I love a good record store. While in Ottawa, my friend and I were fortunate to visit two record stores. The Record Centre was one of them. Well, my numbering is a bit off. No, it's not that I can't count. It's the fact that The Record Centre has two locations. It's weird. I saw two Canada Post offices across from each other downtown. We have a similar situation here. This Yelp listing is for The Record Centre. Its address is 1099 Wellington Street West. We crossed the street at some stage during our walking tour and discovered The Record Centre Too at 1112 Wellington Street West. There is no listing to the latter because Yelp moderators rejected my friend's listing for the smaller store (ugh!), so you're getting both reviews here. We went into The Record Centre Too first. It's the smaller store out of the two. The name is cute. I couldn't tell you why there are two locations with the same owners. The smaller store had records, CDs, cassettes, and 8-track tapes. I love these media types. Sadly, the selection was slim. I frankly didn't enjoy the smaller store because it was tiny and packed with music enthusiasts. Perhaps if there weren't so many people, I would have enjoyed browsing. This smaller store had a top floor that was for employees only. It was an interesting setup, almost as if half the store was for storage, and it was decided to open the lower floor for music merchandise. The larger store across the street had more records and selection. You will not find CDs, cassettes, or 8-track tapes here, though. You need to cross the street. Imagine if you are looking for a specific media format and you visit the larger store. You ask for help and are told to go to the smaller store across the street, which won't guarantee that you'll find what you're looking for. From a customer perspective, it's not the most convenient and pleasant setup. It is mainly why I lost my enthusiasm looking at new and used music at both locations. It is rare for me to feel this way. I didn't experience a relaxing space for me to browse albums at either location. It's huge for me, as I am the type who can spend hours at a music store. Instead, I wanted to leave both stores as quickly as possible. You can also get record players and other accessories, such as a record adapter for 45 RPM records, at the larger store. I wouldn't know if you can at the smaller store. I'd say no because it was too tiny. I had a better experience at Vertigo Records. One store. Everything in it. Lots of happy album browsing. I'm not sure if I'd return here. If I do, I hope that it's not as crowded. (291) read more