Renaissance Records

After a therapeutic experience down the street at another record store, I honestly walked into Renaissance with little to no expectation. Yet again, I found myself examining through an above average vinyl selection. As I searched, new releases from Alabama Shakes and Mumford & Sons served as the soundtrack backdrop. Thumbs up.
Unsure of what to select, I half-​heartedly decided on the new Alabama Shakes album. I thought to myself, «Hell, I’m in Alabama. They’re playing the lead single as I speak. Alright, I’ll buy it.»
Then as I approached the counter, I realized there was a stack of LPs I didn’t sort through. What turned out to be a prized possession laid in the middle of the pile: An exceptionally rare, 12″ single of Nirvana’s «Heart-​Shaped Box.» I call this pure, unadulterated vinyl bliss.
All record stores are treasure maps. Except as a customer, you aren’t provided with a map for your convenience. You must search until you discover your buried treasure. And this particular record may very well be buried along side me when my time on Earth comes to a close.
Can you tell how enthused I am?
Personal anecdotes aside, Renaissance fills a void in the vinyl municipal. I’m incredibly jealous Birmingham houses two independent record empires in walking distance of each other. The owner, thick in Southern hospitality, voiced campfire stories for all ears to sink in. If you’re looking for an excellent record, book or movie, Renaissance has your needs covered.

A great record store. You’ll find more indie records here than you will at Charlemagne and there’s still tons of old records here to go through as well. I have found 2001: A Space Odyssey Soundtrack and Kraftwerk before. Lots of hidden treasures. Great prices too.
Also, the owner of this place is the most friendly guy you’ll ever meet. He is super helpful and you can strike up a conversation with him about anything.

I love going in to Renaissance. in college I spent a lot of time in there and the owner always offered to order any vinyl they didn’t have. he even specifically started stocking a certain band’s vinyl for me. they have a much better selection of newer vinyl than Charlemagne and I thoroughly enjoy Renaissance Much More!!!

This is a quaint little store and can yield some good finds. If you have the time to spare and don’t mind digging, this is a good place to score a decent record or two. The owner is real cool and that is a rarity for a record store. Had fun here.

I work in food industry, and almost every week I go into Renaissance to spend a bit of my tip money on records.
I used to go to Charlemagne around the corner, but renaissance has more helpful staff, a more open area, and I think the organization of it is more of what I like when looking for records.
They constantly have new records coming in, and opposed to other reviews, I find their prices to be pretty fair. I got a Jackson Five album for $ 3, a good Whitney Houston album for $ 1, and a Sam Cooke for $ 5. Those were all great finds.
The man who typically works there is extremely helpful if you use him as a resource. Sometimes he will help you more than you want, but he’s really friendly and knowledgable. I was looking thru random albums the other day and he came up after noting a few I’d picked up with similar artists and other albums by the same artists.
It’s the best record store I know of in town, and if you really take the time to look through the albums on the tables and under, you’ll get some great albums like I did.
I will continue to shop here because I like their records and I like to support it as a small local business.

I see allot of comparison here between Charlamagne and Renaissance, however both of these establishments send business to each other and Gary (of Ren) worked at Charlemagne for years and years. I frequent both of these stores. I like Ren because there are always great prices that are not as steep as collector prices you find online-​or even sometimes at Charlamagne. I love Charlemagne because Charlemagne has Jimmy. Everyone needs to meet Jimmy. Anytime there is a new release that I want on the day it comes out I go see Jimmy. Charlemegne is smaller so sometimes it seems that there are records just stuffed everywhere, but then there are times I go to Ren, and people have brought records all day long and the same is true there-​with the added boxes of books. Basically these stores are not even a brisk walk from each other so there need be no heavy comparison-​and neither Gary nor Jimmy ever allows for ill talk against the other record store, which is why they both keep my business.

Renaissance Records is a nice addition to the downtown 5 pts bham scene! The shop has nice people, good records, always good songs playing, and you’ll never know what kind of a conversation or record youll come out of the store with… overall, Renaissance is a worth while visit if passing thru birmingham or if you’re around town and haven’t visited the 5 pts area before.
–scott, ensley

Stacking Renaissance against Charlemagne Records, just a skip away, is a no brainer. Charlemagne is the clear winner. With that in mind, I was initially annoyed I’d come here, having already visited the other record store.
After digging and digging through a lot of records I had no interest in, however, I ended up finding some solid keepers. Ah – the joy of vinyl hunting! Not the best record store I’ve ever been in by far, but nothing to turn your nose up at either. Lesson learned ;)

I will always chose to visit renaissanse over charlemagne but only because their collection of classic books is vastly superior. I used to be an avid browser of their records but one day the prices started going through the roof. The final straw was a used copy of Louder Than Bombs going for $ 50! This is a compilation record! Not rare! We’re talking a $ 10-​$ 12 record. While this is an extreme example, I don’t find myself buying records here anymore. So, 2 ½ stars really.