Conference cookie::notes$archive:cd_v1

    There is a small record store on Amherst St. in Nashua that my wife
    says has a good selection and great prices ($13.99 standard).  The
    nice thing is that the owner of the store can go through his back
    door into the warehouse which stocks all of the CDs for this part
    of New England.  So it is likely that anything you'll find anywhere,
    you'll find here.  The guy says he will order anything that he can't
    get immediately, and still charge the same price.  I'm sorry I don't
    know the name of the store, but it's right next to the Kahala Chinese
    restaurant on 101A (exit 7 off route 3).
    

    What kind of music are you talking about?

    If you are looking for "classical", try Barnes & Noble in downtown
    Boston.  One of the best selections I've seen anywhere, although
    for along time they weren't carrying anything from Capitol (Angel/EMI),
    due to a dispute over billing methods.  Last time I asked ( December),
    they said it had been resolved and that they would soon have Angel/EMI
    again.
    
    		George

    I'm looking for everything: Classical, Pop, Jazz, Original Cast
    Recordings, Soundtracks, dance music (Ballroom and Latin), etc. 
    
    Have I missed any?
    
    -pd

    For classical, Electric Gramophone has been well discussed, but
    I think it has the best selection around. For folk, The Minor Chord,
    Rt 2A in Acton (same mall as the theaters and Folsom's) told me
    over the phone that they have a large folk selection. When I have
    been in there I haven't been looking for folk, but I have noticed
    that they have a lot of Windham Hill.
    
    Neither are discount but you didn't mention that as a criterion.
    
    Let us know what you find.
    
    				Dick Rosenberg

    Re: .1
    
    The name of the place your talking about is PC Records.
    
    Steve
    

Rockit Records on Daniel Webster Highway South in Nashua (in the same
plaza as Daddy's Junky Music) has a good selection of CDs, mosty rock, as
the store's name would suggest.

--PSW

Tower Records in Boston, when it opens (don't know when, but pretty soon,
I think) will probably have a pretty good selection if it's anything like
the New York store.  It is on Mass Ave somewhere in the vicinity of Steve's
Ice Cream, I understand.
							-- Nina

    re .8:  Tower Records should indeed have a great selection of CDs,
    but, if they're like the NY and Washington stores, will not carry
    many imports or hard-to-find titles.  So far, BCD is still the best
    I've seen for those obscure ones.
    
    I'll have to give PC Records a try ... sounds interesting.
    
    -pd

    If you like anything beyond the mainstream stuff you find at
    Strawberries', my advice is:
    
    1)	Look everwhere!  BCD carries the largest number of "obscure"
	titles I've seen, but I've also found things at Barnes & Noble,
    	Discount Records, and "The COOP" that I haven't seen elsewhere.
    
    2)	Look at everything!  Most of the CD bins I've rummaged through
    	are in such disarray that you have to look at everything in
    	the store to avoid missing some out of place gem.  You might
    	even look in the "overstock" cabinets, if those are accessible.
    
    -pd

About Tower Records, it will be at 360 (I think) Newbury Street,
which presumably is at the corner of Mass Ave and Newbury, since I've
heard so many reports that it will be on Mass Ave.  Also, according
to Boston Magazine, it may be the world's largest record store (in
terms of area). Currently, the Tower Records in Greenwich Village 
is the world's largest, so they say, but apparently the Boston one 
may surpass it...

						-- Nina

    re .-1: 360 is an awful low number to be at newbury & mass ave.
      I haven't been down there for a while, but I suspect that's 
      somewhere between exeter & gloucester.  I'll have to look in
      a phone book...
    
    anyway, it should be a good place to go browse while my other half
    is getting her hair done (@150 newbury...)
    
    					...tek
    

    There is a building on the corner of Mass. Ave. and Newbury St.
    that's been pointed out to me as the future location of Tower Records.
    I don't know the address, but it's definitely on the SE corner of
    that intersection.
    
    -pd

From the May 1986 issue of Boston Magazine:

   "The rumors are true.  Not only is Tower Records coming to Boston,
but the store that will open at 360 Newbury Street early next year
will also have a shot at being the biggest record store in the world.
   "Randi Swindel, the company's East Coast regional manager, says,
`It'll be huge--34,000 to 35,000 square feet, maybe more.'  He adds
that the Tower Records store in Greenwich Village is currently the
largest record store in the world, at 34,000 square feet.
   "Tower Records, the second-largest chain of retail record stores
in the country (Musicland is the biggest), gained its fame by having 
its stores stay open from 9 a.m. to midnight 365 days a year.  `Boston
is a place we knew would be ideal for Tower Records,' says Swindel.
`We've been actively looking for a space here for three years.  The
problem for us was being able to get enough square footage in a
desirable neighborhood.'
   "John Brusger, co-owner of the record store Newbury Comics, at 332
Newbury Street, is unimpressed.  `Yeah, Tower's going to be on the
same block as our Newbury Street store.  It'll be good for some of our
product lines and bad for others.  We sell a lot of the really weird
stuff anyway--things I don't think Tower will stock.'"

    I tried PC Records in Nashua. I was not impressed by the selection,
    which was the same as you can find anywhere. The clerk even let
    me look at the Green Catalog that was at the counter which has
    checked off in it what they have out back. Again, nothing you
    can't find elsewhere. The price is good, I'll admit --- $13.99
    for standard pop disc, as compared to $15.99 for Rockit Records
    (comparison was made on one specific disc). Also note: it's cash
    and check only, no plastic.
    
    Rockit Records, even if it's slightly more expensive, has a much
    better selection. Rockit has imports, PC doesn't.
    
    What a day --- I bought 9 CD's in 4 different locations. I'd've
    bought another if I'd known that the total was only being brought
    up to 99. :-)
    
    --- jerry

    I found that Rockit in Nashua (D.W. SOUTH) and BCD in Boston, still
    have the rare disc's. I get tickled pink when I stumble across them,
    like this past weekend. ( I found two neat ones for us old progressive
    rockers).
    

    There's also a Rockit Records on Rt. 1 in Saugus (or some neighboring
    town).  They are affiliated with the one in Nashua, but I don't
    know if they get the same selection of CDs.
    
    -pd

Newbury Comix in Harvard Square (don't know about their other locations)
tends to have a lot of the less common titles.  One thing to watch out for
there is that they often will have the same title with up to three different
prices!

I've found the best strategy to be to walk through Harvard Square, visiting
the Coop, Discount Records, Strawberries, Newbury Comix, and BCD, and then
going back and buying the discs I want at the store with the best price.

/john