Cherry Records

Best place in Auburn to find vinyls — and at a great price, too! The guy that runs the shop is there almost every day of the week, and he’s the only employee. He has vast music knowledge and is really cool to talk to. He helped me pick out the right CD set for my mom’s Mother’s Day gift. She was ecstatic! I also love finding good deals on used vinyls and CDSs. Everything he has is always well taken of, and he doesn’t sell stuff scratched or in poor condition.

Wonderful old record store with lots of hard-​to-​find records. The owner really knows his stuff and it is great fun to chat with him about the «old days».
I also appreciated that he was able to record old vinyl to CDs for me and at a reasonable cost.

Love this place. Every time I visit Auburn I stop in and snag some great finds. Alan gets rare pressings and always has something in there that makes me spend my money.

I’m not really inclined toward drama, but this place may have changed my life. Music is a passion for me, but it’s got to be part of a balanced life.
Right now, I’m in transition, thinking about where I want to live my remaining days. Auburn was always one of the «it’d be okay» places. It’s got some stuff and it’s near some more stuff and, without too much effort you can get to even better stuff. («Stuff» in this context means all those things that give life pleasure and meaning, not just material stuff.)
So I’m wandering around thinking how okay it is. I pop into Winston Smith Books (Winston Smith!) I like books and that shop is better than «okay», so Auburn becomes okay-​point-​3 (OK.3). Across the street for coffee at a place with some vegan delights. (Auburn = OK.4). Cherry Records. Dang! This place is way better than just okay. No, it isn’t Amoeba, but Auburn isn’t San Francisco/​Los Angeles/​Berkeley. Cherry Records is — not to be denigrating toward Auburn, an okay place — way better than Auburn merits. Suddenly, Auburn’s at about OK.9. And I’m thinking «I could seriously live here».
The store’s got a really decent, well-​curated jazz selection. (I’ve got 12,000 jazz items already, after 40+ years collecting, so probably enough. But I comment, since it’s what I really know.) I’m looking through the other genres… yes, I could be happy shopping here. And the inventory wasn’t stale. New merch comes in. It’d be worth visiting regularly — like if I lived in…

Cherry Records is by far the best small town record store i’ve ever been to. Alan was very helpful, since it was my first time visiting and i’m from Southern California. The prices for the vinyl that I saw and bought were more than fair. What I appreciate about both Alan and his store is that he only puts out and sells vinyl that is mint or near mint. You don’t have to inspect every single vinyl. He is very knowledgeable of what he has and is fairly organized. He even went to the back to get me a record i’ve been looking for and gave me a killer deal for a 1^st pressing and original sticker! He ships out anything you want and does it with care, he chooses not to sell online or charge ridiculous prices. Give this local record store a chance next time your in town.

Update: Cherry Records has moved across the street. I cannot find the address online. Last time I was there the new arrivals section was chockablock with mint 80s music — Sparks, The Jam, Visage, Roxy Music, Heaven 17, Haircut 100.

I bought a two-​cd album at Cherry Records recently. Fresh out of the cellophane, I discovered that the company had put two «disc 2“s in the album instead of «cd1» and «cd2». I took it back, and though the owner couldn’t send it back for a refund, he replaced the bad album with a complete album. He ate the cost. I will go out of my way to shop at a place with that kind of integrity. Plus, they have a great selection of the type of music I like, both cd and vinyl.

Gotta agree with Dane. Normal dollar bin mainstays (America’s Greatest Hits, e.g.) are at least 8 bucks. Average selection but the prices are a gauge.

Stumbled upon Cherry Records on my way to drop my son off at Summer Camp. This is a clean, well maintained neighborhood record shop. CDs are also available, but the records fortunately have an awesome «new arrivals» rack center stage as you walk in the door, and browsing these in the limited time I had available was serendipitous and fruitful. Cherry’s owner, Allen, is friendly and helpful, and quite knowledgeable about his inventory, letting me know the Tom Verlaine record I found was from a collector who had quite a few seminal NY early new wave and serious geek worthy bands in his collection. An exploratory question regarding Tony Joe White LPs also yielded helpful tips and one reasonably priced, hard to locate release. Price is a bit of a hindrance here, but supporting a guy like Allen, in a small enclave like Auburn is a worthy cause. Helping me overlook the 3 – 4 dollar inflation on some titles, and I can give Cherry Records a very high recommendation for serious buyers on an adventuresome bender.

Looking for clean vinyl? This is the place. Check the new arrivals every week. You will not be sorry. Al is very knowledgeable in every genera. And he will even record your choice on CD for much less than commercial CD’s would cost over the counter. He can order anything you want and gaurantees all used vinyl aganst skips. We love you Al !!!

From Frank Sinatra to Judy Garland, from The Monkees to Disney «picture records», this record store has quite the selection! The owner was a pleasant fellow that has been selling records for over 20 years. He seems to have a real passion for what he does, and boasts that all his records are guaranteed playable and scratch-​free. A fun store to look through and marvel at. Now, I just need a record player!

Why are the prices for mediocre albums so high here? Everything that you would see anywhere else – for 3 to 4 bucks is $ 9.95 and up – most in the $ 12 to $ 15 range. Sorry, I just don’t get it… go check out Phono Select or even the Beat next time you’re down the hill and see what they’re charging for Fleetwood Mac albums that sold in the gazillions 3 or 4 bucks – not $ 14.95.

Wow! I visited this shop this afternoon and was blown away by the selection and the help of the owner. There was a much deeper selection available than I usually find in this area, especially jazz and reggae. Very well organized store with many cool DVDs and rare CDs that I haven’t seen at other stores. Who knew that such a fantastic record store would be sitting in downtown Auburn? The prices were a little higher overall, however, every disc was very clean and I have to say that I am incredibly satisfied by what I left the store with. Fantastic place!

Cherry Records is the place to go, if you’re into albums and\or into certain types of music (Reggae, Grateful Dead, 60s & 70s, etc., etc.)
The prices can be high on most of the harder to find stuff that he has, so traditional b&p trading might be in order instead — but if you want something without that hassle, Al has it …
Last time I was there I bought some old spoken word albums & some psychedelic stuff of different kinds that I didn’t even know existed and are great for divination — if you’re hep to that …
Parking is pretty bad and teenybooppers during lunch hours are floating around town pretending they’re urban, or acting depressed and emo … So, same as when I went to Placer High ha!