Easy Street Records

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blarglebob

Joined 5 years ago

OK I suppose, but VASTLY overrated. From all the hype gotten from this music store, from all the Easy Street bumper stickers and t-shirts I see all everywhere I go, I was expecting a lot more than what I saw. Truth be told, most of the music they carry is very commonly found at places like amazon, with virtually zero underground/hard to find music. At best, a few This Heat and William Basinski albums are about all I came across that generally cannot be found elsewhere. Not helping is the announcement of one of the employees to me that they will no longer be carrying any imported items. And, as someone who enjoys a good deal of metal, I have to say their metal selection is poor at best, stocking mainly Southern Lord/Hydra Head type stuff and the obligatory mainstream bands a la Judas Priest, Motorhead, etc. In fact, overall the only kind of music they carry is the kind that caters to the "indie" crowd, and little else. I also tried searching through their used CD bin, but it was so confusing and badly organized that I just about gave up on finding anything worthwhile.

It isn't a terrible store, by any means. As far as their stockpile on mainstream music is concerned, it's a notch above, say, Border's. The staff is usually pleasant, though I rarely needed to speak to them on many matters, except for returning a couple of CDs and selling them (another good thing, though I had the hardest time navigating their used CD section, selling CDs to them is a painless process; they take just about anything from you, and offer you decent money for your unwanted horde). Overall, not bad, but highly underwhelming considering the gross amount of hype. I also don't see this as being that much, if at all, better than Silver Platters, a store that is heavily derided by Easy Street fans for some reason. Why? They're worse in some ways, but better in other ways too than Easy Street (better metal selection and a tad more import-friendly too). I still do go here from time to time, but with few expectations this time.

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cjcoffey

Joined 6 years ago

If you live in or around Seattle, this is where you buy your music!. Easy Street Records is basically music heaven. The staff has always been very polite and eager to help me find whatever I'm looking for. You can find pretty much any album under the sun - if its out of stock, they'll order it for you. A couple times I've popped in to find what I wanted out of stock, so they gave me a discount voucher to use next time I dropped by to pick my album up. The atmosphere also adds to the whole experience - great store layout, design, background music, Queen Anne location, etc. Don't miss the awesome in-store performances too - Minus the Bear, Kaiser Cheifs, Tegan & Sara, NFG, etc - they have quite a few per year!

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joevandal2000

Joined 7 years ago

Lazy+Attitude=Easy Street Employees. Easy Street was my music store. 10 minutes ago I left the store for the last time. I spent over an hour waiting for one of the three employees on shift tonight to review the music I wanted to exchange. Finally, I asked how much longer it would be. Another 15 or 20 minutes was the response. There were two other customers there and the girl behind the counter was trying to explain how busy Mondays are for them. It's a charming combination of laziness and self absorbed "my musical taste is better than everyones because I work at a music store" attitude. Easy Street can go to hell. I'm going to Silver Platter next time.

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davfruehe

Joined 7 years ago

It's about music. Not sure what crawled up the last guy's butt but the easy street staff is by no means arrogant. They love music, which is kind of the point in a record store. My request for Kris Kristofferson was not met with attitude and mockery but with genuine help. This is one of the last bastions of independant music outlets. They are all in it for the love of music. The in-store shows reflect their love of music. Come hang out here. You will be treated with respect, you might learn something. And if nothing else, their t-shirts and hoodies and the best in the northwest!

Doesn't Recommend

fritzy2

Joined 8 years ago

These people are jerks!. Please go to another more customer focused record store - these people are jerks. They all think they are too cool and won't help you find the selection you are looking for. There are so many other places that aren't posers like Easystreet - save your time and money and go to any other store than this one.

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drel

Joined 9 years ago

Excellent customer service. Just called the Mercer St location to ask if they were a ticketmaster vendor. Instead of getting a curt "I'm too cool to speak to you" type response, from someone whose attitude says "Look at me, I'm wearing an engineer hat because I let my art school [boy|girl]friend cut my hair with kitchen scissors" type response, or even a simple "Sorry, no", the friendly employee I talked to informed me of two places within walking distance of the store that could help me out.

Easy Street is no Amoeba, but they're still pretty great.

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Milehiguy

Joined 10 years ago

Cool Record Store. Great selection and wonderful prices. Friendly, helpful staff. Take a few hours, there is a lot to look at here!

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Contributor

Joined 10 years ago

Vast selection and hard-to-find accoutrements for music fans of all stripes.. The Scene
For Seattle music lovers, it doesn't get much sweeter than this. Easy Street occupies a substantial retail space and uses it well. Despite the cute street signs pointing to the different sections, it takes awhile to find your way around this store, which is dotted with telephone booths turned into semi-private listening stations.

The Goods
New and used vinyl is in the back (everything from a $30 Supergrass import to classic crooners like Belafonte and Nat King Cole). Rock music of every type imaginable lines the store on both sides, and hip-hop is stocked up near the front along with blues--a good mix. Kitsch your thing? Check out the Beatles lunchboxes or a KISS 5-piece thermos set. But wait, there's more: fan T-shirts, books, canvas Dickies bags and even a rock-n-roll trivia game.