People's Records - Arcata, California

Valerie Z.

Disappointed. I have been working on getting my record player system going for a while now. I went to the shop and found a vinyl of one of my favorite artists for $40! To my understanding there was no indication that this was a used record—especially with that price. A few months later my system is ready and i finally open my record. It is stained, scratched and dented. Now im out a record and 40$. I recommend looking at all the records you buy here before leaving.

Brigitte B.

Very helpful staff. We went on a busy day when they had a record release day. I went with my brother who had a specific list and the staff helped us find the items easily. Thank you! While I was browsing I saw alot of cool CDs I want to go back and get.

Chris D.

Just go. It is a great shop with a good selection for it being a small town. The owner is cool. I have always thought his offers were fair when I brought in stuff for trade. Support your local record shop!

Tobe B.

I brought in my records all of which were in perfect condition except for three that I told him about then was told I’ll take these! a huge stack , “ the rest were not in good condition”. The truth is he cherry picked a big amount , offered a dollar an album for the cherry artists and then insulated me on the rest instead of being honest. That was my test for what I really have . I would rather give it to a hospice thrift than deal with this attitude and a dollar and album , But thanks !
I won’t be back for buying or selling. I’ll save my sales for honest and fair dealers . I’ll bring my collections of 12” /7” On U sound , Factory , Smiths , Pop group , original Radiohead collection original Depeche Mode European , and US 12” singles , Björk white labels , many white labels ! Stone roses , muddy waters mono pressings , Wolf , and a whopping collection of 45’s , all pristine , etc. too many to list . To another shop ! you missed out !! All of them without scratches. Good dealers are out there who I feel are fair to their customers .

Joshua B.

When i first went to this place in early 2023 they had a great selection but compared to what they have now it was pretty minimal since then it has a giant upgrade the vinyl selection tripled with a ton of different variety’s of music and a great atmosphere. The customer service is great and the guy who was working the counter is very polite and friendly and a overall a good person. The place is decorated very nice from walls to roof. The prices for vinyls are pretty good and all the records I have bought have all been in mint condition. I always like visiting this place it’s definitely recommend and worth to visit and buy records.

Karen C.

Great record shop with a large selection and a nice little bargain section. I like that you are able to look at the used records before you buy so you aren't surprised by condition. They had a lot of variety of genres and the prices were below or on par with other shops. Owner was very friendly. Definitely a must visit again. Store was well organized and easy to navigate as well and both vinyls I purchased play like a dream!

Glenn

Went into this record store and bought a brand new vinyl. I am playing this record on a brand new $300 Sony turntable player and I already own this exact vinyl record in a different color variant so I was surprised to hear half of the songs on side B had warp Issues, static and didn't play right. I take this record back into Peoples Records the next day and the owner tells me that he will listen to it on his record player and see if there is an issue. The speakers in this store are so old and so burned out that you can barely hear anything so I ask him to turn it up he tells me that 80% of the time there is an issue with one of his vinyls it comes from the customer buying and using a cheap record player. At this point I am irritated and tell him that doesn't make sense and I'm sure he gets new vinyls that just don't play right on occasion and the owner again said it's very rare. So then guess what? The record did the same warped thing on his player! So I told him he was wrong and he told me he would give me my money back but I had to leave the store and not come back. So I told him he could take his $35 Midnights album and stick it up his a$$. Better to avoid this guy at People's Records and just shop online.

The Owner has responded below and I was nothing close to unhinged. He was assuming I was less than smart and had a cheap record player. I was not yelling at him what would I be mad about I got my $35 back. There was only one person in the store. If anything the owner was yelling and couldn't even tell me why he was so mad. He had zero argument and it killed him to have to refund me my money. His cheap a$$ didn't even give me my tax back as he tossed $35 on the counter. And he indeed heard the album defect because once I told him to turn it up it was obvious to everyone. At first he didn't turn it loud enough because he DID NOT WANT TO HEAR THE ISSUE PLAY BACK so he could tell me I was wrong and reject my $35 return. He also heard the issue clearly because I said, "Well there is your once in a lifetime occurrence of a bad new sealed vinyl sold at your store sir." He then said he would give me my money back only if I left the store? I said believe me I was never coming back, and I did tell him he would be getting a bad review. The record selling buisness must be tight.

c ?. L.

Great wax collection. Awesome variety of memorabilia.