Breakdown Records

This place is now officially closed.
There is no longer any hope for the people of queens…

First real record store I’ve actually got to crate dig and listen to the records that I was interested in purchasing. Great selection and lovely staff! A lot of my collection is due to Break down. Let’s not forget the vinyls are not expensive what so ever! Love the spot!!!

Really nice record store and possibly the only one in Queens. You can dig for hours and not get through half the stuff in here. There are lots of good records to be found in the bins and they are cheap too. They also have a good selection of CDs.
Only one complaint I have is that the store is cluttered. Sometimes its hard to see the back of the bins because they have stacks of records in front of them.
The only thing you need is to arm yourself with a pair of gloves or have a hand wipe ready. And start digging.

This place isn’t bad at all. Yes, most of the records are cheap because they aren’t in the best of shape. This is the place to go to if you want to round out your record collection with classic artists’ secondary albums. I basically bought the entire Carpenters discography and Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours with less than $ 30 in my pocket.
With that said, this is literally the only place in Queens to buy records (unless you count thrift shops). I commend Breakdown Records for that.

No Lie! They recently had a bunch of 45 records come in MINT CONDITION for a buck! Spent 30 dollars! Oddly, i felt a feeling I have not felt in such a long time. Walking out and buying music that I liked. Love this place!

Breakdown is a great old school record store with a huge selection of vinyl. Don’t expect an easy iTunes searchable database, you have to find the goods the old fashion way: on your hands and knees. I personally love the experience of digging to find a great record and coming across great ones along the way. This place is excellent if you’re looking to add or start a classic rock record collection. Some gems that I have found there include, Exile on Main St., Born to Run and Led Zeppelin IV. A word of warning make sure you throughly inspect the records before purchasing, many of them are 30 years old and have the battle scars to prove it. Im so happy that a place exists in Queens and hope that it sticks around despite the persistent feeling of it going out of business.

If you are into digging… this is an awesome place to go.
Bring some rubber gloves and get down to it.
Sometimes you might even spot some DJ’s.
There is usually a week to week turn around with new records.

A friend told me about this place, so naturally had to check it out. Didn’t find any CDs I liked. Yet if you’re into vinyl your grampa grooved to, then this place is for you.

I found the Jazz + Classical selections to be kind of small and well picked through – basically a bunch of records no one wants with five or ten worth purchasing mixed in. The rock/​pop selection looked bigger and better less barren.
As for the vinyl itself, you get what you pay for. At $ 2, the records are hardly pristine and many have substantial physical flaws. Can’t beat the price, though. I would happily pay $ 5 or $ 10 for records that weren’t in crappy shape. Some were mostly just dirty, some were substantially scratched up.

Did Breakdown just restock their shelves with some crazy backroom vinyl or something? I literally took the bus from Flushing to Breakdown to buy $ 200 worth of records in a week. I found really crazy finds that blew me away. It’s a shame that I have probably dug the place out now (only takes a couple hours to). I hope they restock soon! (Otherwise they’re going back down to 3 stars :/)

The sign used to be ironic-«Breakdown Records», a washed out purple sign with black lettering that was-let’s face it, torn up to shreds. The owner has recently funded a new sign, I suppose he had some more cash flow now that vinyl is making a comeback.
Anyway, this store is Amazing. Its vinyl collection stretches for miles… top shelf to bottom shelf, back to front, box to box. The whole right side of the store is vinyl. The back wall has tapes, the left side has some cds. They sell other merch too, like patches. The owner’s really nice and the employees are always surfing the net on their computers, playing great songs. (Are they hiring? Sounds like an awesome job.) Vinyl is cheap here (PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE don’t raise the price PLEASE) and the dimly lit, carpeted space is pretty mellow.
All the selection of a great vinyl store, with a cheap price tag and no attitude.

Just like the sea, I both fear and respect it.
Breakdown’s been having their going-​out-​of-​business sale for years! Maybe it’s the sense of urgency marketing that they seem to unknowingly employ. As I write this, I’m wondering «are they still around? were they serious? «
This record store is dangerous. A recovering addict myself, the process of record collecting is thorough by the eyes and fingers, straining on the knees, draining on the wallet and seldomly rewarding. And you keep on looking for the one. The one is usually found in a virgin collection. One untouched by other collectors’ dirty little fingers. These can easily be identified by a beatles records, an early Dylan, a Velvet Underground or a Coltrane — all for the standard $ 1 – 2 bulk price tag. At every collection I encounter, it’s not an option to skip a record until you are sure it’s lost its virginity a long time ago; usually then surrounded by the ubiquitous Streisand, Kennedy’s inaugural address, showtunes and other post-​electric pre-​60s).
As for Breakdown, it may be impossible to sift through every record in the store. There are about 100,000 records on the shelves for 2 dollars each. Now, these arent virgin collections, their best are sold on ebay — but you will probably find any popular artist currently on the radio on their shelves.
Last time I went, I found 50 of them. That was me on my way to a mission of collecting the LPs of rolling stone magazine’s top 500 albums of all-​time… (aborted).
I shouldn’t even be thinking about Breakdown now. This review must be stopped before I get the urge.