I visited West Chicago a while back when I heard about a new thrift store opening. We took the train and came out on a Sunday so did not get to inspect the St. V’s across the street. This Saturday, we drove and hit up both.
After checking out some other new St. V’s lately, I wanted to continue to check them off my list.
In a back room I can only describe as a ‘nook’, I found the records. A sign outside marked the room/nook as ‘Books’ and my experience led me there in search of vinyl. I found a few of the bookshelves laced with vinyl on the floor level and I went through them all.
After my search was done, I came down to three records that intrigued me. I also found a mint picture sleeve but the songs suck so I let that one go. My Phase 4 collection has ebbed and flowed over the past year and recently I did away with a few. Ronnie Aldrich is one of the major contributors to the series and the track selection definitely called to me but I decided not to heed the call. Humba Humba is an odd German record and the third looked like some kind of late 60s hipster version of nursery rhymes. I decided it would only been fun/interesting for one rotation, then it would just take up space. So after all that diggin’, I decided to throw ’em all back.
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| this young girl wandered into the record nook a few times with her phone blaring some kind of pop noise non-music. Each time, I guess she was dismayed that I was making the room largely unvisitable with my large physical presence and bailed. As we left, she may have passed away RIP or maybe just a nap? |
I wasn’t super keen on going back to Something Else. I did grab some nice scores on my last visit but it wasn’t a perfect visit. They had the back of the store set up like a real record store which was cool – records in bags, organized alphabetically, individually priced, but the prices were a hint high. But as it is literally across the street, I figured I’d check in again. Glad I did!
I forgetfully did not take a pic of the new arrangement, but the records have moved to a new ‘room’. They are also in a new bin and are no longer organized. It was 4 bins wide, 3 bins high. In the third bin I inspected, I pulled out three sickening scores! First up is an Engelbert boxset I have gazed at lovingly on ebay many times but never, ever seen in the wild. In fact, I bought it for my girlfriend for a gift long ago and I have looked at a copy for myself many times but never pulled the trigger. Glad I didn’t. Then I found a complimentary album which I’m going to bet was marketed as an ‘if you call now…’ prize. Last up I found an album I have looked at many times. I probably don’t need it very much considering most of the tracks can probably be found on releases I already have. But ironically, just that morning, I was helping another discogs.com user move about 75 releases to a new series he created – the same series found here. I have seen this album around a new times and always wanted it just to collect the rest of the series – I only need one more. I made a list a long, long time ago, before the series existed to help keep track.
My three records were marked at $18 total which I can live with since as I said, 2 of the 3 I have never seen before and one is a 5xLP set in really, really nice condition. However (see below), they had signs everywhere saying that everything in the store is 20% off. I did the math in my head and came up with about $14 in my head. The guy behind the register pulled out his iphone to do the math and then charged me $10.50! I don’t know if he screwed up or what – he didn’t even open the register to get my change which was shady. In the end – I don’t care. I don’t know that I’ll ever head out this way again, but this trip was worth it for sure!
