Record stores in Columbus

Vinyl hunting in Columbus, OH? There are 10 record shops mapped here. That's 10 record shops mapped around Columbus. Every shop grades and prices differently, so the same record can be a bargain in one and a splurge in another — dig everywhere. The new-arrivals bin is always the first stop — that's where the good stuff lands before anyone else sees it.

This guide covers every record store we could verify in and around Columbus (within about 40 km), built from OpenStreetMap's community-maintained data. Names you'll run into include Columbus Percussion and Sam Ash Music, plus Magnolia Thunderpussy. If a record shop's missing from Columbus's list, it probably just hasn't been mapped yet.

The Columbus record lineup

10 mapped within about 40 km:

What the map tells us about record stores in Columbus

3 of the 10 list their opening hours on the map, which is genuinely useful — record shops keep shop hours, so the listed times are usually reliable.

4 have websites listed. Worth a look for new-arrival posts and want-list services.

Most of the record stores in Columbus list a phone number. Useful for asking what's just come into the used bins.

The Columbus record crawl

Making a day of it in Columbus? Work this order: Columbus Percussion, Sam Ash Music on 1690 Morse Road, Magnolia Thunderpussy on 1155 North High Street, Used Kids Records, Now Spinning Records on 18 West College Avenue, RPM, Lost Weekend Records on 2960 North High Street, and Elizabeth Records. That's the record crawl in one sensible loop, no backtracking. 2 more are listed below.

Record digging tips for Columbus

A few things worth knowing before you work through Columbus's record stores:

• Buy the weird stuff at Columbus Percussion. Private pressings, local bands, oddball compilations — the strange records are the ones that appreciate.
• Check the turntable section at Sam Ash Music. Many record shops sell used decks and cartridges. A serviced vintage turntable beats a cheap new one.
• Check Discogs before big purchases. A quick price check on your phone keeps everyone honest — you and the shop.
• Don't skip the 45s. The singles boxes get less traffic and hide great finds. B-sides are the deep cuts of record shopping.

Good to know

We searched about 40 km around Columbus — that covers the town itself plus the surrounding communities you'd reasonably drive to. Listings come from OpenStreetMap, mapped by local volunteers, so a brand-new record store in Columbus can take a while to appear. The 10 above are only as current as the community map. A record store that's shut, or a new one nobody's added yet, gets fixed with a single OpenStreetMap edit.

We don't list prices or stock — both change by the day. What we list is the where: real shops, verified by real mappers.

If you run one of the 10 listed here and something's wrong — a closure, a move, new hours — the fix is the same: update the shop on OpenStreetMap and the correction flows through to this page on the next daily refresh.