Protean Records

This was a small little shop, but had lots of records to sort through. Also, books!

Really cool place, and the proprietor seems like a real nice guy. I came in late on a Tuesday. I had picked up a few LP’s from the truly excellent selection, and asked the owner to play one that I wasn’t familiar with. He obliged.
When it popped a couple times he said, very clearly and without my asking, that he puts records with any serious skipping into the dollar bin, and that the main shelves have items that may hiss or pop a bit, but no recurring skips/​loops. All the albums I wanted were from the main shelves. On the strength of his statement, I ended up buying about ~$ 120 of albums, without demo. (That’s a lot of money for me, but there aren’t any good stores where I live.)
When I got them home, I was disappointed to find that the majority of them have skips so bad the records just loop, and I have to get up and physically move the needle past the problem areas. I usually would just accept my loss, but these were a total of more than $ 60 worth of records and the owner seemed like an honest guy. So, I called to tell him about it. I called 4 times during business hours, but never got an answer. I got a message system once, and left a message with my phone number, saying I had some issues and wanted to hear back from him. A week later and still no reply.
I really liked this place, and I’m disappointed because I feel like I got tricked into not demo-​ing records because I trusted the owner. He told me something, and I relied on it. It could be an honest mistake, but after making a real effort I wasn’t able to get in touch with him to rectify it.

I’ve walked by Protean so many times and never stopped in until last night. My roommate is a huge fan of the shop and showed me around. They had so many records! They are all alphabetized making it really easy to find what you’re looking for. I noticed that they are all reasonably priced as well. What I wasn’t expecting to see were shelves and shelves of books. I had a great time browsing their selection while my roommate dug through the records. I will definitely be back!

Awesome store, great selection, clean records, tons of books, all quality and very knowledgeable staff. As a repeat customer I will continue to support this awesome small business.

I love this place. Always open early on RSD just follow them on facebook. They have some awesome records here every time. Well priced and generally cool people. It’s like a miniature high fidelity in there without the judgment

What a magical place this is. If you go looking for something in particular, you will likely find it. But better, I think, to go with a mind open to the influence of this superbly curated collection. I found some real gems at Protean, and look forward to returning soon. Also, the prices are very competitive, so you can support your local small business without whining about how much cheaper you could have gotten whatever online. As if you’d have found it online, in the first place!

If the American Visionary Art Museum had a yard sale curated by your strange, eccentric uncle, it would resemble this awesome, off-​kilter shop of records and sundry other curios.
The owner is an affable, esoterically knowledgeable dude who will help you find your favorite album on vinyl, a collection of Garbage Pail Kid trading cards or a book on livestock slaughter throughout the ages.
Stop by and browse this independently owned gem, bringing a little bit of that strange Bmore charm to the increasingly uniform Fed Hill!