Double Decker Records in Allentown, PA

[I Am Not Marty Feldman]

Who's been there?  Consistently one of the best tables at whatever record fair I happen to attend.  I'm sure the place is great, but I'm wondering if the store's worth a bus ride or car rental/drive from Brooklyn.

[Maltodextrin]

Who's been there?  Consistently one of the best tables at whatever record fair I happen to attend.  I'm sure the place is great, but I'm wondering if the store's worth a bus ride or car rental/drive from Brooklyn.

Frequently cited as the best store on the east coast for hardcore/punk, not sure about other genres.

[Dan Celebrity]

Best store I've been to, and best dude too. 

Last summer my band had a hole in our tour.  St. Louis, off day, Brooklyn.  So we decided to drive straight through and go to Double Decker.  Pretty sure he wasn't even supposed to be open the day we'd be there, so I called the day before to see if he'd open for us.  He said he'd be out of town at a Record show all day, but asked what time we could get to town by.  I told him like 5am at earliest and he gave me his home number and said call when you're 45 minutes away so I have time to wake up and go open up the store.  So we called and pulled in at 6am.  He was there, organizing records, listening to music, as if it was any old afternoon.  Spent 3 hours digging.  I doubt I'll ever find myself record shopping at 6am again.

The first time I set foot in that store, I threw down $250 without looking through everything.  Last time I was there I stupidly passed on the Fuck Ups and Mr. Epp 7"s for $40 each.  Was afraid of running out of money mid-tour.

[devil dick]

awesome place!!!!

[neighborhoodwatch]

the vest the guy from the Abused is wearing on the back of the 7" is hanging up in the store

[matteo]

yea def an amazing record store. I also went after noting he always had the best stuff at reasonable prices at all the record fairs. Rented a car from brooklyn a couple of times. each time was well worth it. actually thinking about going again soon.

[Vinnie]

Sometimes this store is like looking up KBD records on CollectorsFrenzy. If you go with 300 bucks to spend you def can leave with a few awesome records, but don't expect to get them cheap.

[I Am Not Marty Feldman]

Always tempted to snag that Nasal Boys single for $250.  And I've never spent anywhere near that on any single record.  But I may when I go to Amoeba SF next week.  If they have the Plastic Letters LP in shrink.  But only in shrink.

[Vinnie]

Yer in town next week, Eric? Hit me up, home boy.

[heroinsucks]

Best record store. I grew up a few blocks away from DD and it enabled me to get into hardcore living in shitty Allentown.

[tommm]

^^^This. I'd hate to know how much money I've spent there over the years, but it couldn't go to many better causes. def. best store i've been to for punk stuff, decent for most other generes too. can grab very fairly priced KBD fodder or a huge stack of quality dollar lp's that would be $5-10 anywhere else. last time i was there (try to make it whenever i visit my folks) he had shit like the Ambulance 45 and a copy of "Just Head" just hanging out in the bins upfront. priced accordingly though.

[cracker]

but I'm wondering if the store's worth a bus ride or car rental/drive from Brooklyn.

can't you just find some other like minded soul with a car to drive you? you'll prolly spend $60 roundtrip otherwise... that's $60 less to spend on records.

jamie has a good thing going. it helps that he is the only good (punk centric) record store in at least a 150 mile radius (Philly suxx), and that he's cutting stuff loose from his collection. he's not super creative with the prices, so you're gonna pay 75%-80% of internet. once in a while this can work to your advantage if sales records are old and outdated. otherwise he's usually good for a couple specific wantlist items that you're willing to splurge on. sure, high prices suck, but if they were much cheaper, all the good records would sell immediately, and it would be a turd of a store for out-of-towners and weekend warrior types. at least at double decker the expensive records are usually also desirable records.

[limited.appeal]

Hands down one of the best record stores I have been too.

[bazooka joe]

i didn't even know about it. i'll make it up there eventually. sounds fun.

[erickelric]

I wanna go!

but gotta make sure I gots cash first.