Karma Records

As someone who for several years lived within a short distance of several really good record stores and has for years made pilgrimages to record stores in Chicago, I’m admittedly spoiled and can’t honestly be fair to Karma. While part of a small regional chain, their first priority is staying afloat financially, which means they pretty much have to carry mostly items that cater to local tastes and buying habits. As a result, much of their stock is head shop merchandise. As such, you’ll have better luck finding Scooby Doo «tobacco» pipes and everything you need for a good «tobacco» blaze than that record you can’t find at Wal*Mart just down the road. The music they carry — again, dictated by local tastes and conglomerate radio station outlets — tends to be a mix of classic and/​or mook/​grunt rock, «hot new» country, mall punk, and whatever’s popular in the hip-hop/r&b realm… with a large dose of stoner music. I can’t really fault them for carrying very little decent independent rock, blues, folk, etc., when the chance of it getting sold is very slim, but it still really makes browsing the store no fun unless you’re after something you can hear on the radio anyway or will go well with that bong and Zippo. Again, in their defense, they’re working with local taste — and the one record store left in South Bend isn’t a whole lot better, even with plenty more reasons why it should be.
Solid positives: They’re very open to vinyl and quite willing to order pretty much anything… and usually even give me a couple bucks off when I order a vinyl record. The staff does a good job of helping customers. Occasionally I’ve had to stand and wait for 5 – 10 minutes while the lone clerk helps some kids sort through the «tobacco accessories» case, but they make up for it in friendliness and acknowledge the wait, which is really what matters.
Overall, it is what it is, and I want to support local shops even when it’s tough. They do the best they can (and better than many others), and they earn that 3 star rating for their willingness to order indie vinyl releases for that one guy who wants them. Stop by and support them if you can.