San Diego residents have been flocking to both Lou's Records in Encinitas and, Spin Records in Carlsbad for all their vinyl needs for the past 30 years!!
SPIN RECORDS
Spin Records is celebrating its 30th Anniversary! After setting up shop in 1989, and serving the community of Temecula, California for a decade at the original store, Ken Kosta & then partner opened a second location in Carlsbad, California. North County residents may remember the old shop near State Street before it relocated to its current location at 370 Grand Ave. Carlsbad, Cal., for all your music needs including, cassette-tapes, compact disc (CDs), vinyl records, tees, pins, stickers, posters, VHS, DVDs, and more!
Today, it’s very nostalgic to see Spin Records continuing to do very much of the same as they did back in the nineties. As a record store heading into 2020, Spin Records competes directly with the ever-so-popular digital streaming platforms services such as Spotify, Apple Music, Slacker Radio, and others to create a unique music experience. This is one of the sole reasons many locals and tourists alike, continue to shop Spin Records and support small business owners like Ken Kosta.
Spin Records has been one of the premier record shops in North County for music lovers, DJs, and producers for 30 years and has become the connection to past, present, and future artists. Music lovers can always depend on Ken and his staff on referring new music, as well as check out the local flavor with live shows in their parking lot on Record Store Day. The shop carries nearly every genre of music you can think of and continues to be a staple in Carlsbad, Ca.
LOU'S RECORDS
Lou Russell opened up his doors at “Lou’s Records” on February 15th, 1980 in a small strip mall in Cardiff-By-The Sea, a wonderful small sleepy beach town community of Encinitas, California. Lou’s Records continued to grow throughout the nineties and relocated to its present location on 434 Highway 101 in the community of Leucadia, another epic beach town community of Encinitas, just a quick 45minute drive north of San Diego’s Downtown.
Many locals may remember shopping at “Lou’s”, before 2010, with multiple buildings adjacent to each other before Lou’s Records consolidated and reduced its overhead into its current stand-alone flagship location. With everything from vinyl records, cassette tapes, Compact Disc (CDs), VHS, posters, stickers, pins, tees, and more, Lou’s Records has everything you need.
As with any small business and especially with record stores, Lou’s Records is competing with digital streaming sites like Pandora to younger generations that grew up playing music on their phones, laptops, and tablets at the push of a button.
We have less than 50 old (shellac?) records, classical, 10" and 12" Columbia Masterworks, and RCA Victor, which we inherited. We also have over 50 vinyl records we bought during 1970-1990, including Ethel Merman, Victor Borge, Gilbert and Sullivan, some records for children, and general light classical. We are 92 and downsizing and need to dispose of them all, as well as an amplifier and turntable.