101 Music

Have you been to 101 Music? If your answer was no you need to get off your duff and go check it out ASAP. This is by far and a way one of the coolest small businesses in North Beach (that doesn’t involve drinking) and really one of the better record shops I’ve been in ever. You’ll find cool albums, musical instruments, and surprisingly reasonable concert posters. And, the attitude is pretty casual and cool, without being hipster «don’t give a **** cause giving a **** is uncool». You also won’t find the guy working there that is way too into it and needs to let you know about it. It’s a tiny store with as minimal of space in between merchandise as is possible. It is jam packed with good stuff.
If you ever want to take a walk down musical memory lane this is it — particularly if you are in the generation born from about 1978 – 1986 that remembers vinyl but yet wasn’t quite old enough to be part of it as a decision maker when it wasn’t an choice. I will tell you, you will find some cool stuff. Some of their Soul and Lounge offerings were pretty sweet. There are also cassettes. I almost wonder why anyone would buy one now other than sheer nostalgia, or a vastly exaggerated commitment to irony. But, find them here none-​the-​less you will.
I know nothing about vinyl. The guy who gave it 2-​stars and has no friends apparently does. Maybe it’s all over-​priced garbage. I doubt it though. I could spend some time here, and it is a pretty inspiring spot. Another win for North Beach and this stretch of Grant Street.
BTW — There is a 101 Music location like a block away on Green. That is mainly equipment, not media. Also worth checking out, but I really know nothing about vintage equipment.

Spent hundreds in this store buying vinyls used and new and had an OK experience, nothing extraordinary but I like to support small businesses so I shopped there instead of buying cheaper on Amazon or Discogs.
One day I got 4 vinyls while shopping with family members and kids so I was in a rush (the store is small and I didn’t want to overcrowd it with loud kids). I quickly asked if those vinyls were all-​analog or if they were from an edition where the digital masters were used. I was told they were all-​analog. Went home 2 hours later and realized that it said on the bottom back cover that they were from a digital source…
I called the owner and he told me he would «take care of me no problem». I assumed that meant a full-​refund since the vinyls were still under wraps w/​receipts and I had just bought them 2 hours ago or so. I would have gladly accepted a store credit.
I came back the next day but was told I needed to come back for the owner. Came back the following day and was told it was a slow day so he left early. Came back again 2 days later and was offered a lot of attitude when I explained I wanted to return them.
He actually told me that this collection is not for audiophile and that they were not that good. Exactly the opposite of what I was told only a few days before when I was told this was the best edition (granted it was someone else in the store…).
He offered a 40% store credit and saw my surprised reaction. I argued a little bit respectfully but then he said he didn’t have all day and he was pissed. As a younger guy, I don’t like to argue with elderly so I accepted and handed back the unboxed vinyls.
I now buy on Discogs and Amazon shamelessly and feel stupid for giving them my business in the first place.

Tom! I stopped by as I was in a dream-​like nostalgic state, and you reminded me of my Dad! Thank you! Ironwood, Michigan! I am the girl with the Vesuvio T-​Shirt on from the U.P. of Michigan — you made me feel at home that day while visiting San Fran.
Very cool record shop. The best of the best. A very happy place with very happy vibes.

Love this place. Need to plan for spending time in there. Unsorted records are not the way for every store. For this one there is a treasure just waiting…

This is a really great shop, and is one of the best of the old school record stores around. I also bought my bass guitar here, and it sounds real nice. The prices are very reasonable.

F. Yes!
I have bought vinyl here before, and I have been very happy. You have to like crate digging, though. For new records ordered by genre and in alphabetical order, go elsewhere.
I recently re-​discovered them as a music shop. I bought a sweet Pignose travel guitar from them. They are knowledgeable and friendly when you engage them in an interested way. I got a sweet deal, and they hooked me up with a set of strings to boot.
Go visit if vinyl, guitar, and old music memorabilia float your boat.

The shop will draw you in instantly with the wide array of albums, cool memorabilia, etc — especially, if you’re a music lover — however, the service? *sad trombone sound* I won’t step foot in this place again.

101 Music is my absolute happy place. The amount of vinyl in the basement is astonishing and feels never-​ending. I love going there on a Saturday afternoon and spending hours (yes I can spend hours down there) looking through all of the record bins. There really isn’t a rhyme or reason to how/​why the records are stored. Boxes upon boxes of random, cheap vinyl makes for a great exploration mission. My taste in music is quite odd, so I can typically find a handful of records that I like, and the price is always right. As someone with OCD, the amount of records that I miss every time is a bit overwhelming (some stacks of boxes are five feet tall), but there’s nothing more satisfying than than flipping through boxes of vinyl.

Records galore!

Nothing to rave about here. It looks cool inside with all the musical instruments everywhere, but the record selection is really blah. Browsing through most genres, you’ll find the same artist (and albums) as you flip through the LPs. You can also tell they don’t put too much care into what they’re doing. There is no consistency with the way things are filed or organized. Considering how hard it is to make money off music these days, you’d think they’d try a little harder. Maybe that’s why the records are all slightly over-​priced

Small but a sweet old record shop. It is a little pricy but considering it is in the heart of North Beach understandable. It is easy to get lost in time and history of the music and easy to navigate cause its so small! There is a random selection of music here. A nice little find.

Great place. Lots of LPs. Combing through the rows of music is an adventure.

Wow! These guys are so helpful. I bought a record player and speakers two years ago from them and Tom was very helpful in explaining how to set up the system and the speakers. Today I just called them with some questions about installing a new cartridge and Brian was super helpful and answered all my questions. A+

Great place to sell a collection.
I recently had to part with a large vinyl collection — thousands of records. I had both Amoeba and Tom at 101 look at them.
Tom offered me a very fair price which was 250% of what Amoeba offered. He and his assistant Scott were also absolute pleasures to deal with. We talked for over 3 hours about all the music.
Highly recommended.

This place is a little treasure chest full of interesting old instruments, records and old band posters. The owner was very nice and allowed me to browse in peace without being overly nosy or annoyingly helpful.

We’re lucky to live in a city with such a wide variety of vinyl proprietors. 101 music is among the most entertaining to browse, if not the most consistent. I have found a few treasures but the turnover could be higher. Since I live up the street, maybe I expect «new stuff» too frequently.
However, my five stars are more about Tom, the owner and his personal attention than anything else. When recently replacing my stylus, he offered to walk me through the process of setting the counter-​balance, etc. over the phone on a Sunday. He is an extremely knowledgeable man, while not making me feel silly for needing his help.
Cheers to old-​school customer service, the kind you can only find in a locally-​owned shop like those in North Beach and throughout our beautiful city!

Great way to spend an afternoon, and you will surely kill an entire one there, digging through the enormous stock of records in the basement. Absolutely incredible collection. Although arranged in a rather haphazard way, I always manage to find what I’m looking for.
Have bought some Sinatra, some Sammy, some Nina Simone, some opera. I take away one star because I found a Renata Tibaldi album that the proprietor said «Oh, I don’t normally sell anything from that label.» Then what’s it doing down there, then?
But since the record had a price tag, he relented. So major score for me. So the star goes back.
Awesome record shop and yet another reason I’m thrilled to live in this neighborhood.

Very easy to lose an afternoon in North Beach, digging through the records and examining the beat-​up guitars down in the basement. I picked up a no-​name classical guitar here for around $ 60, and I play it almost every day.
Spend another few hours looking through the various music-​making eclectica upstairs — you will always find a little treasure.

I paid my first visit to 101 Music on Saturday night and was blown away. And now reading the reviews other Unilocalers have written, I am even more convinced that it will take several more years’ worth of visits to truly understand why this place is so amazing.
It starts with the massive collection. Every milimeter of this place is packed. It feels magical. Only the liner notes for the CDs are on display because the jewel cases would take up too much room. And if you have a good sense of humor, you’ll realize how funny it is that every time another customer wants to cross paths with you, one or the other of you must back out of the aisle entirely so one may pass, or lean dangerously close to the stacks.
As others have mentioned, with this massive amount of stock, it’s not exactly organized to the minute level of detail that Amoeba or Aquarius are. If you can’t deal with this, well, go to Sam Goody, sucker.

Consisting of two stores on opposite corners of Grant & Green street, 101 Music is the best (read: only) used record shop in North Beach. The main store at the northeast corner of the intersection is well-​stocked with sorted vinyl of all varieties, with a smattering of CDs adorning the far wall. There’s also a number of old guitars hanging up and quite a few nice deals can be found amongst them.
The southwest store is the real gem of these two. You walk inside to an in-​your-​face mélange of old and new musical equipment of all listening, performing, and recording varieties: a veritable hands-​on history of electricity in music. Downstairs lies the Holy Grail of vinyl collecting: well over eighty thousand records, unsorted other than by rough genre breakdowns, just itching for a full-​scale browse. Whether you’re looking for Pop, Blues, Soul, old-​school Hip-​Hop, obscure German rock, or chintzy New Age, you’ll find everything you could ever possibly want, and a hell of a lot more. Best of all, every record costs only $ 5! Perfect for an afternoon of hardcore record-​hunting, an eBay resell search, or a hipster first-​date.