THE MAP
Every vinyl destination inside the greater Chicago footprint. Zoom in to see individual venues.
THE 60 RECORD SHOPS
Chicago is where house was invented and where it's still sold.
Chicago invented house music and never got over it. Gramaphone Records on North Clark has been the DJ-supply headquarters since 1969 — Frankie Knuckles, Ron Hardy and every subsequent generation walked those aisles. Dusty Groove in Ukrainian Village anchors the jazz, soul, funk and Brazilian counter at world-class depth. Reckless on Milwaukee (two locations) covers the second-hand generalist end.
The city's edge is depth in Black American music — jazz, soul, house, hip-hop, gospel — because Chicago pressed and sold that music in enormous numbers. Bric-a-Brac on Milwaukee, Bloodshot Records, Beverly Records (a South Side survivor since 1967) fill in the corners. The recent listening-bar wave — Charis, Parachute HiFi, Mojo's — is impressive by American standards, and Smashed Plastic keeps a pressing plant in city limits.
THE FIVE ROOMS
2843 N Clark St. The house-music mothership since '69 — where the city's biggest DJs still shop weekly.
1120 N Ashland Ave. World-class jazz, soul, Brazilian, funk. Priced clean, graded strict, ships everywhere.
1379 N Milwaukee Ave. Second-hand generalist across every genre — the Saturday-morning ritual for the North Side.
2845 N Milwaukee Ave. Curated second-hand plus zines, art, and a tight walk-in soundtrack.
11612 S Western Ave. South Side survivor since '67 — soul, jazz, blues, gospel. Priced for lifers.