In Your Ear – 72 Mt. Auburn St., Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138
Closed updated March 24, 2024
When I originally wrote this post in 2012, and again in 2017, In Your Ear had three locations – one in Boston, one in Providence (Rhode Island) and the third, the store pictured below, in Cambridge. First went when I was in college, visiting a friend who was going to Harvard. Came back recently on a trip to Boston, and nothing had really changed. Still down in the basement, with records of all genres everywhere. And I do mean everywhere. Gentlemen, start your diggin’.
Consistently rated as one of the best record stores in Boston, and made Thrillist’s February 2015 list of the 21 best record stores in the United States.
UPDATE
In Your Ear closed this location in approximately January 2020. They also closed their location at 957 Commonwealth Ave. in Boston in 2022. But all is not lost. They now have two stores in Warren, Rhode Island.
Cambridge Store
What The Press Has To Say
Here’s an article by Laura Hatt that appeared in the Harvard Crimson in February 2016 Out of Sight, In Your Ear interviewing one of the store’s owners, Mark Henderson, about the stores and their history. When he says he buys everything, he isn’t kidding.
And here’s a more recent interview with another of the store’s owners, Reed Lappin, in the Daily Free Press of Boston University Local Record Stores Carry The Torch For A New Generation Of Music Fans about the store and its history.
The store made Boston Magazine’s April 15, 2015 article Vinyl Sightings: Boston’s Top Record Stores listing the 13 best record stores in Bean Town.
Commonwealth Ave. Store Closing
Alas, this June 22, 2022 article from the Boston Globe It’s been groovy: In Your Ear, a longtime destination for treasure-hunting record buyers, is leaving Boston reports on the Commonwealth Avenue store’s then iminent closing.
Here’s a video of the Commonwealth store shot in 2010 which gives you an idea of what the store was like then. That’s Joy Division’s Disorder playing in the background.
This clip, from Marc Martel/Facebook, gives another look at the approximately 2000 sq. ft. Commonwealth Avenue location before its closing. Why did they love basements so much?
Old Store Adverts
For fun, here are a couple of old In Your Ear store advertisements, circa 1987. No, they are no longer at those locations.
Go South Young Man
But all is not lost. In their July 2023 piece The New In Your Ear is Way More than a Record Store Rhode Island monthly reports on the new In Your Ear location in Warren Rhode Island. Which is South of Boston. Kinda.
And it is no longer located in the basement. Which of course brings to mind …….
The Thing. Which is still in the basement. If diggin in the basement is your thing, you can give The Thing a visit.
