For a vinyl collector like myself, record shopping is one of the most enjoyable experiences imaginable. I basically go digging for records practically every weekend, and just about any other free time or off-day I might have. To say it’s an addiction might truly be an understatement, and to be honest, I am absolutely okay with that.

For how enjoyable record shopping typically is, I’ve also had some unfortunately unpleasant experiences over the years. I tend to consider myself a pretty laid back person in general, however I do admit that I’ve let some unpleasantries from some unaware record collectors get a little under my skin over the years. These less than ideal experiences and observations have ultimately helped provide the content for this article. I tend to feel that much like baseball or many other past times, there are certain unspoken rules when it comes to shopping for records. These “rules,” or what I like to call “best practices” only help ensure that everyone in the record shop has an enjoyable experience, from the hardcore collectors to the people just starting to build their collections.

With Record Store Day taking place this Saturday, and what is to be expected as a high influx of collectors and music fans at neighborhood record shops worldwide, I thought this might be the perfect time to make my recommended list of “the do’s, the don’ts, and best practices” when it comes to shopping for vinyl.

As always, these are just my opinions and I expect that many people will disagree with some of my narratives below, or might even have more to add. This list was generated by my own personal record shopping experiences over the past two decades. As always, I welcome a healthy and open-minded debate, especially when it come to vinyl.

With that being said, here are BeatCaffeine’s Record Shopping Etiquette:

Stay In Your Lane

During “high traffic” record shopping days like Record Store Day, weekend afternoons, and especially record swaps, it’s important as a vinyl digger to stay in your lane. What I mean by this, is when a collector approaches a bin of records, it’s only courtesy to the other record shoppers nearby that you choose one row of records within a section at a time, while also providing adequate physical space so that the record bins to both your left and right sides can be flipped through by others. Look, I know that there is a concern that someone is going to find that “must-have” original copy of some 60s psychedelic rarity, or live bootleg Beatles album, however it’s more likely that the collectors next to you are not even remotely interested in the same records you are, and therefore please do not try to block others from exploring the vinyl around you.

Grab and Go

When you’re in “your lane” (see above), it’s helpful and a more enjoyable experience for everyone in the shop if you move quickly through the row of records that your flipping through. Decision time about what you ultimately will decide to buy, and what you will put back should come much later in the record shopping process. With that being said, I highly recommend the “grab and go” method of flipping through the stacks quickly and snatching up every record that either sparks up some curiosity, requires some in-depth research, or is a strong candidate to be purchased. It’s absolutely fine to hold onto records that you aren’t sure about wanting. Again, decision time about what your going to choose to buy should be heavily focused towards the very end of your record shopping experience, not at the beginning. One way to certainly annoy just about every other collector in the shop, is to go through every record at a delicately slow pace, and holdup others from browsing through the same stack of records. Leave the grading of the vinyl, the reading of the liner notes, the youtube previews, and the internet research for the period following your completion of going through the stacks. It just saves everyone a ton of time on the front end of the process.

Do Not Stream the Records Out Loud

I get it, you forgot your headphones at home and you want to know if a certain record will have that “monster break” that you’ll be able to sample. Even in that crucially important situation, please show the courtesy to everyone in the shop, and go to a non-occupied area of the store, where it will not distract/annoy everyone else, and quietly play the track on your smart phone closely to your ear. It’s okay if people can hear it vaguely in the background, however the music shouldn’t be competing with whatever music that is being played overhead in the shop. I know this might be the record that features that heavy drum break that is going to make you the next coming of J Dilla or Madlib, but please do not force the music on everyone in the shop. It’s not that noise bothers me, I just find that it’s kind of annoying if someone doesn’t have the awareness of the fact that others nearby might not be interested in hearing whatever record they are previewing. More importantly, just don’t forget your headphones.

No Dollar Records at the Listening Stations

Look people, these records are a dollar! To be frank, it’s honestly not cool to grab a large stack (15 to 20) of dollar records and hold-up the turntable listening station for everyone else. I witnessed this once at a highly respected Bay Area record shop. The owner kept his cool about it, but you could tell on the inside that he was slightly enraged to watch a customer park themselves at the listening table for a good 20 minutes while other shoppers with $30-60 records were just standing around waiting. Remember they are dollar records, it’s okay to just take a chance once in a while.

And, No Parking at the Listening Station

That brings up another thing. Regarding turntable listening stations, please respect all the other shoppers and try to stick to the 15 minute limit. Of course if you are the only person in the record store on say a Tuesday afternoon, I think it’s fine to take some leeway with the record shop’s policy. However, on more trafficked days like Record Store Day, or during busy hours, keep your preview stack closer to just those “maybe” selections. Also, for those that like to take longer exploring each record, investing in a portable record player might be the best route to go.

Classical Sections Have a Purpose

Okay, okay … just trying to have some fun with this one. Before classical music fans ridicule me over my implied notion that I do not appreciate classical music, I just want to make it clear that even though I’m certainly not a novice and do not generally find myself collecting many classical records, I do have the upmost respect for the genre, it’s history, and the complexity of the music. What I ultimately mean by the statement above is that the best place to sort and make final purchasing decisions are less occupied sections of the record shop. More times than not, I find that classical music sections typically do not have a ton of foot traffic, and therefore making it an ideal location to sort your record finds. I often divide my stack into three categories 1) “the definite yes” pile, 2) the “I do not know what I was thinking, I’ll pass” pile, and 3) “hmm, maybe” pile. Using this approach, you can spend the rest of your time researching the maybe pile to see which records make the final cut. I find this to be an ideal practice because it allows a person to take the necessary time as needed to make buying decisions without clogging up highly trafficked sections in the shop.

Do Not Hide Records for Future Purchases

Everyone who digs regularly knows exactly what I’m talking about here, which is taking some of the record finds that you might want to purchase, but will not for numerous reasons (financial, uncertainty, how it’s priced, etc.), and stuff them in a less than sought out section in the record store like big band, trad-jazz, baroque classical, etc. To say I’ve never done this in the past would be a lie, however over the past few years I’ve definitely made it a value of mine to not participate in this practice. Life is all about making decisions and living with the consequences of those decisions, and the same logic should apply to record shopping. Now I just try to take a little more time in those record purchasing moments and evaluate what records I am going to buy, and which ones I’m going to maybe even regrettably pass on. Hiding records is just 1) inconveniencing everyone that works at the shop, and 2) prevents someone, who probably values certain records slightly higher than you do, an opportunity to pickup that wishlist item. Plus, you have to be foolish if you think collectors don’t seek out those unpopular sections in a record store in hopes to uncover these hidden gems.

Nobody wants to hear about your Beatles collection

Let’s be real, this is the ultimate person you want to avoid at a record store. The person I’m describing here, are those individuals that are somehow convinced music started and stopped with the lifespan of The Beatles (Just for the record, I am a Beatles fan). Bigger point, people are not interested in hearing about how grand of a collection you might have because record collecting is all personal, much like clothing, art, or food. Everyone’s tastes are different and everyone values certain records differently. So please do not annoy everyone around you in the shop (including the store owner) talking about how many different pressings you own of The White Album. Seriously, nobody cares.

That’s it! Happy record shopping.

• Record Store Day