Absolutely fantastic record store with excellent selection! I always make a stop here when Im in Ann Arbor

I really like Encore Records, but hadn’t been there since the start of the pandemic. Good news - it’s just as good as ever. They have a strong selection of rock LPs and CDs, but also a good selection of jazz and blues, as well as assorted other genres. Remarkably, they have a good selection of classical music, including contemporary classical, that is, music by composers who are still alive. Well worth a visit!

This record store is an Ann Arbor institution. Ive been buying records from Encore Records since first moving here in 1990 when they had the space on Liberty St. This newer location is a bit smaller but super cozy and in a great part of town. The selection is amazing, as always. Jim, the owner, has great taste in music and stocks really great genres of both new and used vinyl. The shop is heavy on jazz, indie, experimental, electronic, 50s and 60s soul/r & b, as well as a fine selection of international progressive and traditional labels. The entire staff love music and are super knowledgeable. Ive also sold a lot of records here over the years. They have given me a reasonable price for both individual records and larger lots of vinyl. If youre expecting to get the price per record that you could sell them for online, dream on. Cmon...this is a business. They have to make money reselling it. Youll get a fair price here, considering the circumstances and ease of offloading parts of your collection. Honestly, some of the unfavorable reviews on here are a joke. You give this amazing record store a two-star review because you got a parking ticket and didnt like the chatty lady at the counter ahead of you? Lol. You should probably just stay home and shop for records on your phone. I guess that touches on one of the best things about Encore Records, to me personally. This shop has always been about Ann Arbor community. Its a place where you can enjoy being around others who love music, talk about music, and listen to the cool selections played in the shop by the staff. You can thumb through the bins and discover treasures that you didnt know you were looking for, or maybe thought youd never find. That is all the magic of a local record shop. You can explore music, discover music, and experience music in a personal way, with others, in your community...away from a lifeless computer screen. Long live Encore Records.

Great place, lots to look through, and very fair on the prices

Great selection, fair prices and a nice selection of used too! Safety was on pint and they managed RSD like champs!! Picked up some great stuff for sure.

Everytime I come in here it’s a great experience. There is always a fantastic selection of records, and the staff is very knowledgeable and friendly. I always find something I love each time I visit, it’s easily my favorite record store.

This place will rip you off. I took in 26 vinyls, retailing roughly $25-$50 a piece.They offered me $100 for the entire stack.I haven’t been back since that day.I highly recommend Underground Sounds, as they don’t take advantage of you, and have a better selection.

Always a great selection of records. Would love to see more rockabilly though

Selection was average. The store is at a different location from back in the day when I lived in Ann Arbor. No free parking here, and I managed to get a parking ticket, largely in part because I was in line behind a crazy customer who couldnt stop talking to the worker at the register about her back pain. Pricing was higher than average, so much so that I actually bought a record from my phone on ebay while standing in the store after comparing price. It seemed that pricing was based more on current popularity of the artist vs. what the record was actually worth. Ill try other options next time in Ann Arbor.

Good selection and superior service.

Decent selection of music. Good place for vinyl.

The collection is amazing

Rude people, left without even looking. Was told even though vaccinated I needed to have mask over nose even though I can’t see through the steam. As I’m pulling mask over nose they Tell me vaccinations don’t matter. So I just left.

Not much to dislike about this store. The new location isnt as gigantic and magical as their old space, but thats really a minor complaint. Plenty to look through, with a heavy majority on older rock/ less modern stuff. Underground Sounds is the place to go for the new stuff.

They didnt have what I was looking for, but promptly ordered it for me. Great selection, helpful staff.

Not the great selection they had at their other location, but still is a good place. Whenever I am in Ann Arbor this is one of my favorite stops.

Larger selection than other stores, courteous staff.

Nice record store with decent selection of almost every music style records

The employees were helpful and VERY knowledgeable, plus they have a wide selection. Will be back.

Love the new location easier to get to better parking staff as always treats you great very helpful and well stocked

Had been to their old location. New location is tidy, staff is very kind and knowledgeable. The condition of the records Ive purchased from here is fabulous. Prices are great too. You can tell they care about their work!

Huge selection of original and re-pressed vinyls.

Great record store. Lots of rarities. Fair prices. And awesome staff. I was photographing a photo shoot and made an impulse buy but couldnt carry the record while I finished working. The guys working held on to my record after I bought it for almost an hour so I could come back and pick it up undamaged. Above and beyond service. Very cool.

Best record store in town due to the amount to choose from and constant flow of new and “new used” stock. Always something worth listening to or watching that you can find in the store. Also the reorganizing of the layout has made it so much more relaxing and enjoyable to search for records!Don’t forget there are records pretty much everywhere you could look in there so don’t stop looking once you’ve thought you’ve found everything!

As always Encore was spectacular. They shop was clean, with hand sanitizer. The employees were wearing masks. Great trip

Wide-ranging selection of economically priced used musical media. Lots of local music and a staff of experienced people who really love music. Places like this demonstrate what Google and Amazon and eBay cannot give you which is a knowledgeable cultured human interface.

No store could ever usurp Flat, Back, and Circular in East Lansing, but Encore comes close. Such a great selection, amazing condition, and always reasonable prices.It’s a bummer they have to move over to Kerrytown, because there’s been a record store in that building since the 1950s or 60s, they’re so convenient to campus, and the new place is supposed to be much smaller. Hopefully they’ll still have an out-of-the-way corner stuffed full of dollar records. I’ve pulled some great stuff out of there over the years.

Decent store and collection. For me, its important that a record store has a listening station (record player, amp and headphones) which allows me to try new albums/artists/genres at the store. This is an integral part of a record store experience. This store didnt have the option (unsure if all record stores are moving toward this). If this is the case, it would be more efficient to buy used records online from discogs. Apart from this, its a nice, well kept store with a decent collection of music and friendly staff.

Very helpful workers. I respect what they are doing.

Great place for used and/or new classic and vintage records. They were very friendly and werent afraid to recommend us to other nearby places for some of the records we didnt find. We also found some old player piano scrolls from cheap that were a great find.

My favorite record store in Ann Arbor. The selection of new and used albums is incredible. Its a trendy record shop in a great part of town. Its down the street from the Michigan and State Theaters, the Manard parking structure and lots of delicious restaurants.If youre in the area Id definitely recommend checking out the store, especially if youre a vinyl collector.

Best record store in town & ever.

This place is great. I love watching customers reactions when the employees put on an artsy noise record...do you love the sound of monkeys smashing glass with cymbals while some machine screeches in the background? Then youll love this place! :P

Always fun to come to a record store with the sheer selection they have. I can find anything from jazz classics to Japanese psych rock. Great store!

Its really tough to get a parking spot but its worth it when you do. Nice selection of albums that are neatly organized and categorized. Didnt find what I was hoping to but still left with some great music that I didnt go in looking for.

Great selection of vinyl, CDs and DVDs. You can also find some books and cassettes. The staff is knowledgeable and very friendly. Best record store in the Ann Arbor area.

Cool place. Nice guys that work there. I took some old records in to see if they would buy them. They bought a few, which is better than them sitting in my attic.

This shop has some excellent 45s and an awesome selection of LPs. Recently, they moved to Kerrytown and may be harder to find, but the new space is very homey. Also, the entire staff hold deep knowledge of all styles. RECOMMENDED.

Tons of selection, but really hard to find anything due to how things are sorted. great place if u like crate digging. not so good if u wanna find something in a reasonable amount of time.

Im going to have to get used to this location....its not overrun with music like the old location. I enjoyed having to search for stuff (and having to move piles of CDs around)....

Fairly good selection of used Metal CDs at reasonable prices, tons of vinyl of all genres, and this is the only place Ive been able to find that still sells new albums on cassette!! The employees are very friendly and helpful. Found some great gems. Recommended this place to all my friends. I cant wait till Im back in Ann Arbor so I can go here again.

One of my personal favorite record stores. I went looking for a birthday present and left with one better than I thought I would find.

Very cool little shop with tons of used records from Green day to the Beatles

Still one of the greatest used record stores in southeast Michigan. I find it well worth the trip when I get a few free hours to head out that way. Parking can be a hassle but hey, its Ann Arbor. They have a depth of inventory in both vinyl and CDs that is hard to surpass, and condition isnt as ratty as a few other stores I dont care to name at the moment.

Im a hipster I love wax and I love smoking wax while listening to Papa Johns Misty tell me what to think and this place has everything. And staff that make you feel like reading this review did

Since vinyl once again is king, you can get plenty of it here just as long as you have plenty of discretionary cash as well. New issue vinyl aint cheap. Good collection. Okay place.

I like this record store, but they are sorta music snobs. I am primarily a metal fan and there really isnt a good selection of metal records, and the used metal cds are located at floor level so I have to kneel or sit to peruse them. I also enjoy all 80s music and I try to find any music of that genre as I can but everything is located in the rock/pop section and I hate having to look through one general section, than a section dedicated to the 80s, metal, new wave, etc., etc.

I love this place, they have everything you want and if they don’t they can special order it for you

Great extensive collection of music and somehow they are able to keep it all organized. My favorite record store in Ann Arbor for sure.

This has been my favorite used cd/record store since the 90s. Great place and easy to spend a lot of time in.

Huge selection of most styles. Prices seem keen. Managed to find some stuff I’ve not seen for a while. This will be my go to place from now on.

Great long-standing location. Priced for Ann Arbor which is a little high for me but they get a well rounded selection of slabs. Check it!

Awesome record store. If you own a record player, go here. If you dont, well maybe its time to get one!

Srsly dont even kid yourself this is the only good record store in all of town. Every other store in town just sells rock music with select others Encore sells everything you could imagine and more, with amazing tapes from the area and rare cuts and grooves you wouldnt be able to find anywhere else in a 30mi radius. I will never not love these dudes

Great selection usually cant walk out of the store without spending money

Among the last of the great Ann Arbor record stores.

Really cool spot, lots of used rock records. Wish they had more of a hip hop selection.

If you were passing through Michigan looking for record shop and you like jazz this is the spot for you.

Im from New Jersey and was passing though town on my way from Detroit to Kalamazoo during a brief stint in Michigan. Figured Id kill some time by going into a record store and browse (endlessly). I love the jam-packed vibe of a record store (see Princeton Record Exchange in Princeton, NJ), so the tight aisles werent too much of a problem for me. Great selection throughout every genre and classic vinyls were priced appropriately. I happened to find an empty slot for Rahsaan Roland Kirk vinyls and inquired with an employee if they actually had any in the store. I was honestly blown away that somebody had ever known of this underground, underrated genius of music. The employee I spoke with was equally ecstatic that a patron knew of the man and we got to talking for a while. I dont know if Ill ever return, but I can guarantee that if you ask them about a specific artist, somebody there will have intricate knowledge of them.

Large selection of records. They also had a live band once while I was walking by, real cool place. Also has CDs and cassettes.

Outstanding collection of new and used vinyl, CDs, cassettes, DVDs, sheet music, and books about music/musicians. Knowledgeable staff and reasonable prices.

Love this place. Prices are very reasonable for used albums.

This is the ONLY place to go in Michigan. Staff is superb, the stock is always excellent. Idk how they keep doing it so well!

A nice record shop with a large selection of used records, tapes, and CDs.

Since moving a few months back, visited twice, albums disorganized, prices higher, and no help from staff. Maybe visit again next year, maybe.

Fun and interesting alternative to big book box music retailers. If you are in the area, check it out.

Super cool place for music. Can get lost in here for hours

One of the best used record stores anywhere, with a wide range of unusual music. If youre still buying hard copies you must go here.

Best music shop in town. Quality selection, knowledgeable staff.

If you are looking to start your record collection or fill in some of the missing albums of your favorite group this is the place to come ... always something to bring home to enjoy ... great prices and good quality

Good collection of records. Knowledgeable people. Reasonable prices

Probably the best music store in town with a massive inventory and variety, and expertly organized and maintained. Staff could be a little friendlier sometimes maybe.

Great place to find all your music needs.

Condescending, snobs for no good reason because their knowledge is certainly limited to a few genres. They have a decent selection of some things but not sure if Ill go back since the vibe is so ugly in there. I usually so enjoy looking/searching/the hunt (thats half the fun!) but not in there, not anymore. Also, pricing is weird, too many people working there at any given time, feels like surveillance to the max. They need to get with the times because you just know they are capitalizing off the current vinyl revival but acting like they dont want the business. Maybe they dont.

Very picked over used collection, but they have a TON of stuff precisely labeled. Couldnt think of a singers name and boom, there he was correctly labeled in the shelves. Prices were a little higher, all five guys that were working there(?) were huddled around a youtube video.

Beautiful place. All the workers there are friendly, and a great service in general.

Photogenic!

Great selection on rock, jazz, blues, some eccentric genres as well. Not a ton of folk.

Lots of records!! I could spend hours there

This store is absolutely awesome. Great music and film selection!

Absolutely love this place. I could spend hours digging

Knowledgable staff and great prices!

Best lil record shop in town

Artists not as easy to find as they should be. 3 employees, not waiting on any customers, one eating, none bother to get up & help. Might as well fire 2 and save some money...

Definitely not the nicest service... waaaaaay overpriced records... theres another record shop about a block away called The Underground Sound, I would recommend going there instead to be honest.

Great selection. Prices OK

Best record shop around they have every thing you would ever want,any record an or cd you want down to earth helpful staff

Very good place to get records

Not particularly pretentious. Great selection

Whenever I go to this place, there are not a lot of records of my favorite bands. But the staff is friendly and is able to help you.

Friendly, nice little shop with lots of variety.

First thought when you walk through the door, CLUTTER. The place is packed, there was hardly room to walk through the isles. I was trying to inquire about selling an old record player and some vinyls. The men there were very rude, and personlly made me very uncomfertable. Just my opinion on the place, beware, see for yourself.

Very cool store, big selection ranging over many different genres

One of the best selections for used Records and CDs in the area.

Nice little record store

This place sucks apparently if you have any kind of accent youre not allowed to listen to records and sample them or they just dont accommodate it and then rudely ask if there other places around that do that? Customer service sucks and the store is packed. Also when asking for if they could test them out for you they the. Procede to say they arent djs and dont have time for it. What a joke of a shop.

Worth an hour long drive to look around for a while. Good staff, cozy but not crowded, with good organization and labeling.

Really good selection of used records from almost every genre.

Not the place for new releases, but an incredible place for difficult finds at very good prices. The places vibe is really cool and fitting as well.

Great staff, great selection