Off The Record

Off The Record is an awesome vinyl and CD store in the Northpark shopping district of San Diego. It was the first of four shops I hit up while I was in town on vacation and immediately I knew I was in for a good vinyl buying trip.

About 80% of the shop space is dedicated to a meticulously organized collection of vinyl. Everything is broken down by genre and then by artist, and every record was in a protective poly sleeve and clearly priced. The vast majority of the stuff is vintage, not reissues, but there are some new releases mixed in there.

While the store mostly sells rock, pop, and punk, they do have a decent selection of the stuff I typically dig for: soul, jazz, and hip hop. In fact, they have the best classic 80's hip hop stuff that I saw in San Diego. Finally, they had a healthy selection of 45s and a decent but dusty dollar bin.

I'd recommend it for collectors and diggers alike.