One of the best
record stores in
New Jersey. Right up there with the
Princeton Record Exchange, and the various stores in
Hoboken.
Vintage Vinyl started in Irvington, NJ in 1979. In 1984 they moved to Fords (actually part of the town of Woodbridge, NJ) into an otherwise nondescript storefront in a strip mall set back from Route 1, behind high-tension lines. Classic New Jersey.
The store in its current incarnation is over 10,000 square feet, and is chock full of not only CDs, but videos, DVDs, and lots and lots of good old vinyl. Also lots of paraphenalia, t-shirts, and magazines.
Vintage Vinyl is some place you have to budget a few hours to explore and investigate. You get there, and scan the racks--everything's laid out by genre and alphabetically within a genre. VV has excellent industrial, hardcore and progressive rock collections, and has a complete representation of most other genres. They stock lots of imports and used CDs. I usually find myself flitting from section to section, remembering I wanted to look for another favorite artist, hoping for a new rarity or import to buy. I tend to leave with anywhere from 5-20 new pieces of music to enjoy. Luckily they have a frequent buyer program so you can save some money.
The store will frequently have lots of in-store concerts and signings and sells tickets for shows at nearby clubs like Birch Hill and Tradewinds.
If you're ever in New Jersey, and like this kind of place, it's worth stopping by. It's not far out of the way if you're traveling to the Jersey Shore from New York City or points north. You can also check out their website at http://www.vvinyl.com/.