Record stores in Maidstone
Record shops reward the patient digger. Maidstone, Kent has 27 mapped right now. That's 27 record shops mapped around Maidstone. Every shop grades and prices differently, so the same record can be a bargain in one and a splurge in another — dig everywhere. Check the grading before you pay — a visual grade and a play grade are two different things.
This guide covers every record store we could verify in and around Maidstone (within about 40 km), built from OpenStreetMap's community-maintained data. Names you'll run into include HMV and Carmel Records, plus Grammar School Records. If a record shop's missing from Maidstone's list, it probably just hasn't been mapped yet.
The Maidstone record lineup
27 mapped within about 40 km:
HMV
Record store
HMV is Record store.
Carmel Records
Record store
Carmel Records — Record store.
Grammar School Records
Record store
Grammar School Records is Record store on High Street, Rye.
High Street, Rye, TN31 7JF
E L Chandler Pianos
Record store
E L Chandler Pianos is Record store on 2 Land Gate.
2 Land Gate
The Other Record Shop
Record store
The Other Record Shop — Record store on 2 Needles Passage.
2 Needles Passage, TN31 7EN
Doghouse Music
Record store
Doghouse Music — Record store on 301-303 Broadway. Also worth knowing about Doghouse Music: a phone number is listed — worth a call before a special trip; it has a website with more detail.
301-303 Broadway
Phone: +44 20 8304 5331
Magic Discs
Record store
Magic Discs — Record store.
South Records
Record store
South Records is Record store on 24 Queens Road. South Records also notes on the map: the map lists its hours as Mo-Sa 10:30-16:00; Su 12:00-16:00; it has a website with more detail.
24 Queens Road
Hours: Mo-Sa 10:30-16:00; Su 12:00-16:00
Classical Bargain Records
Record store
Classical Bargain Records — Record store.
HMV
Record store
HMV is Record store.
HMV
Record store
HMV is Record store on Rose Gallery, Greenhithe. HMV also notes on the map: the map lists its hours as Mo-Fr 10:00-21:00; Sa 09:00-21:00; Su 11:00-17:00; a phone number is listed — worth a call before a special trip; it has a website with more detail.
Rose Gallery, Greenhithe, DA9 9SP
Hours: Mo-Fr 10:00-21:00; Sa 09:00-21:00; Su 11:00-17:00
Phone: +44 843 221 0127
Rollin Records
Record store
Rollin Records — Record store.
HMV
Record store
HMV is Record store on West Thurrock Way, Grays. HMV also notes on the map: the map lists its hours as Mo-Sa 09:00-21:00; Su 11:00-17:00; a phone number is listed — worth a call before a special trip; it has a website with more detail.
West Thurrock Way, Grays, RM20 2ZF
Hours: Mo-Sa 09:00-21:00; Su 11:00-17:00
Phone: +44 843 221 0343
Gatefield Sounds
Record store
Gatefield Sounds — Record store, found on 70 High Street in Whitstable.
70 High Street, Whitstable, CT5 1BB
HMV
Record store
HMV is Record store. HMV also notes on the map: the map lists its hours as Mo-Sa 09:00-19:00; Su 11:00-17:00.
Bromley, BR1 1DN
Hours: Mo-Sa 09:00-19:00; Su 11:00-17:00
Olaf's Record Store
Record store
Olaf's Record Store is Record store.
Ark Music & Coffee
Record store
Ark Music & Coffee — Record store, found on 6 Tower Parade in Whitstable.
6 Tower Parade, Whitstable, CT5 2BJ
HMV
Record store
HMV is Record store on Eastgate Shopping Centre, Basildon. HMV also notes on the map: the map lists its hours as Mo-Fr 09:30-17:30; Sa 09:00-17:00; Su 10:00-16:00; a phone number is listed — worth a call before a special trip; it has a website with more detail.
Eastgate Shopping Centre, Basildon, SS14 1AF
Hours: Mo-Fr 09:30-17:30; Sa 09:00-17:00; Su 10:00-16:00
Phone: +44 843 221 0111
HMV
Record store
HMV is Record store on High Street, Southend-on-Sea. HMV also notes on the map: it has a website with more detail.
High Street, Southend-on-Sea
Decktronix
Record store
Decktronix is Record store.
HMV
Record store
HMV is Record store on 24 St. Margaret's Street, Canterbury. HMV also notes on the map: the map lists its hours as Mo-Sa 09:00-17:30;Su 10:30-16:30; it has a website with more detail.
24 St. Margaret's Street, Canterbury, CT1 2TH
Hours: Mo-Sa 09:00-17:30;Su 10:30-16:30
Vinylstore Jr
Record store
Vinylstore Jr — Record store, found on 20 Castle Street in Canterbury. Also worth knowing about Vinylstore Jr: the map lists its hours as Tu-Sa 10:00-18:00; it has a website with more detail.
20 Castle Street, Canterbury, CT1 2QJ
Hours: Tu-Sa 10:00-18:00
Crazy Beat Records
Used record store
Crazy Beat Records — Used record store, found on 87 Corbets Tey Road in Upminster. Also worth knowing about Crazy Beat Records: the map lists its hours as Mo-Fr 10:00-18:00; Sa 10:00-17:00; a phone number is listed — worth a call before a special trip; it has a website with more detail.
87 Corbets Tey Road, Upminster, RM14 2AH
Hours: Mo-Fr 10:00-18:00; Sa 10:00-17:00
Phone: +44 1708 228678
Analogue Music
Record store
Analogue Music is Record store.
Your Music School
Record store
Your Music School is Record store on Simmonds Road, Canterbury. Your Music School also notes on the map: a phone number is listed — worth a call before a special trip; it has a website with more detail.
Simmonds Road, Canterbury, CT1 3RA
Phone: +44 1227 456331
Sounds Records
Record store
Sounds Records — Record store, found on 9 St. Peter's Street in Canterbury.
9 St. Peter's Street, Canterbury, CT1 2AT
Medway Record Centre
Record store
Medway Record Centre is Record store.
What the map tells us about record stores in Maidstone
8 of the 27 list their opening hours on the map, which is genuinely useful — record shops keep shop hours, so the listed times are usually reliable.
10 have websites listed. Worth a look for new-arrival posts and want-list services.
There's a cluster: 2 of them sit on High Street, so you can string those into one walk and drive between the rest.
The Maidstone record crawl
Making a day of it in Maidstone? Work this order: HMV, Carmel Records, Grammar School Records on High Street, E L Chandler Pianos on 2 Land Gate, The Other Record Shop on 2 Needles Passage, Doghouse Music on 301-303 Broadway, Magic Discs, and South Records on 24 Queens Road. That's the record crawl in one sensible loop, no backtracking. 19 more are listed below.
Record digging tips for Maidstone
How the regulars work Maidstone's bins:
- Sleeves matter for value at HMV. Original inner sleeves, inserts, posters — completeness counts. A bare record in a generic sleeve is worth less.
- The listening station is the test at Carmel Records. If a record looks questionable, play the loud passages. That's where surface noise shows up.
- Bring cash for the small shops. Some independents prefer it, and a cash offer on a stack can occasionally move the price.
- Ask about want-list services. Good shops will keep an eye out for your grails. It takes patience, but the call when it lands is worth it.
Good to know
We searched about 40 km around Maidstone — 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 Maidstone can take a while to appear. The 27 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 27 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.
Record store listings for Maidstone: 27 mapped from OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL). Photos from Wikimedia Commons contributors; individual photo credits appear in captions. Listing data was last refreshed automatically — verify hours before visiting.