Barcelona Record Shops

Tapas and champagne at Can Paixano 

As I recently mentioned in his blog, I spent a few days in Barcelona last month. It was a short visit (just 2,5 days) but enough to get a sense of the place and decide that I definitely like it-a lot! I got to see great football live (FC Barcelona pulverizing poor Athletic Bilbao by 6-0), marvel at Gaudi's magnificent Sagrada Família cathedral, walk around Las Ramblas and the Barrio Gótico and taste great empanadas from the market stalls, cheap-but-delicious tapas and champagne at Can Paixano and the epic paella parellada (rich man's paella) at the 7 Portas restaurant (boy do those rich folks eat well!). Amazingly, I still had enough time for shopping and I visited most of the city's record stores, which I'll be presenting in this post. Lucky for me, most of them are situated close to each other, within a 20-minute walking distance from La Rambla. A number of them are at the pedestrian road Carrer dels Tallers, which starts from near the end of the Rambla close to the Plaça de Catalunya. The first one is Discos Tesla, a tiny shop that used to sell records but now mostly deals in rock T-shirts and badges. Worth a visit if that's your kind of thing. 

Discos Castelló

Discos Revolver

At number 7 you'll find Discos Castelló, a sizeable record store with a big variety in CD's (new €7-15, 2nd hand around €3), music books and DVDs, vinyl (mostly used, €4-15) and even cassettes! Don't know who'd buy a used cassette, but they sell them nonetheless. [UPDATE 2019: Discos Castelló is now permanently closed] Just a little further on there's Discos Revolver. It is so big one building couldn't contain it, so it occupies both numbers 11 and 13, but despite its size there's none of the Virgin-Megastore-like super market feel. It's a true music lover's record store, with helpful personnel and a fabulous variety in all genres. New CD's cost only €6-15, but there are even some cheaper used ones to choose from (admittedly the used CD section is a bit messy). New LP's cost typically around €15 and used ones mostly €4-15, although there are also some as low as €1-2. At number 61 there's Discos Impacto (2nd hand CD's for €5-8, used LP's €4-20, new LP's €20+, a good collection of 7' singles) and at 79 -near the University- you'll find El Setanta-nou (almost no records, but a huge selection of DVD's in bargain prices). Very well stocked, especially in classic movies. If you walk back towards the Rambla you'll find, between the two Revolver stores, a narrow street called Carrer de les Sitges. Turn there for Daily Records, a small and eclectic shop selling both CD (used and offers for €3-8, the rest around €10-15) and -mainly- vinyl (new €15-22, used mostly €10-20, some offers for €3-8). Here you'll find a lot of ska, psych/garage, punk, oi! etc. A bit further down the road there's the Pentagram music store, a true metalhead's paradise. Here, new CD's and LP's cost around €9-20 and used ones €6-10. To paraphrase the Blues Brothers, they've got both kinds of music: Heavy and Metal. UPDATE 2023: Right next to it, there's another shop called Kebra Records. I've visited this street at different days and hours, and have never caught it open. Still, it's supposed to be a good place to buy 2nd hand records (60's/70's/80's). Maybe you'll have better luck.

Daily Records

El Setanta-nou 79

Discos Tesla

Discos Impacto 

To round my report up, I also browsed some CD's in the Corte Ingles department store at the Plaça de Catalunya (handy if you're in an all-around shopping mood) and the local Fnac store (also Plaça de Catalunya: big variety, listening stations, only new CD's and LP's). Lastly, it's not a record store but I did buy some cheap CD's from an antique shop called Vintage A5E, which the owner proudly styles as a "Rock Museum" (Carrer sant pere [mes.alt] 53,  Barrio Gótico). It had some nice stuff, including CD's, 7' singles and LP's, vintage clothes and household objects. Which makes it 10 shops in 2,5 days - not bad for a first visit. Nevertheless some were left out. Maybe next time - there's bound to be a next time with Barcelona, our stay was sweet but short.

Vintage A5E

Pentagram Music Store

FNAC, Plaça de Catalunya

UPDATE 2023: This was my third visit in Barcelona. The 2nd time I didn't venture far from the Ramblas/Pl.de Catalunya/Barcelonetta region, but this 3rd time I got to do the round of the record shops in the Raval area. This is a multi-ethnic neighborhood with noticeably less tourists, and many immigrants: Pakistani, Moroccans, and other Africans. The best record shop in the area is undoubtedly Wah Wah Records (Carrer de la Riera Baixa 14); rather crammed but full of treasures, all for normal prices: CD's (new around €15, used €5) LP's mostly €15-25, great variety in garage/psychedelia/prog from around the world, as well as indie/punk. There'a back room with jazz/soul/latin etc, which was closed at the time of my visit. Right next to it, there's Discos Edison's, which appears to be something of an institution for the city. A rather random selection of 2nd hand CD and vinyl, probably interesting for crate diggers. Rock LP's cost mostly €10-20, while the shop also sells books, DVD's, and clothes. Discos Paradiso is another famous record store in the area (Carrer de Ferlandina 39), but it proved to be less to my taste as it was more oriented towards electronic music - but also disco, jazz, funk, afro, latin (Lp's €8-30). On the plus side, there are 4 listening stations! T-Vinyl (Carrer de Valldonzella 25) caries almost exclusively techno/dance music, especially 12' vinyls. Redondos Records (C/ de Sant Vicenç 33) has mostly 2nd hand vinyl: classic rock, jazz, soul, latin €15-30, some offers for €5. Not far from there (Carrer d'Aldana) there's a gallery housing Crockan’s Mutant Store, Glove Records, Rhythm Control, and Vinilarium. I spent some time in the latter two: good prices, some house/techno records whose quality I'm not qualified to judge, and a few other random stuff (rock, disco, Spanish folk etc). Also in the neighborhood, there's a closed market, Mercat di San Antoni. I visited it on a Sunday in 2019, and there were stalls of vinyl and CD sellers just outside, I got a few CD's at the time. Opposite the market, there's a small shop called Jazztronica, with a few boxes of electronica and nu jazz.

Generally, I found that most shops would be of interest more to DJs than to record collectors. The only ones I would visit again are Revolver, Daily, Wah Wah, and Impacto. Still, there are many shops that may be worth it and that I didn't get to visit: most of the shops near the Barrio Gótico were only open for a couple of hours in the evening. I will mention everything I've found on the internet, for your information: Victor Kiswell Records (rare stuff), Nut Records (techno/house), Decibel (new & 2nd hand, all genres), King Atupali (reggae), Small Black Dots (techno/house), Barcelona City Records (Latin, jazz, soul, funk). Also, another neighborhood I've heard good things about but haven't gotten round to visiting yet is Gràcia. Record shops there include: Surco (the oldest record store in the city; looks rather big, mostly new LPs and CDs), Disco100 (also old and big, rock/jazz/classical), El Genio Equivocado (new and 2nd hand records, other stuff), Vinil Vintage (2nd hand vinyl, CD etc), BCore Discos (punk, indie), and Libertine Records (electro, techno). Well, there's always next time...