Backtracks Music+Games

Walking past Backtracks filled me with magical hopes of finding one of Edinburgh’s best hidden secrets with great finds of the musical vinyl variety. But I was soon let down. I’ve been here twice now, to see if it maybe I was just in a bad mood the first time I visited. When you walk in, and you can barely walk in, you’re met with piles of records, tv’s, stereos, and all kinds of other things that are hard to make out. In order to look through the records, you may have to move a box out of the way that is setting on top of the category or letter grouping for the record you’re looking for… I had to do this on both visits. You’re likely to trip over something on the floor whilst trying to find what you’re looking for. And at best, the shop is extremely cluttered and messy. I love to support local business, but I think most customers would be lucky if they found anything in the shop primarily due to the huge mess that it is.

Well how would I describe the wonderfully weird Backtracks with its random range of items from video games to dusty records, CDs and VHS films to instruments, cables and golf balls, this shop is definitely one of a kind as is the shop owner Tommy. We love Tommy. Who doesn’t love Tommy!
But despite all this the shop is tiny and cramped full of stuff and I’m sure that underneath all the stuff there are some hidden gems, if you can take the time to really wade in and have a look. Overall a thumbs up for Backtracks.

I love this store. It is so disorganized, at first glance, with everything stacked. Huge piles of… stuff! But ask the owner, he seem to know every single item in the store. And what price tag he’ve put on it.
Saw quite some rarities, including an Atari 2600 with 7 – 8 games (£69 incl. 2 games). Personally I fetced a couple of GameBoy original games.
Vinyl, dvds, video games, misc electronic equipment. It got everything — except space to actually move in the tiny store. Genuine.

Backtracks is a shop that will give you a sensory overload. From the many, many signs that highlight their bargains outside to the maze of CDs and videos within, it would take you a day to get round this place — and it’s tiny as well!
It is a muddle of mismatched items, and all the stock is fuddled together. Precarious towers of unsteady videos lean towards you, 21 inch television sets are buried under jumbled household appliances, and the owner’s desk is swamped with old comupter games. Vinyl LP’s spill out the doors and old, cringeworthy singles from the 80s can be bought for mere pennies.
But I absolutely love it! I get a buzz out of places like this — you seriously never know what you’ll find. If I had time, I would devote it to spending a day looking around this place since it’s an Only Fools and Horses style Cave of Wonders. There were some singles trapped under the mish mash that looked appealing, and I’m sure I would find loads of stuff in here that either reminded me of my childhood, or were of genuine value.
The owner is also really nice and will help you in whatever way he can. He’s aware that it’s a place brimming with stock but as I said to him, «At least there’s more to look at!»
I love it, but I am itching to get my hands on it. Is it really creepy that I want to tidy this place up?

Calling car boot enthusiasts, bargain hunters and vinyl collectors.
Packed floor to ceiling with potential swag, Backtracks is a shambolic, secondhand shop that sells everything from old record and tape decks to video and DVD players, lights, speakers and playstation machines. Some of them are neatly arranged but the majority of stuff feels haphazardly stacked or piled on top of older, dustier stuff.
As the title implies, there’s also crates and crates of well played 45s, 33s, tapes and DVDs. Prices are rock bottom and whilst lots of it could be categorised as bad or forgotten pop, rock, blues or classical, there are some classics from Pink Floyd, Jimi Hendrix, The Kinks, The Who and The Beatles if you’re prepared to dig hard enough.

Unlike another store I reviewed recently, I regard Backtracks as a bit of a junk store, but one I find has some charm.
A small shop near Tollcross, slightly obscured by a bus shelter in front of it, Backtracks is a shop you could easily miss. It is, as its title suggests, primarily a music and games shop (amongst some other… «stuff»). I am a bit of a music and games fan. Whenever I’ve been in, I’ve found a few treats regards the CD collection, as I rake through their collection. A great deal of them however, like others have found, I have never heard of in my life, and don’t expect to hear of.
As for games, I would probably recommend elsewhere for the latest releases. Don’t necessarily expect to find anything produced in the past five years. having said that, if you’re a collector you mind come across some unexpected finds, especially on the retro line.
Prices are reasonable for the sort of shop it is. The owner is friendly enough. Browsing can become a little difficult with the shops small space, and chaotic and precarious arrangement.

This is a shop that has clearly never heard the phrase ‘less is more’. I’m sure they have everything under the sun that could be considered music or games, but finding anything is another matter.
Only come here if you have time on your hands and are genuinely interested enough to spend a reasonable amount of time — I personally got bored fairly quickly not being an ultimate games fan. For some, however, this shop will be brilliant slowly searching and never knowing what you might turn over and find, but for many of us it will just be too frustrating.

Backtracks Music is hopelessly hilarious. Never have I seen a place so full of junk. And that’s not particularly a bad thing. Places full of junk are places full of charm. But my oh my, if you decide to be the one to sort through it all to actually find what you like, good luck to you.
I’ve never properly stepped inside. I tried, but the felt like the whole place was just too precariously arranged. Like the whole thing might come toppling down at a wrong turn. And I’m notorious for really (really) not being aware of my own surface area. Or anything around me, for that matter.
I did have a great deal of fun leafing through their record collection, though. They’re all pretty cheap records, but I didn’t recognise a single name, and didn’t feel like taking the risk buying something rubbish. All I have to say now is: venture in at your own risk.

Squeezing my way around this messy shop full of old cassettes, dusty playstation games, roller skates, keyboards and scatterings of VHS videos I was reminded of the soundtrack to the film Trainspotting: «Choose a f@*king big television, choose washing machines, cars, compact disc players and electrical tin openers». Indeed, in keeping with the film, you’d probably have to be on some drug induced high to find the concentration levels needed to rout through all the junk. Nonetheless Backtracks may well stock that Sega Mega Drive you’ve always wanted, or indeed that rare Super Mario game for your old Nintendo system. Such rare items can sell for hundreds on the likes of Amazon or Ebay so Backtracks could well be an option for the more nostalgic home entertainment enthusiast.

This is a quirky small independent music shop with awesome record and games selection at fairly cheap prices. Be prepared to look to find treasures not yet sorted or ask to find in this Aladdin’s Cave of guitars, tvs and film.
I discovered by chance (You Tube) but ideal for retro games or music dvd, cd gifts.

Amazing selection of music, computer games and disco equipment in this Edinburgh 2^nd hand shop. Many more items available inside than it looks from outside in street. Handy if you want to buy a plug, guitar, amp or tv cheap. Worth a look for collectors etc.