Melodies & Memories

I’ve never seen so much music in one place. This place makes those old Harmony House and Media Play locations seem like child’s play.
I recently got a record player, which as an audiophile was the only thing missing the accompaniment of the tens of thousands of songs I already own via MP3, tapes and CD’s. I was given many old records as well, including Zeppelin II, Yellow Brick Road, The Beach Boys Live and Tapestry by Carole King. There were two I wanted that weren’t part of the bunch — Rubber Soul and Dark Side of the Moon — so I headed up to M&M on a Sunday afternoon, parked on Gratiot Ave. and proceeded to browse around.
It’s like a time machine in there, in a good way. When you first walk in it can be overwhelming. New releases, old albums, all these different genres, different rooms for different media (they have vinyl, CD’s, tapes, everything) and even many newer vinyls — from Cage the Elephant to electronic music. You can spend many an hour just looking around.
The guy working at the time was really helpful. He said it was «a Zeppelin and Pink Floyd Christmas» and they only had about five album altogether of each. They do get more in, randomly, though. I did manage to find Rubber Soul (one used, one old copy not used much and still in original Montgomery Ward wrapping, and one new and remastered). I also found a Pink Floyd ‘DSOTM’ remastered at 180 gram, which is the best you can get. I bought both for around $ 50 …you just can’t put a price on music, especially if you’re a music lover.
The prices vary. Some bands’ albums cost more simply because they are more popular and there are less albums of them. Everyone wants a Stones, or Beatles, or The Doors, or Zeppelin, or whatever. It’s the same with anything in life. You want top shelf vodka? You’rte going to pay more. But a person can spend a good amount here and come home with a lot as well.
I really enjoyed this place and the service. I’m glad vinyl is coming back because it makes people appreciate music more rather than the one song MP3’s they listen to and ignore the rest of an album. It’s the way music was meant to be listened to.

I remember this place when it used to be in a little strip mall in the 12 mile and Hayes area near Macomb Community College. Their prices were high then, they still are.
There’s lots of vinyl in the Eastpointe store. Lots. The problem is it’s overpriced dreck and, to add insult to injury, most of the records are at floor level so one has to bend over in awkward positions to rummage through. Some of the pop culture items they sell are cool to look at but again at inflated prices. The place is dirty and dusty too. Kinda like a heroin addicts apartment. One of the long time employees has a Texas sized chip on the shoulder and he’s often moody and grouchy. Avoid the dude.
Let’s summerize the shopping experience… you get mold on your fingers, bruises on the knees, kinks in the back, you can smile at the vintage lunchboxes, avoid the creepy step-​dad employee, and finally, big-​time sticker shock at the checkout.
Nope.
P. S. Please shower when you get home.

This is one of the most amazing record stores. Dan was very hospitable in sharing different hidden gems and the stories of the late great J Dilla. If you are on tour this is a must see before leaving town. Dan is also willing to talk Tigers baseball. I’m glad I made the time to come by and grab some rare vinyl. You should do the same.

If I had all the time and money in the world, I could spend a huge chunk of it here.
The biggest selection of just about every kind of music in every format that I’ve ever seen. Great prices too. The only downside this place has is that most of the LPs are kept in shelves on the floor, so you have to sit on the floor and dig, but its not the worst thing in the world.
Definitely don’t go here if you’re crunched for time because you’ll want to stay for hours just to see everything they have.

Vinyl heaven! They have it all and more on LP. Reasonably priced and guys who go out of their way if you are looking for something hard to find. Also if that wasn’t enough they have classic games and lunch boxes from your childhood.

Overall, kind of a mixed bag and not necessarily worth the drive for me to stop in on a regular basis.
The last time I was in here, I brought a few CDs to the counter and only ended up buying one, which was a sealed, new CD. The used discs were scratched, and one of them was an out of print hip hop CD that turned out to a be a homemade CD-​R bootleg. In this day and age, I’m not sure how any record store thinks they can get away with selling bootleg CD-​Rs.
The only reason to make a trip out here is if you are looking for out of print classic rock, jazz, r&b, oldies, etc. and you don’t want to search online for a certain title and you absolutely must buy a particular CD sealed and new. Be prepared to pay $ 25 – 30 or more for that CD, but you will get a new, sealed CD. I’m guessing the reason the store has this kind of stock is because their prices on average are high, much higher than what you’d pay online or at other stores. For example, a classic Motown album that sells for $ 4.99 on CD would probably cost $ 14.99 here. High prices means that the it takes a long time for the store to turn over stock, so you may get lucky finding certain things here. Make sure you bring a fully charged smartphone so you can compare prices with eBay, Amazon Marketplace, etc.
There is some used vinyl at the store, but I’ve never bothered checking it out. Part of the reason is because the store is so cramped that it makes for an uncomfortable experience, and the odds of finding anything you can’t easily find somewhere else are probably pretty low.

this place is a gold mind i use to love going in there with my cuzzin dilla thats where i really learn to expand my ear and range of music i listened to i love this place

I have to disagree with many of the other reviews. For a dance music aficionado, Melodies & Memories is one of the best used vinyl shops on the planet. They have a whole back room for dance music that is VERY expertly broken down by Techno, House, Classics, etc. Great selection and you can preview records up front. Back in the 90’s this was THE place to get new records. Today they still carry new records from local Detroit artists and DJs on vinyl. The salespeople will help you dig for something if you ask them. I have found the prices to be very fair in the dance music area. They also have a great cassette selection if you also happen to drive a ’96 Volvo like me. My only complaint is that they are not closer to downtown Detroit!

Great selection overall, with lots of surprises throughout the store. It’s especially useful for classic rock, oldies, jazz, old-​school soul and so on. Tons of vinyl, too.
It could be organized better – there are too many genres and useless subdivisions. Prices are in general list price or even above. It does carry a few bootlegs/​grey market items as well, and in one case (based on the color photocopies of the front and back covers) I suspect copies of the original series.
Lots of obscure and hard-​to-​find country and jazz box sets as well. But don’t dare touch them, even if all you want to do is check the track listing. And you can’t walk five feet without being reminded that shoplifters will be prosecuted and that there are security cameras. If you’re a student you can’t walk in with more than one friend. Oh, and no photography either. One of the employees even reminded me of this last policy when I took out my phone to check my wish list.
Like ordering from the Soup Nazi, there are a lot of rules when shopping at Melodies & Memories. One of the memories I have is feeling welcome when I browsed at a music store.

I an not a vinyl person at all, but even I noticed this place is overpriced.
There is a TON of product here.
Its cool to wander around and flip through.
I like supporting local places, if you do too, and don’t mind paying a bit more, then check this place out.

Ok, I have heard great things about this place. My only question is why? If you want to peruse the vinyl collection, you better be really short. They’re all stored underneath cd shelves throughout the whole store. Surely there is a better way to go about doing this. That’s not my biggest gripe though. My biggest gripe is the price. These prices are not even competitive. Why would anyone in their right mind pay $ 10 – 15 for a used album in average condition when its an album you see everywhere else in the $ 2 – 6 range. That is this place to a T it appears, everything I picked up was priced about twice what I was willing to pay.
I had to check this place out, now that’s checked off my list, and I don’t plan on returning anytime soon.

My sister introduced me to Melodies & Memories about two months ago. I was initially excited about their selection of used 45s and have since made 4 or 5 trips, making high dollar purchases each time. Having purchased used LPs and 45s online and at other Detroit record stores regularly, I was very aware that Melodies & Memories was way overpriced, but I very much like to support local businesses so I didn’t mind. I could’ve ordered all of the 45s I’ve been purchasing off of Amazon or eBay for equal or less than the money this store charges including shipping but again, I was trying to support them because they’re a local business.
A couple weeks back, I took a friend to this store to record shop for his birthday. As we were checking out, we both noticed a Syd Barrett 7″ boxed set behind the register marked $ 40. When we asked about it we were told it is extremely rare, that these were the only two left and they would never be in stock again. My friend and I are big Pink Floyd fans so we decided to purchase them. This after we had already just purchased over $ 100 in used records.
When we got home (over an hour drive) I opened mine to inspect it and everything was fine. My friend however opened his to find that the record itself was missing. He returned to the store today hoping to get a refund or store credit. The first thing he noticed was that there was another of the same boxed set sitting right on the shelf. The same boxed set we both purchased after being told how rare it was and how there wouldn’t be anymore in stock. The store would do absolutely NOTHING for my friend. No return, no exchange, no issue of store credit. Nothing. On top of that, they chose to hide behind and lie about copyright laws as a reason to have basically stolen money from a customer.
It’s really too bad because now I’m forced to mark another Michigan business off my list of places I’ll spend a lot of my hard earned money. Driving an hour to get to Memories & Melodies didn’t bother me. Over paying by $ 1 — $ 10 per item didn’t bother me. My friend and myself being blatantly lied to and ripped off, twice in the same interaction does.
Avoid this place and their shady business practices at all costs.

I came here after I have searched in many other recording shops for my favorite songs –unfortunately it was hopeless– but when I came here I found my favorite oldie’s records with a very reasonable prices.
Whenever I need to listen to my oldie’s, I won’t hesitate to come back to Melodies & Memories.

My favorite record store in the city so far!
The crates are amazing and organized, and you can always find what your looking for. The owners are cool dudes, there not douschey at all. Also the wall of autographs is real cool to see. Everyone from common to Afrika Bambaataa signed it!

Not enough of these anymore, great owner, great store, little higher on prices… but I will pay for quality!

Melodies & Memories has what may be the best selection of new jazz CDs in the Metro-​Detroit area. With that said, I really need to state that they are relatively overpriced. In my review of Dearborn Music, I mentioned that they are high in their prices, but M&M have them beat… HOWEVER…Melodies & Memories carries more new/​sealed out-​of-​print titles than anywhere I have ever been. I have visited CD stores from San Fransisco to Washington DC and I have never seen a selection like this! Overpriced, but amazing!
The jazz CD selections range from John Abercrombie to John Zorn and everyone in between. I have not found an artist that is not represented in their expansive jazz CD selections. I am increasingly pleased more and more with every visit. I do though, leave empty handed sometimes because I just can’t dish out $ 22.99 for the Art Ensemble of Chicago CD that I wanted on that visit.
The classical CD selections are alright, nothing to write home about.
As far as vinyl is concerned (for both jazz and classical) I have to be honest and say that I have not really looked at their selections because I have mainly come here for their CD selection. I plan on up-​dating this review after taking another trip to M&M to check out their vinyl.
Melodies & Memories is right up their with some of the better stores in the area, which is why it gets my four start rating. The only thing that prevented this store form getting that 5^th star was the high-​prices.

I think I should update this review. I feel that the watchful eye in this store is a little less watchful. I’m sure this store probably had good reason to watch some people and it got a little out of hand. Anyway, they still have a ton of vinyl and I’ve found some nice selections, but there have been some things in the store that have been a little overpriced but every store has some of that. I also feel that the workers here are now much more helpful when I’ve had questions about certain records.
(old review)
This store has a wide selection and does carry a nice about of vinyl, but if you don’t like that feeling of being watched this isn’t your place. They are on you like a hawk here and once when I was in my late teens, one of their long time employees kicked me out because I was shopping too long and there was no need for us to still be looking. Combined we had probably 7 or 8 new CD’s in our hands that we were buying and we were both long time shoppers there. I was amazed. I’ve gone back a few times since and have never felt very comfortable since and I’ve seen them do the same to other people.

Well i’m in a pickle.
Melodies and Memories used to be my favorite record store, they have reasonable prices and most importantly – the records are organized!
But recently a good friend of mine was accused of trying to steal, and is now banned from the shop. This is ridiculous, the guys in the shop know him, he’s been a regular customer since he was a kid. Now I feel too guilty going to the store again. I’ll find somewhere else to go. Dammit!

A collectors paradise. In a world of downloading there are some things that are impossible to find. Here you have it all!
I wish there were more music shops like this around. Staff is very well versed on any and everything.
They have a section of Detroit rocknroll rarities– I scored with friday@the hideout. They also have the best price on vinyl that i’ve seen thus far.

When I walk into Melodies and Memories, I feel like I’m walking into a tomb; it’s a dark, large store that has hidden gems.
The collection of classic movie monster toys aside, I really enjoy this record shop. They have a great selection and very fair prices.
The one thing that brings me back is their selection of electronic music; you wouldn’t be able to tell by the looks of the marquee, but this place has a large selection of very great records. I’d choose M&M over any other record store in town if I was looking for electronica!
Yes, they stock some toys, and films. I’ve found that most record stores that stock movies have them quite cheap; M&M is no different.
If you happen to stop in to check out some music, take a gander at the films, and you may find something extremely cheap that you’ve been looking for all your life!
(Or maybe something you simply wanted to see… I have a tendency to search for films like quests for the Holy Grail.)