Where shall I sell these CDs?

December 4, 2007 3:46 PM

What record shop in Chicago will buy my newly released but used CDs at a fair price without a lot of indie kid employee mockery?

I'm looking to rid myself of my physical CDs since I no longer have the room to store them and becuase it might be nice to have some extra cash this Christmas. Much of what I'll be selling will be newer releases (within the last calendar year), but those titles range from the new Iron and Wine album to Timbaland and Korn. It seems that I've read some reviews about record shops in the area that seem to make the employees out as elitist indie kids, a la Jack Black and Todd Louiso in High Fidelity. Where can I find the friendliest folks to purchase my CDs?

posted by santojulieta to Shopping (16 answers total)

has always treated me right.
posted by Oktober at 3:55 PM on December 4, 2007

Can't vouch for them currently as I haven't lived in Chicago in several years, but I always found the folks at Laurie's Planet of Sound to be pleasingly low on the hipper-than-thou sneery scale.
posted by scody at 3:56 PM on December 4, 2007

That should read "Reckless Records has always treated me right"
posted by Oktober at 3:56 PM on December 4, 2007

If you don't mind a fairly short trip to Oak Park, there's Val's Halla, the best used record store ever.
posted by SuperSquirrel at 4:02 PM on December 4, 2007

Seconding Laurie's Planet of Sound. I have about as much indie cred as Michael Bolton, and I've always felt comfortable there.
posted by Metroid Baby at 4:12 PM on December 4, 2007

I second Reckless. They use a computer system that tells them what previous copies of the same CDs sold for, and if the CD sold very quickly, it bumps up the sale price for the next copy it comes across. You get a fixed percentage of that. So it's very fair, and although all record stores have elitist employees from time to time, the Reckless folks are nice and even if they're not, their own prejudices won't alter the prices.

The new release thing is better for great and cult releases, but stuff like Timbaland or Korn can be hit or miss. If it's still hot, you'll get a good price; if it's past its peak, the price can be low. (Essentially, the rules of supply and demand apply.)
posted by Dee Xtrovert at 4:12 PM on December 4, 2007

I miss the Quaker.
posted by chillmost at 4:21 PM on December 4, 2007

i would avoid championship vinyl
posted by Salvatorparadise at 4:26 PM on December 4, 2007 [1 favorite]

What do you mean by "fair price"?
posted by Steven C. Den Beste at 4:33 PM on December 4, 2007

The secret is to come in with the hottest girl you know and have her fawn all over you. Pimply indie-boy will simply shoegaze.

I'm serious--it will save the mockery that will automatically involve the sale of used CD's.

Of course if its a woman salesperson, you are out of luck.
posted by Ironmouth at 5:02 PM on December 4, 2007

Val's Halla pays less, or did the last time I was selling, than Oak Park Records (which is still in downtown Oak Park, as Val's has moved).

The real real secret—They want those shitty Korn albums more than they want some Red Krayola vinyl, because people BUY those shitty Korn albums. Obscure stuff is notoriously hard to sell. Popular crap ain't. If they mock you, walk.
posted by klangklangston at 5:26 PM on December 4, 2007

I recommend Val's Halla. Val is always great - now she's on Harrison in Oak Park, right near the Austin/Lombard Blue Line stop, a couple of stores down from a Brown Elephant Resale Shop.
posted by readery at 6:13 PM on December 4, 2007

Response by poster: FYI. Fair = not pawn shop prices, hopefully.
posted by santojulieta at 6:41 PM on December 4, 2007

Once you do this, could you list what titles / prices were involved. I work in a used shop in Toronto and am curious what is paid down there.
posted by dobbs at 8:13 PM on December 4, 2007

klangklangston - Funny that you wrote that because (I swear) I nearly mentioned Red Krayola in my post. At a place like Reckless, you'd be surprised how more likely a Red Krayola would be to sell quickly than a Korn album. People who buy the more cult / esoteric stuff tend to hold on to it; it goes out of print quickly often and there's not as much of it. And at Reckless, that's what tends to sell. Most place though, it'd be Korn.
posted by Dee Xtrovert at 9:44 PM on December 4, 2007

Does it have to be IN Chicago? How about Evanston: Second Hand Tunes, right at the Dempster El stop.

And I love Ironmouth's suggestion
posted by nax at 1:43 PM on December 5, 2007