Logan Hardware – Chicago

My son lives in Chicago and whenever I visit him I make point of visiting my favorite Chicago record stores and try to discover a new one.  This last trip my wife picked up a tip about Logan Hardware.  This store’s twist is that it has vintage arcade game museum.  That twist is a nice way to distinguish yourself and attract some visitors, but I am record guy.  I peeked at the museum, but spent my time in the crates.

I was impressed – a good collection of vinyl – new and used, CD’s, 45s, videos and tchotchkes.  The store has a nice cool hipster vibe.  The store is the right size – I don’t like a record stores to be too big or too small.  My focus is on vinyl, so the perfect size store is one that I can dig their crates in about an hour and still leave some crates for next time. There needs to be room for people to just hang out.  Logan Hardware fit the bill.

They had nice diverse collection – I would not say there was a particular style – all over the map – but well sorted.  The store is organized by gene.  I tend to focus on jazz and there was a good 20 minutes of browsing.  I snapped up a nice new Larry Young reissue.  I moved over to the blues section and picked up a couple of early 80’s Z.Z. Hill albums (used in pristine condition and very reasonably priced).  I moved over to rock and picked up the hair metal classic Cinderella’s Long Cold Winter (also used in pristine condition and reasonably priced).

The true judge of a record store is would I go back?  The answer is yes.  I like the selection, the quality, the reasonable prices and the vibe.  A bonus is that all used records are in plastic sleeves.  Highly recommended.

For a flavor of the store check out this video from their website.