Reckless Records – 1379 N. Milwaukee Ave., Wicker Park, Chicago Illinois 60622 – Open
And I thought the Reckless Records store in the Loop was a good store. It is, but their Wicker Park location clearly has it beat. Why? Because it’s bigger. Much much much bigger. And rumor has it they have room to get even bigger at this location. Opened in 2015, this branch of Reckless Records was the former Dollar Buster. Plan to spend a long time.
Reckless Records started out as an English store, the owners moving to Chicago and opening their first store in 1989. Reckless Records now has three locations in Chicago. It’s first Wicker Park store opened in 1994, with the present site being its third location in Wicker Park.
It has records of all genres, and offers some high end stuff for the collector in addition to its everyday selection. Many of the records come with helpful reviews provided on labels by the store about the album or the band making it.
And remember, Time Out Chicago in 2017 listed Reckless Records as the number one store in Chicago.
This location also made Rolling Stone magazine’s December 2018 list of the 10 Best Record Stores in America. Heady company indeed.
Wanna go? You can find Reckless Records Wicker Park on our Record Stores Map
(Sorry about the smudge – my fat fingers at work).
Here’s a 2015 article published on DNAinfo Look Inside Reckless Record’s Sunnier Less Claustrophobic Mega Shop that describes the new store.
Even better, here are photos of an in-store appearance in 2016 by Cheap Trick courtesy of the Chicago Tribune.
And you know a store is good if it gets Jack White and the Raconteurs to do an in-store. Here’s the boys performing Top Yourself from 2008’s Consoler of the Lonely at the store’s former Wicker Park location (it since moved to this spot) in May 2012.
They are not the only names that have graced the Reckless Records with an in-store. Other notables include Stereolab, the Breeders and Neutral Milk Hotel.
For an in-depth look at the store and what it has to offer, here is 12 for 12 – Episode 4:Reckless Records by Adam Voss. Damn professional piece if you ask me.
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