Borderline Music

Borderline is awesome. First of all, it’s a Madonna fan’s dream. (There are still a lot of cool finds for the rest of us — a lot of Gaga, Kylie, etc. but also some more rare and eclectic artists, my husband is a straight heavy metal guitarist, but avid record collector. He loved it, all his guilty pleasures were there. The guy at the counter was really friendly and offered to order a vinyl of my favorite singer (seriously, why have no gay men ever heard of Patrick Wolf??? He’ s beautiful and brilliant… I digress). They were actually having a going out of business sale :(so the clearance items were priced low, but most of the «regular-​priced» items were a bit high. Still it’s local and a great selection and I’d pay a bit more to support a local business. I hope they re-​open!

Let’s face it. There is a downside about having an eclectic music collection: some of your music may have homosexual tendencies. For some, it is something they must hide to avoid to be further chastised by their peers. But for those, particularly for those who frequently enjoy the bars on North Halsted, your collection thrives on it. Like mine!
Borderline Music is THE place to find an album that you haven’t found at the larger stores. If you haven’t guessed, Borderline refers to the Madonna song. If you need anything recorded by Her Madge-​esty, go here first. They have EVERYTHING Madonna, including b-​sides and bootlegs! Then as you’re there check out all the dance compilations they have, because I have never seen an American record shop that houses more Hed Kandi collections. Scratch that, they have more than the largest HMV in London which is highly impressive!
Now head to the back, where you will find many imports. I freaked when I found physical copies of albums from my Eurotrashed favorites like Alcazar, Army of Lovers, and Bodies Without Organs! And if you are looking for anything in particular, one of the owners can special order it for you.
I ended up with a vinyl copy of Madonna’s Hard Candy and Charli XCX’s ‘True Romance’ (a promo copy!), which are two I can’t even find at other local shops!
Yeah, I am so coming back.

In February of 2012, a performance-​artist friend of mine and I were walking down Broadway when we noticed my friend’s image in the window of Borderline Music. We went in and met the proprietor. He was very kind and enthusiastic.
This is a wonderful neighborhood location to hunt for music and media.

The most awesome music store in Chicago! Better yet … its the best place to find all of the rare music dvds including full concerts and bootlegs. Nice staff. This place is a gem. The only reason I don’t rate it 5 stars is that its a bit overpriced. But sometimes the stuff there is so unique I don’t mind.
I would recommend this place to anyone who loves music!

Madonna! Gaga! Kylie! Picture vinyl! LOVE LOVE LOVE!!!
What more can I say? What a total gem in Lakeview. They often have new artist release events and signings. Where, AHEM, Lady Gaga did hers when her album first broke in the states.

Great place! I really need to visit more often! I love that they have really unique remixes and artists that you can’t find anywhere else. Case in point: Natalia Kills is a fabulous up and coming artist. Not only did they have her CD, but had a release party /​performance and she performed live and signed posters and CDs for her fans! It was so cool. The owner said Gaga appeared there too a few years ago before she hit it super big! This is *the* place to see your favorite dance music artists before they get super famous! Love this store!

The space isn’t great as a venue even though they use it as one. The selection of music is pretty good though.

I have been looking for Adele remixes for months. Guess where I found them… Borderline Music. The store carries alot of import dance music/​new and old school. If you’re a huge fan of Madonna, Lady Gaga, Britney, Adele, Sugarbabes, Beyonce, Janet Jackson, Donna Summers… this is the place to come. They have items you’ll never found anywhere else.
Scott (the owner) and his assistant David are sweethearts.
They’re prices are very reasonable. Wish there was a parking lot because parking in the area is not great… that’s why I sometimes order online. Received my package in a couple days with a thank you note.

HEAVEN!!! While visiting Chicago, came across this gem. Exactly my kind of store.
And very knowledgable staff.

This place is unlike any place youv ever seen!!! Deffff a one of a kind!!! A hole in the walll of music!!! Gay POP HEAVEN!!! I highly recommend! A must stop of your in chicago and love music!!! The customer service is amazing and the atmosphere was euphoric!!! Haha… i truly did love it! I put some things on hold and im going back to buy! They have everything from CDs DVDs VINYL’s and IMPORTS!!! :) i give it 5 stars.

Yep, still rude. Still sucks. Still selling bootlegs. I can’t wait until a Warner exec finds out about this place.

Cue the Wayans brothers from their old In Living Color skit: «FAB-​U-​LOUUUUUUS!»
I was in Chicago this weekend visiting my best gay. We did all the musts: brunch at the Kit Kat Lounge, drinks at Side Track (A LOT of drinks at Side Track), an afternoon on Hollywood Beach where I felt like I was in Kylie Minogue’s «Slow» video … on Monday we decided we needed a little retail therapy so we headed down from the up-​and-​coming (read: fast gentrifying with a growing LGBT population) Uptown neighborhood to the Lincoln Park/​Lakeview areas. I still had not purchased Kylie’s new Aprhodite CD and my friend noted this place would have it … well, I jumped the gun and bought it at Best Buy, and I most certainly regret doing that.
As a previous reviewer noted, the reason this place has «high» prices is because, as an independent record store, they do not have the purchasing power to receive the bulk discount that places like Best Buy do. Despite the fact that I had already burned a whole lot of plastic that day, I felt compelled to buy SOMETHING there to support the place (besides, I’ve been wanting to buy that Robyn album anyway).
As a teenager I practically LIVED inside independent record stores, and fortunately most of my old Detroit-​area haunts are (however inexplicably) still around. But 10 years ago Lincoln Park used to be CRAWLING with them; every other storefront was a record store. Now there’s only a smattering left, so when I walked into Borderline and saw the video screens playing Madonna videos, the disco balls, the limited-​edition picture vinyl and concert posters, and ALL of it catered specifically to Lakeview’s LGBT (though admittedly, catering a little more specifically to the G’s & T’s), I immediately felt guilty about the box chain bag in my hand.
The selection is absolutely like nothing you’ll find anywhere else. They carry all artists that have a predominantly gay fanbase: big names like Madonna, Kylie Minogue and Lady Gaga, but also lesser-​known acts from across the pond like Sam Sparro, Sophie Ellis Bextor, Girls Aloud, as well as «timeless» artists like … Jody Watley. Well, why not? They also have a huge selection of dance remix and compilation albums.
And they don’t just carry the typical albums — they carry the singles, the import singles, the special-​edition import albums (like Madonna’s rare Hard Candy Japanese import, with extra tracks and a hefty $ 48.98 price tag), the bootleg live concerts, the vinyl, the limited edition picture vinyl, the 7″ vinyl singles, out of print boxed sets, and endless paraphernalia (framed promotional posters, etc.). This places is a music collector’s mecca (gay OR straight), and one of the last few of its kind in this godforsaken era of the MP3, may I never speak that word again.
Their collection is also available online and they will ship anywhere in the world, so even my fellow Detroiters can support this place if my words have provoked your passions.
I am not on-​board with these days of digital downloads. I like to possess the physical product, with the album art and the lyrics and have the whole collection on display like some sort of audio format relic library. I own an iPod but do not use it; I have years’ worth of very fond memories of trolling my different record stores — even going on road trips to Port Huron and Ann Arbor to troll theirs — and that is as much a part of me as spending hours sitting inside Big Boy’s drinking coffee and discussing life, the universe, and everything (and other works by Douglas Adams). I feel sorry for the upcoming generations who might never have those same experiences. Places like Borderline Music are near and dear to my heart, and I for one am willing to pay the extra few dollars here and there to keep them in business.
Besides, do you REALLY think you can form that same sort of intense emotional bond with your local Best Buy? Really? REALLY?

i’ve been shopping at borderline since they open 10+ years. LOVE this store– I don’t know how they do it. they speicalize in Dance IMPORTs POP and DVD’s. Current staff and owner as espeically Nice, helpful and friendly. (sure some past employees not a fan) but they didn’t last long, i guess that is a part of retail.
Borderline has done Instores Meet & greets w/​the best artist. in 2009 i got to meet LADY GAGA!, also they have had Darren Hayes, Donne De Lory (madonna fame), Kristine W, Amber, Abigail, Pepper Mashey, Little Boots, La roux, Blake Lewis, and just this last weekend i got to Meet DRAGONETTE!!! also saw AGNES perform and acoustic set at the store and meet September too.
They have done CD release parties, always giving things away (free posters and promos w/​purchase). I just purchased the new Kylie Minogue cd and for only 15.00 walked out w/​a poster, lithograph picture, cd promo with my purchase!
I have to say i feel bad for them — once when i was in there a customer asked for a pen and paper and said to the staff «i need to write down tracks to download at home» ! How rude. i looked at the owner thinking he’d yell at the guy and he just handed him a pen and paper and smiled.
Now if they can just get madonna in the store !!! i would be complete.

This review is in response to the other posts that complain about Borderline’s customer service and prices:
Years ago I worked at Borderline, and I have to say that while the employees may seem short-​tempered at times, it’s 100 percent justifiable. Half the «customers» came in to listen to CD’s and talk to the cashier like they’re at a bar where they can corner the bartender and talk for hours about their lives, but no purchase is necessary. Others come in and listen to compilation CD’s to find tracks they like and then write the song down and actually say «I’ll just go home and find that free online»! I don’t know how the owner stays in business because the paying customers are few and far between.
It’ll be a sad day when all the record stores are finally gone, so I’m glad Borderline is still hanging in there. I love picture disc vinyl and album cover artwork, and think the move to all digital downloads is depressing.
People complain about the prices, but I know when I was there they were only slightly higher than the wholesale cost. The distributers won’t give independent stores the same prices that the give stores like Best Buy, so people trying to save money run to the big box stores and wonder why their neighborhood has so many vacant storefronts.

incredibly overpriced!
incredibly rude!
They sell bootlegs of Unreleased Live shows!
NEVER AGAIN!!!
I wouldn’t even step in to grab a newspaper or show ad!

The owner was especially nice on our visit– we talked a lot about the new releases, some older stuff, and music in general. They had a great selection of UK issues. If I lived nearby I would stop in often.

I both love and hate Borderline. Of course, I have to applaud any store that has been pushing Kylie WAY before those robots and the «LA LA LA», but they seem to have reached their peak. It used to be that within a few days of a new European or Australian release, I could zip in here and get the latest homo-​pop gem to complete my little collection, but now there is a huge delay before anything new hits their shelves.
The prices here are super-​high, but of course they have to be. This dude just buys everything online and then marks it up. You pay for the convenience I suppose. Not even proper EU releases, but often versions from Asia and South America… often printed with cheaper production value. I notice these things.
The one thing I don’t like about Borderline is how many bootlegs they sell though: numerous CDRS with crappy covers boasting «unreleased» or «rare» material. Totally bogus if you ask me, and at $ 25 a pop, I will pass.

As someone who DJs… and I refuse to steal music. I LOVE THIS PLACE.
The Virgin Megastore downtown was my former #1, and I loved their selection. This place has some unique CDs and mixes that I can’t find anywhere.
The staff is friendly, that could be because I spent boatloads of money when I go. I do get rare remixes to use for my CDs that I couldn’t find anywhere else in Chicago

Ok, so I’m not a Madonna or Justin Timberlake fan, but I do love Kylie –and the PSB, and Lisa Stansfield and ATB… They not only have great imports, great remixes and a lot of great 80’s club stuff, but they’ve got some great lounge and chill music too. On several occasions I found stuff here that had gone out of print.
I can’t believe what people are saying about the staff. I have nothing but great things to say about the customer service. Every time I’ve talked to the owner he’s been very friendly and very helpful. On a couple of occasions he played stuff for me so that I could hear it before I purchased it and he’s ordered stuff for me too and mailed it to me all the way up in the Chain o’ lakes.
Once, I bought a used disc there and it was scratched. I forgot to bring it back to the city with me so I could return it, but when I told him about it he gave me a discount on what I was buying that day. The rest of the staff has always been great to me too.
If you love a wicked disco beat or want to trance yourself out or just find some really cool background music for a dinner party this is a great place to go in the city. Or check them out online.

I like Borderline for the fact they carry anything I want or need as far as obscure dance/​techno fare. I mean, where else can I get a remix CD of Geri Halliwell’s solo hits? I can’t get that anywhere else without going online, that’s for darn sure.
But I always, always, always feel uncomfortable in the store. Always. Can I emphasize that enough? You can be the only one in the store, just browsing, and it’s always just such a disaffected experience. Answers are very short and quick, and so it discourages me from asking more.
Prices are already high, so while I understand they fill a (great) void for the neighborhood, I wish they would just give the little extra to make you actively want to try something else rather than treat the place like some dirty dive where you:
1. Know what you want.
2. Dive in and search.
3. Purchase and flee.
Because at $ 17-​$ 20 on average per CD, I’m not going to purchase a lot of stuff I can’t sample AND get a strange stare that can only be explained as «?!» when I ask about it.
I like the Andersonville location a lot better with regard to this. But I still toss the Lakeview (original) Borderline 4 Stars because I love the concept and selection. I just wish the actual, in-​person experience was a little bit… more.