The Lost Blues Archive Est. 1920 · Reopened 2026
Index 06 — The Buyer's Field Guide

Where the rare blues still turns up

Record shops that still keep blues crates, dealers who trade in 78s, and mail-order houses that will post a record to you. Ninety-four entries across the United States, Canada and Europe, each one checked against the shop's own listing before it was written down.

  • 94entries
  • 32US shops
  • 20Canadian shops
  • 36European shops
  • 6mail-order dealers

United States

32 shops

The deepest blues stock sits where the records were made and sold: Chicago's South and West Sides, Memphis and the Delta, New Orleans, and the Texas circuit. Most of these shops buy collections outright, so the crates change week to week.

Chicago & the Midwest 7

Memphis & the Delta 5

New Orleans 2

Texas 3

New York & the Northeast 3

  • Jazz Record Center

    New York, New York

    236 W 26th St, Room 804
    New York, NY 10001

    Chelsea jazz and blues specialist with some 30,000 jazz LPs plus blues LPs, books and ephemera.

    212-675-4480 jazzrecordcenter@verizon.net jazzrecordcenter.com

    Call before travelling — recent reports have questioned the shop's current hours and status.

  • Tumbleweeds Music Shop

    Niantic, Connecticut

    325 Main St
    Niantic, CT 06357

    Blues, jazz and roots on new and used vinyl, with a standing blues LP category.

    860-739-9018 tumbleweedsct@hotmail.com tumbleweedsct.com

  • Bop Shop Records

    Rochester, New York

    1460 Monroe Ave
    Rochester, NY 14618

    Blues, jazz and American roots; 200,000+ records including used LPs, 45s and 78s.

    585-271-3354 Contact form only bopshop.com

California 7

Pacific Northwest 2

The South 3

  • Better Days Records East

    Louisville, Kentucky

    921 Barret Ave
    Louisville, KY 40204

    New and used LPs and CDs with a well-stocked classic rock, R&B and blues catalogue.

    502-456-2394 betterdays@iglou.com Facebook page

  • Arkansas Record-CD Exchange

    North Little Rock, Arkansas

    4212 MacArthur Dr
    North Little Rock, AR 72118

    90,000+ LPs, 140,000+ 45s and hundreds of 78s, blues included; mail orders accepted.

    501-753-7877 are@arcd.com arcd.com

  • The Great Escape Nashville

    Nashville, Tennessee

    5400 Charlotte Ave
    Nashville, TN 37209

    Thousands of used LPs, 45s and 78s; a serious crate-dig rather than a blues specialist.

    615-385-2116 contactus@thegreatescapeonline.com thegreatescapeonline.com

    Confirm hours before a trip; recent listings have not been independently reconfirmed.

Canada

20 shops

Canadian blues collecting runs through the used bins of the big-city independents. Toronto and Montreal carry the volume; the prairie and Atlantic shops are smaller but buy whole collections, so the good records surface without warning.

Toronto 2

  • Kops Records — Queen West

    Toronto, Ontario

    395 Queen St West
    Toronto, ON M5V 2A5

    Thousands of used LPs and 45s, a hand-graded vintage catalogue and a rare “Kollectibles” wall. The unpriced rarest stock sits at its Danforth backroom, 209 Danforth Ave.

    416-593-8523 info@kopsrecords.ca kopsrecords.ca

  • Dead Dog Records

    Toronto, Ontario

    1277 Bloor St W
    Toronto, ON M6H 1N7

    Curated new and used vinyl with jazz, soul and blues bins; out-of-stock titles are special-ordered.

    647-748-0748 deaddogrecords@outlook.com deaddogrecords.com

Montreal 2

Ottawa 2

Vancouver 2

Victoria 2

Alberta 4

Manitoba 2

  • Argy's Records & Entertainment Shop

    Winnipeg, Manitoba

    Unit 9, 1604 St Mary's Rd
    Winnipeg, MB R2M 3W5

    Buys and sells blues, jazz, soul and funk; the used stock is in-store only.

    204-253-8452 store@argy.ca argy.ca

  • Old Gold Vintage Vinyl

    Winnipeg, Manitoba

    187 Osborne St
    Winnipeg, MB R3L 1Z2

    Vintage and collectable shop with an explicit Folk & Blues section and 45s.

    204-294-7784 Contact form only oldgoldvintagevinyl.com

Nova Scotia 1

Saskatchewan 1

Ontario & Newfoundland 2

  • Dr. Disc

    Hamilton, Ontario

    20 Wilson St
    Hamilton, ON L8R 1C5

    Hamilton's longest-running independent (1991) with large new, used and imported vinyl; blues is not a separate section.

    905-523-1010 info@drdisc.ca drdisc.ca

  • Fred's Records

    St. John's, Newfoundland

    198 Duckworth St
    St. John's, NL A1C 1G5

    Huge stock of classic, vintage and collectable records, with blues among its tagged genres.

    709-753-9191 info@fredsrecords.com fredsrecords.com

Europe

36 shops

Europe kept the collecting habit long after the American market shrugged. The strongest blues crates are in Britain — Manchester, Bristol and London especially — with deep secondhand trade in Paris, Ghent, Barcelona and the Scandinavian capitals.

United Kingdom 11

Ireland 2

  • Sound Cellar

    Dublin

    47 Nassau Street
    Dublin 2, D02 P285

    Family-run basement shop described in listings as specialising in blues and heavy rock vinyl; will order in.

    +353 1 677 1940 No email published No website published

  • Freebird Records

    Dublin

    15A Wicklow Street
    Dublin 2

    Independent since 1978; new and used vinyl with regular blues and R&B arrivals, though no separate blues section.

    +353 1 707 9955 jive@freebird.ie Facebook page

France 3

Germany 2

Netherlands 3

  • Speijers Platen

    Amsterdam

    J.P. Heijestraat 149
    1054 MG Amsterdam

    Secondhand and vintage specialist: jazz, blues, country and soul; also trades at Dutch record fairs.

    +31 6 43437908 anton@speijersplaten.nl speijersplaten.nl

  • Plaatboef Rotterdam

    Rotterdam

    Nieuwe Binnenweg 81-A
    3014 GE Rotterdam

    Rotterdam's oldest independent (1981), 20,000+ records including blues, jazz and soul.

    +31 10 4365873 info@plaatboef.nl plaatboef.nl

  • City Records Amsterdam

    Amsterdam

    Geldersekade 100A
    Amsterdam

    Small secondhand shop: jazz, blues, soul, latin and reggae on LP and 7-inch.

    No phone published No email published Listed on Discogs only

Belgium 3

Spain 2

Italy 2

  • Millerecords

    Rome

    Via Merulana 91
    00185 Rome

    Historic shop (1972) with blues, jazz and soul, first pressings and old reissues on LP, 45 and 78.

    No phone published No email published millerecords.it

  • Il Discomane

    Milan

    Alzaia Naviglio Grande 38
    20144 Milan

    Secondhand specialist since 1978: 33, 45 and 78, rare and collector items including blues.

    +39 02 89406291 discomane@discomane.com discomane.com

Portugal 2

Scandinavia 3

Austria 1

Switzerland 2

  • Six Pack Records

    Zurich

    Kalkbreitestrasse 121
    8003 Zurich

    Around 80,000 records with dedicated BLUES, BLUES DIV. and BLUES ROCK categories; trading since 1996.

    No phone published No email published shop.6pack.ch

  • Atlantis Records

    Kaiseraugst, near Basel

    Landstrasse 71 West
    4303 Kaiseraugst

    New and secondhand vinyl with blues, rock'n'roll and jazz explicitly listed; also sells via Discogs.

    +41 79 938 99 65 atlantisrecords@bluewin.ch atlantisrecords.ch

Mail order & auctions

6 dealers

The deepest stock of pre-war 78s is not on a shelf. These dealers work by post, catalogue and auction, and several will send scans and play grades before you commit.

  • BluEsoterica Mail Order

    Kansas City, Missouri · USA

    3516 Holmes St
    Kansas City, MO 64109
    Postal orders; no walk-in shop

    Jim O'Neal's mail-order lists: LPs, 45s and 78s with an emphasis on obscure blues, Kansas City and Delta rarities.

    816-931-0383 Stackhouse232@aol.com bluesoterica.com

  • John Tefteller's World's Rarest Records

    Grants Pass, Oregon · USA

    PO Box 1727
    Grants Pass, OR 97528
    Mail order and auctions

    Claims the largest inventory of blues, R&B and rock'n'roll 78s (75,000+) plus around 100,000 1950s–60s 45s.

    541-476-1326 john@tefteller.com tefteller.com

  • Joe Lauro's Old 78s

    Sag Harbor, New York · USA

    249 Main St
    Sag Harbor, NY 11963
    Contact before visiting

    Buys and sells pre-1940 blues, jazz, gospel, jug-band and country 78s.

    631-466-2768 joe@old78s.com old78s.com

  • Document Records

    Newton Stewart, Scotland

    Unit 2c Creek Road, Bladnoch Industrial Estate
    Newton Stewart DG8 9AB
    Mail order; no shopfront confirmed

    Reissue house for vintage blues, gospel and jazz, including vinyl LPs; sells by post.

    +44 1988 403200 info@document-records.com document-records.com

  • Bear Family Records

    Holste-Oldendorf, Germany

    Grenzweg 1
    27729 Holste-Oldendorf
    Postal address; not a browsing shop

    Reissue label and mail-order house strong in blues, R&B, rockabilly and country.

    +49 4748 8216-0 bear@bear-family.de bear-family.com

  • Wolf Records International

    Hollabrunn, Austria

    Schöngrabern 134
    2020 Hollabrunn
    Mail order; no shopfront confirmed

    Pure blues label and shop since 1982 — Chicago and country blues — selling by mail order.

    +43 680 2356832 blues@wolfrec.com wolfrec.com

How this list was made — and how to use it

Every entry was checked against the shop's own website, its official social page or a current record-store listing in November 2026. Blues stock is described in the shop's own terms where they publish one. No shop paid to appear here, and the archive takes no commission or referral fee from any of them.

  • Ring or email before travelling. Small shops keep short, changing hours and holiday closures.
  • Crates turn over. A shop stocked with pre-war 78s last month may be picked clean this month.
  • Ask what is behind the counter. The good blues is rarely in the front bins.
  • Where no email is published, the shop uses a contact form or social messages — we have not invented an address.

Found a shop we have missed, or one that has closed? Corrections keep this page honest — send it to the archive.