Northern Lights Records

Meant to review this hidden gem a while back. but they are a fantastic little used shop that opened up on my literal block a little more than a year ago-​ish? Every time I’ve gone there I’ve found amazing rare stuff. They have an excellently friendly staff that plays great tunes for the customer to discover while they shop. Come to think of it I’m kinda mad at myself for not visiting more often, because they are literally less than a 2 min walk from my apartment. Check it out when in Bushwick!

Huge record airport hangar. Halfway between an Amazon warehouse and Ye Bushwicke art gallery loft «I don’t live in an apartment, I live in a space.»
New Arrivals are banging with semi-​heat. Everything else is aggressively priced to move but you need to check condition as the older bins radiate a vibe of The Land of the eBay/​Discogs castoffs.

Lots of records, friendly staff, good prices. One of the best record stores in the city if you are looking for Hip-​Hop, Jazz, Soul LP’s and 45s.

Wow, first review for this place. I was just in New York for the weekend and was asking people what the latest and greatest record store was for lots of «cheap dance singles». This place «Northern Lights» kept getting mentioned. After a bit of trouble locating them (they’re so new they’re not popping up at the top of google searches yet), I finally found the address and checked the store out. Final opinion: cool record store, worth a visit, and seemingly a welcome addition to the increasing NYC record shop ecosystem.
If you love Soul, Jazz, Hip Hop, Classic House, or just pouring through huge quantities of 12″ singles or 45s, this place should be on your list. Unlike smaller stores which are going the hyper-​curated «less is more» route with specific sections for each micro-​genre, this store gives you a large quantity of vinyl to shift through and lets you have at it. When it comes to albums there’s different sections for hiphop, soul, jazz etc, but all 12“s are mixed together in one massive alphabetical section. Maybe that’s a problem for some people, but there was enough quality stuff across a few genres mixed in to make it more than worthwhile for me and fun to dig through.
As for the store itself: the space is bright and new, high ceilings, large enough so that even with a big quantity of vinyl it doesn’t feel cramped. Princes were fine, most of the stuff I was looking at was priced a little below «net» prices, though it wasn’t clear if everything was priced 100% cognizant of that or if they let some stuff «slip through the net» to keep people digging and coming back. The employees were friendly, there’s a listening station, etc. Really nothing to complain about, the only downside right now is that they’re cash only, not sure if that’s a temporary thing or not. Overall though, it’s a great place and I’ll definitely be checking it again next time I’m in NYC.