syndrome, showing complete indifference to their staff, occasionally piping up with a smart-arse comment. The racks are badly organised and filled with a lot of utterly uninspiring junk (much of it to be found at nearly half the price online). In short, Vinyl Exchange? Don't bother. read more

This place looks great from the outside and when you step inside it isn't what it is cracked up to be! The staff are friendly at times but provide rubbish service. You could be waiting ages to get served while the guy behind the counter is chatting to someone about last nights gig. The vinyl are mostly in bad condition it seems and the staff just don't take care of them. Most records that are there you can get cheaper elsewhere or on the internet. read more

Vinyl Exchange is a real treasure trove of rare vinyl and cds. Leave yourself at least an hour or two to browse through the racks, as they're not exacly user friendly! Worth a visit for all hardened music fans, although you have to wonder whether places like this have a future in the age of downloading. read more

I have been visiting Manchester yearly for about 20 years. I used to love this shop. Not sure what has happened to vinyl area downstairs. The prices have skyrocketed and the staff seem so indifferent. Still good for CDs. Cheap and plenty of them. It was the vinyl I used to shop there for and this month I didn't even bother on my visit. Kinda sad really. read more

The rapid rise in the number of people downloading continues to threaten record shops, particularly independents. While it's difficult to sympathise with the potential demise of businesses such as HMV the thought of shops such as Vinyl Exchange ceasing to exist is truly depressing. For those of us who still feel the need to have a physical representation of the music we love, and who feel that artwork and packaging are an integral part of this, places like Vinyl Exchange remain hugely important. This is a store which caters for musical tastes across the board and on all formats. The staff have specialist knowledge and a general passion for music and film, and the stock ranges in price which adds to the excitement of shopping here. You could leave having found a gem for 50p or having spent £50 on a rare record or CD you have been trying to track down for years. I hope this store along with Piccadilly records and other independents in Manchester have a future. The world will be a poorer a place without them. read more

A wonderful shop with wonderful finds to be had for the music lover in everyone. All types on genres undet one small roof, and an reasonalble prices! read more

A great place for someone looking for a rare concert on DVD or Rare LP. This place is heaven for anyone who truly loves music! Its great just to look around, you can get lost looking through the extensive vinyl collection. A great place to come for a bit of good old fashioned nostaglia!!! read more

Vinyl Exchange is long established as one of the best vinyl dealers in the Northwest. They sell CDs, DVDs and in the basement a huge collection of vinyl. They sell rare music that you simply cannot find on the high street and the list of artists that they sell is endless. This is the place for the avid collector of music from the underground scene. The prices are reasonable and the staff are very helpful. Highly recommended. read more

looking for a rare vinyl or cd, this is the place.great to have a browse and always pick up great bargains. got loads of vinyl when factory shut down so loads of rare white labels in my collection..cool shop and can spend hours in there read more

Vinyl Exchange is located opposite Piccadilly records on Oldham Street in Manchester city centre. This shop purely sells second hand CDs and vinyl with a floor dedicated to each within the store. The CDs are upstairs and there is a huge selection available so you can often find some popular new releases a bit cheaper than other stores alongside some rarer albums that you don't often find. They sell a lot of promos in the shop which are very reasonably priced, you can pick up an album for a few pounds and singles are often a pound or less. It's a great shop to pick up a load of bargains and still have change from a tenner. read more

I used to make special trips to Manchester 3 or 4 times a year to visit The Vinyl Exchange, but those days are long gone. I've spend well in excess of £1,000 there over the years, and discovered some great music, but the sad truth is, I can now discover and buy previously unknown gems much easier (and cheaper) on specialist music forums online, gaining much more background and bio on artists along the way, without ever been made to feel foolish for not already being a world expert on every artist who ever released an album. I know many will say that there's nothing beats going to the shop and thumbing through the racks to discover something new...and I can understand the argument. However, like many who have reviewed the shop, I mostly found the staff to be less than helpful, sometimes condescending, and at times too busy enjoying the sound of their own voices to even engage with you...the mere customer. I often felt costomers were suffered, rather than embraced, and like others have mentioned, that often put me off even wanting to ask for opinions or help. If I was reviewing this place for customer service, I'd struggle to give it 1 or 2 stars. Music wise, I've discovered some gems there in the past and would give it a 4 star...hence the 3 star rating i've settled on. read more

bargian cd's! great place! love it

Think TK maxx for music. Bargains to be had if you know what you're looking for. As well as all the rare catalogue stuff they often have advance promos of new releases for sale. Only go if you've been fed and toileted though cos 10 minutes here can turn into an hour and a half no problem. read more

ive been ordering for a few years now online, and most of the time, its been efficient, customer service, but just on the occasion, a order from them,does go wrong or not at all, yes they are human, but they sent a heavily creased card cd sleeve, with no mention in they description, but, other times they do mention in the description, ive had three creased card sleeves, no mention, in the description at all, two orders, cancelled, when still it said were in stock on there own website, lastly ive looked on there website ordered, then went back and ordered again, within a short time lapsed so then ive paid more postage, no worry's my own fault, so do i email them to ask them can they put the cds together and refund my postage, no i dont, maybe they should see this anyway on two orders from someone, so i leave it, but as always they combined, both of my orders anyway come in the same package, which rules out me asking anyway, but have the cheek, to take the extra postage, anyway, which has been done on three occasions, £3 maybe not much, but its not my saving, how many other people, no i have not email about the postage lost because i would of thought that was obvious, but have email over the card sleeve, which i was refunded, even though they said my email got logged with others thats why were slow to be looked at, but paypal they looked straight away. read more