A-1 Record Shop – 439 E 6th St, East Village, New York City 10009 – Open – updated December 1, 2025.
Since 1996, A-1 Record Shop has been selling used vinyl, and only used vinyl, to the discerning public from the same location on the lower East Side of Manhattan, aka the East Village. Long a haunt of djs and record producers – on the lookout for the shit that makes that shit sound like the shit – its overflowing with dance grooves of all genres. Jazz, hip hop, disco, funk, soul, house, techno, if you can dance to it, its here somewhere. It also has something for everyone, including rock, alternative, latin and even country. Everything is reasonably priced, and you can try before you buy.
In the immortal words of Ah-nald, “I’ll Be Back.”
Wanna go? You can find A-1 Record Shop in our Record Stores Map
What the Press is Saying
This great article appeared on XLR8R.com Record Store Week: A-1 Records in April 2013 about the store, its history, and some of the greats who have shopped there.
From 2017, the Vinyl Factory correctly hails A-1 as one of The World’s Best Record Shops #050: A-1 Record Shop, New York City.
As did Thump/Vice magazine in their 2017 piece titled Here’s 17 Record Stores You Should Visit Before You Die featuring 17 stores throughout the world you must see. Heady company indeed.
This short video tour of the shop shows how it existed circa 2013.
And another, of record producer Ski Beatz, diggin’ the crates in 2022.
And another from 2019 – the first 4:20 are a tour of A-1 Record Shop – showing how little its changed over the years. Of course, except everything has changed. The vinyl that is.
Cool Vinyl Found There
While digging thru the racks, found a number of really good – and reasonably priced – records. One of them was Jamo Thomas‘ 1966 Northern Soul two sider – Arrest Me b/w Jamo’s Soul (with picture sleeve). Jamo Thomas was born in the Bahamas, and migrated to Chicago. A lead singer and percussionist, the A side of his 45 is a northern soul pounder, with Jamo singing over backing female vocals, horns and a guitar solo. The flip is an instrumental groover with Jamo playing bongos over a driving organ beat, with splashes of horns. Both sides are recommended.
Here’s Jamo Thomas performing Arrest Me (lip sync) on the Beat in 1966.
And here’s the instrumental flip Jamo’s Soul.
But wait, there was more. In addition to Brian Eno’s early Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy) from 1974, complete with Obi, and a Strokes’ 45 – The End has no End – I also got the criminally underrated Soul Sister by Erma Franklin (1969). From Aretha’s older sister, give a listen to Change My Thoughts From You and see if you still underrate it. Try her version of Son of a Preacher Man next if you want to go further. It was in the New Arrivals bin, and the crowd approved when I picked it.
In the mood for more soul? May we recommend James Knight and the Butlers – Save Me Killer psychedelic soul from Miami, circa 1971. Written by Erma’s sister Aretha and with all due respect an improvement on the original with an outstanding horn chart. Or maybe Durand Jones and the Indications – Smile from 2016. Retro soul that harkens back, and of course, you simply can’t get enough good soul.
