The demise of the high street record shops was a body blow to many but the steady rise in demand for vinyl and particularly vintage vinyl records over recent years, has led to an increase in places to look. If you are fortunate enough to live in a bigger town or city that is home to a specialised second-hand vinyl record shop, it is always better to start there. If not, however, there are other places you may not have thought of.
Record fairs
Record fairs offer a great opportunity to add to your vinyl collection and allow you to compare prices. With every dealer in attendance wanting to go home with less stock than they arrived with, a record fair can be the place for great price negotiations too.
Charity shops
Charity shops can offer rich pickings to the vinyl collector and some great bargains are to be found. But pricing can be hit and miss and while you might bag yourself some bargains, you may also find that more frequently found albums can be overpriced – it definitely is swings and roundabouts. The purists among us may also be offended by the volunteer pricing them up who does not realise it amounts to sacrilege to put a price sticker on the sleeve of a rare record, so be warned.
Online
Pretty much any vinyl record can be found online, if you are happy to trawl the hundreds of retailer, auction and dealer sites to find what you are looking for, at the price you want to pay. Unfortunately, you cannot view the record before buying this way so ask lots of questions, request extra images and even a sound clip, and always enquire whether the seller offers a money-back guarantee. Remember too that the cost of packaging the vinyl up so it arrives safely and in one piece has to be factored in to the buying price, as does any insurance you take out to cover losses in transit.
Car boot sales
We have all seen the television programmes where a 50p boot sale bargain has gone on to realise £1000s at auction and there are definitely cases of lost gems being unearthed. But these are rare and with a car boot sale, it really is the early bird that catches any worms! Dealers will be hovering as the sellers unload their cars so you need to be early to find any bargains. Conversely, arriving later, as the sellers are thinking about packing up, may work in your favour, as many will be prepared to take a lower price just to avoid taking it all back home again.
Antique centres
Antique centres like Hemswell are a great place to look for vintage vinyl. With no pressure to be in and out in a specified time, you can take all the time in the world to browse vintage vinyl collections from a choice of dealers. You are able to examine the records closely and see first hand the condition of both the record and its sleeve. Dealers on site will also have time to chat to you about the vinyl records and are more than happy to make a note of anything special you would like to watch out for. If you are making a day of it, our centres are not far from historical Lincoln and have four buildings displaying collections from over 400 dealers, so that when you have visited our vinyl records, you can while away the day, browsing at your leisure, perhaps taking in refreshments along the way.
Of course, once you have bought your vintage vinyl, it is important to clean and store your collection carefully. Our blog is full of advice on how to do this to keep your records in the best possible condition.