Business card for Princeton, NJ record store Princeton Record Exchange, acquired sometime in the early 90s.
Is the Princeton Record Exchange the best record store on the east coast of the USA? Yes. In the whole country? Maybe! At least, it’s a store that has never failed to disappoint on every visit I’ve made spanning over 25 years.
My first trip there was in either 1990 or 1991, and I remember my first reaction on walking through the doors was amazement at the sheer quantity of recorded music on offer. And this wasn’t just some dusty collector’s hoard. No, it was a fully in-the-moment store, playing (and stocking) the latest releases from a broad cross-section of genres and labels, including my favorite indies. It was on one of those early visits I must have picked up Scritti Politti’s 4 'A Sides' EP, as my copy still bears the Princeton Record Exchange price sticker marked $5.99. (Damn those insanely adhesive price stickers!)
Even with the clear “1991″ copyright on the front of the card, it’s not card to view it as a time of that era. There’s no web site, no email address. And there is a handy map on the back that highlights a neighboring retail venue that was practically a relic even then: Woolworth’s.
The last time I was at the Princeton Record Exchange was in either 2016 or 2017, on one of my occasional trips back east to see friends, see bands and—what else?—shop for records. In fact, I arranged for me and my boyfriend Mike to fly back home to Seattle via Newark, so we could drive around to New Jersey record stores before dropping off our rental at the airport. But the place I really wanted to show him was the Princeton Record Exchange.
Yes, we bought a lot of records that trip, and CDs, too. While the dollar LP bins were not quite as jammed with overlooked gems as in my youth, the dollar CD racks were where it was at. And yes, our haul merited one of their famous yellow plastic bags with the wooden dowel handles, for sturdy and safe transport back to the west coast.