Vinyl Lives: Euclid Records – St. Louis/New Orleans

In Vinyl Lives we spotlight and profile record stores around the country who offer music lovers an experience that goes beyond an iTunes purchase or a Spotify playlist. Vinyl has found a new resurgence and the good folks behind independent record stores are on the front line, directly responsible for curating a unique collection of music. Here at Glide Magazine we feel that record stores are a valuable part of the community and to music as a whole, and are therefore worth celebrating.

In the second edition of Vinyl Lives we turn our focus to not one, but two record stores: Euclid Records in St. Louis, Missouri and its sister store (also called Euclid Records) in New Orleans, Louisiana. According to owner Joe Schwab, who founded Euclid in 1983, the store’s “humble beginnings began in a tiny 700 square foot space in the Central West End of St. Louis. After several expansions, the store is now 7,000 square feet of new and used vinyl and CDs as well as a mail order department that is renowned throughout the world for its excellent selection of jazz, rare rock, blues and folk vinyl.” That space translates to a store inventory of over 100,000 titles, all of which you can purchase online.

Five years ago Schwab opened a second Euclid Records in the 9^th Ward neighborhood of New Orleans. Given that the NOLA store is 95% new and used vinyl, it has become so popular for vinyl collecting visitors and locals alike that just last year Schwab expanded to a two-story, 4,000 square foot building.

Euclid New Orleans

While nothing touches the experience of visiting a record store in the flesh, Euclid takes their store on the road with pop-up shops at notable music festivals like LouFest, Solid Sound and the Ponderosa Stomp. But if you are in St. Louis or New Orleans and get on down to Euclid Records you may just be lucky enough to catch an in-store performance from a renowned national or local act. In 2009 Euclid started an offshoot record label (also called Euclid) to record those in-store performances, pressing a limited number of 45’s and donating the proceeds to charity.

Here’s a look at what makes Euclid Records such a special destination for music lovers and a taste of what records are flying off the shelves these days…

Five things you might not know about Euclid Records:

 

1. The BBC named Euclid NOLA one of the five best record stores in the world!

2. Bob Pollard of Guided By Voices chose Euclid St. Louis as one of the 5 greatest record stores in the USA.

3. Xanaland.com chose Euclid NOLA as one of the five most beautiful record stores in the world.

4. While still in the band Uncle Tupelo, Wilco frontman Jeff Tweedy and his manager Tony Margherita first met while working at Euclid Records St. Louis.

 5. Owner Joe Schwab and Euclid Records will be featured in an upcoming episode of A & E’s Shipping Wars.

Euclid Records Best Sellers for the first week of January:

 

1. Sleepy Kitty – Projection Room

2. Beck – Morning Phase

3. Arctic Monkeys – AM

4. Black Keys – Turn Blue

5. Jack White – Lazaretto

6. St. Vincent – St. Vincent

7. War On Drugs – Lost In the Dream

8. Spoon – They Want My Soul

9. Grouplove – Spreading Rumours

10. Sturgill Simpson – Metamodern Sounds in Country Music

Five surprising records we can’t keep in stock:

 

Fleetwood Mac – Fleetwood Mac (Warner Brothers) and Rumors

Cher – Cher (Geffen)

ANYTHING by Hall and Oates!

Footloose Soundtrack

Billy Joel – Greatest Hits

Euclid St. Louis

Euclid Records St. Louis is located at 19 N Gore Ave. Euclid New Orleans is at 3301 Chartres St. You can also check them out on Facebook and browse through their Ebay store!

Check out Vinyl Lives: Breakaway Records in Austin, Texas!

Is there a record store you think we should profile? Feel free to shoot your suggestions to nferguson@glidemagazine.com!

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