Crossroads Music

This was by far my favorite record store on my Portland visit (and consequently where I bought the most records).
It’s the kind of place you could spend hours in, and enough of their vendors have well-​organized catalogs so that searching for a particular record is still a reasonable task. Plus they had a listening station! I’ll definitely be back on my next visit.

Hands down my favorite record shop in the NW. You can find any type of music here. Rare records galore! You’ll find things you thought you’d only find online or if you took a trip to south america. I’m glad I don’t live too close, or I’d be constantly broke. Shout out to vendors 420 and 404!

This place is so much fun! It’s totally different than your typical corporate record store. The layout is by vendor, and then by genre, so forget about coming in with your preconceived idea of the band you want in the genre you like. It’s set up for you to explore, find new wax, and support small collectors with eclectic tastes. Sometimes you can even browse collections from local college radio stations, which is my favorite because radio djs tend to write summaries of the muscal style and give 1 – 5 ratings to each track to make it easier for other djs, and they also tend to get donations from the most obscure local artists that it’s harder to find online.
The best thing I ever got here was an original pressing of Loveless, over 15 years old and under 100 dollars, but it’s also thanks to this store that I have an extensive collection of really weird artsy seventies vinyl, like the singer songwriter record who wrote a song for every zodiac sign and then made very detailed cartoon cover art!
Basically if you have some cash to spend, love vinyl albums without having a specific thing that you know you’re looking for, this is the best place in the world to flesh out your collection and add some conversation pieces!

My favorite record store. The selection here is amazing. Last time I was here I spent over 3 hours browsing and listening. Spent a bunch of money, but got a whole lot of good stuff.

Definitely my favorite record store in Portland. Plan to spend a lot of time here if you really want to check everything out. The store is really large and each section is a bit different from the next.
There’s a lot of cross-​over between sellers but once you find an area with a selection up your alley you’ll easily come away with a few LPS. Don’t forget to look behind the counter when you check out because there are some cool, harder to find albums back there.

My go-​to place for Records! You could spend hours and hours in here. There are no good record stores in NW Portland where I live so I always have to drive to the east side. I always take friends from out of town here because it’s pretty impressive!

This place has the best variety I’ve seen in portland. This place has some amazing posters hanging from the walls and the ceiling. I wish the organization was better but it mad up for it with the amount of records in the store. The person working (maybe the owner?) was nice and helpful, asked if they see many records from a certain band and had helpful answers. I will come back. And BEST prices in portland.

Wow, the best vinyl stash of used LP’s in Portland area. I think it’s a co-​op of owners all selling vintage vinyl. Price’s will very but if you look hard enough I’m sure you will find deals plus an arm full of records.
I’d recommend blocking a few hours of your day for looking. But make sure you check the LP for quality if your a fanatic.
Happy Shopping.

By far my favorite record shop in pdx. :)
This place is special to me. I’ve been a patron here since 1994. This is where I made my start in vinyl collecting. First LP: ‘King Crimson — Larks’ Tongue in Aspic’. Chosen because of the cool cover and my older brother told me to check out some Crimson. Fucking album blew my mind and the world hasn’t been the same since.
Yes, the place is scattered out multi vendor style. Think of it as the ultimate vinyl swap meet but only one roof and one cashier. They have vinyl tonnage. I agree with the other reviewer, dedicate at least a couple hours because there’s a lot, but it’s worth it!

As a hardcore vinyl junkie, I have got to hand it to Crossroads: they have the best selection of used vinyl in the city, hands down. I can — and do — spend hours in here, combing through the racks and stacks for the best on wax.
And rarely walk away empty handed.
Some have complained about the scattered layout and the fact that you might find the same record in six different locations, but that’s because Crossroads devotes space to a variety of individual vendors, each with their own separate collections. Rather than complain about this, I embrace it: if I find that elusive George Harrison record in one spot, say, but the cover is worn or the album has a scratch, I’m likely able to find another, better copy in a different area of the store. And the prices can vary widely, too. This is all a win-​win for the consumer.
I always hit the New Arrivals section first — these are the bins immediately to the right when you first walk in. True to its name, the selection is updated very frequently, and you are apt to find some great discoveries here.
Speaking of selection, as previously noted it’s fantastic: I have bought classic rock, jazz, blues, oldies and soundtracks here — sometimes all at once. There’s plenty for the country, alternative, punk, world music, and (insert your genre) aficionado, as well. Another tip: look high and low. Literally. There are bargain records ($ 1 and less) located under many of the bins. And the prices are already pretty reasonable to begin with!
The one caveat: if you want new records or local artists, stick with Music Millennium. But if you don’t mind scouring dusty bins for records that might not be in quite mint condition, there’s no better place in PDX than Crossroads!

This place has one of the best selections I have seen in this town! I did get a bit lost as the store is set up by vendor. Multiple vendors equals many different inventory systems. I got lost for about 3 hours but came out with some gems. Pricing between different vendors was not consistent. Some vendors had the same item cheaper, but after some hunting I figured this out. Most prices were reasonable, some I found outrageous, but that’s how it goes! Happy Hunting!

friend from los angeles recommended this record shop to me and i’m glad he did. checked it out with my husband yesterday left with about 7 badass records at a great price

My favorite record store in Portland hands down. No competition. If you want it, they probably have it — if not a few copies. In various conditions, in various sections of the store. Necessities and rarities.
Crossroads is a one-​to-​two-​hour-​minimum experience. If you’re really dedicated, you’ll probably find yourself sitting criss-​cross on the floor most of the time and running around back and forth a lot. There’s so much to look at and the prices are usually extremely reasonable. Even if after two hours, you only find yourself only buying a single album, it’s always worth the experience.
Thanks for being about the music.

This is arguably the best record store in Portland.
To my mind, there is no question, but I know everyone has their favorites. I have never come to Crossroads and left without a record I was thrilled to have stumbled upon.
The reason they have such a phenomenal selection is because of their consignment model. Throughout the store, records from any number of different sellers mingle together. Multiple listening station are available.
Solid dollar selection, and reasonable prices for most records.
If you’re a digger and you come to Portland without hitting this spot, you’re doin’ it wrong.
Be sure to check out the all acoustic Artichoke Music next door. Good selection of obscure instruments (e.g. cigar box guitar, washtub bass, etc).

Huge selection of music, including CDs, tapes, LPs, 45s, etc. Anyone who considers themselves music heads need to be checking out this place. Customer service is non-​existent, but if you’re digging, you probably want nobody interrupting you anyway. Just based off of selection alone, this is the best record store in Portland, hands down.

This place is actually better than I had expected it to be. I am a music whore and this is a music mecca for me. I didn’t find most of what was on my list, however, generally speaking I wouldn’t dismiss this store at all as there is something for everyone. Certain selections are slimmer than others. I had to dig through a bit just to find a treasure. The pricing is very dart board pricing… some a laughable joke but overall in the customer service department I was happy. The store is well organized.

Good record store, but gotta ding them for putting hard-​to-​peel off stickers on the albums, even expensive collectibles. Tried very carefully to get an «album behind the counter» sticker off a $ 40.00 original pressing that I bought from them and it destroyed the cover even though I was being very very very careful, reducing the value immediately. Next time I am going to ask them take the stickers off for me before I buy it and see what they say. More mindful or should I say ‘state of the art’ record stores have figured out a way around pricetagging the cover, and they should learn from them, particularly if they probably consider themselves an collector’s/audiophile store and an expert in vinyl sales.
I also asked them what their return policy was, that is, if I could return a record that was skipping, and their answer, ironically, was not once you peel the label off because then they won’t know what vendor it is. They really want those things permanently fixed on there, which is fine if you’re still living in the 70s and there are no other solutions, but believe it or not there are other solutions for pricing delicate collectibles. They should consider investing in those solutions. I know they can afford it given the amount of vinyl I alone was starting to buy there. I’d consider taking it back for a full refund, but I still really want that pressing so they’ve kind of got me by the you know what. To top it off, the irony is I already took the pricetag off so they probably wouldn’t accept it back anyway.

This is my kind of record store. Simple and organized. I don’t need a million genres with vague descriptions, just a basic breakdown of Rock, Jazz, Hip Hop, etc… From there keep it nice and tightly alphabetical, so I can skip right to what I want. I don’t have time to track it down in the «Post 1960’s surf punk /​rockabilly blues section». I’d really like to tell record store people to just get over themselves when they do that kind of BS.
You won’t find She and Him, MGMT, Modest Mouse or any death metal here. Just a solid selection of classic albums that deserve to be there.
The prices differ from vendor to vendor. You might find it for $ 10 in one bin and $ 6 in another. There are usually discounts from certain vendors each month making your finds pretty cheap.
Nice little section of World music. I found an awesome 1957 Belly Dancing record from India the other day. It’ll be great background music when I’m making tikka masala. Now I have to go back for the vintage Hawaiian Luau records.
If you prefer finding your music without the «Too cool for school» record store ego, this is probably a place for you.

I’m iffy on this place. It says on their door that they get their lp’s from over 35 dealers. The dealers seem to have sections because there will be rock records here and more rock records across the store that begin with the letter A and go to Z again. I’m not sure if the dealers price their records themselves. Crossroads does not have a listening station to try your records out. So beware or bring a portable record player. Some dude when I was in their had one made by Numark.
Crossroads sections are big enough for my taste. Their general sections seem too big and overwhelming and their special sections like Punk, Garage, Compilations, Rockabilly only have about 15 – 30 records.
I was surrised that they had a Rockabilly 7″ section. They also had a Korla Pandit section with at least 10 lps with was pretty weird and wonderful. It was small but neat. I found a ‘60s surf compilation lp I bought at the Goodwill for $ 1in mint condition selling for $ 35 here! That was a nice to find.
Coolest find was a 1966 garage punk lp on Decca Records. Can’t remember the band name. It was $ 60 though.
Last time I shopped here I walked out with a Play guitar With The Ventures lp for $ 12. It has a chord book with all the parts of the song (bass, rhythm guitar, lead) with a record where they play all the parts slow and fast so you can play along! It was a pretty cool find and I actually played along with it.
The guy who hosts Drinking From Puddles was in here when I was shopping around. That’s a pretty killer recommendation right there if you know his radio show, he always plays the best stuff!
If they stocked more garage, punk, surf, exotica, garage compilations I’d shop here tons more. Even their blues and folk section are really skimpy.
Giving 3 stars. Collectors will probably find more here than the average guy.
There’s also a music store a couple blocks east of Crossroads across the street, Jackpot records further east on the same street, Powells books if you’re looking for things to do. Lots of place to eat along the way. Have fun. Make an afternoon out of it. Makes a nice light walk of nothing else.
Crossroads website:
STORE HOURS: Monday thru Thursday 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday and Saturday 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sunday Noon to 6 p.m.

It’s hard to review this place.
It’s a HUGE space. About equal in vinyl count to Amoeba San Francisco — but ALL used.
The thing is it’s all different vendors. So each vendor has an allotted space to sell. This means that if you want to shop for Garage/​Psych — you have to go to each individual seller’s section and find the garage/​Psych section. They do have a few dedicated sections for Blues and World, but with other Blues and World sections still existing in sellers sections.
The prices and quality ranges drastically from section to section. Everything from beat-​up dollar bin records priced at $ 8 – 15, to sections that will make you drool with each cover flip.
There’s enough digging that deals can be found. And if you have the cash to spend, there’s sections that will no doubt provide something for you.
Overall I’d say 75% of the store is a wasteland, with heavily buried gems. And another 25% (about three very reliable sellers) is top notch selection, but usually priced very knowingly of the market value (which is not a bad thing).
There’s a wall of rares that is always intriguing, and usually leans a little more the experimental and art-​rock side.
If you like digging and you want to kill a few (2 minimum) hours digging. This is the place.