Parasol

While I’m not an indie fan, my girlfriend is. (When I introduced her to Parasol, she wanted to move into their hard-​to-​find storefront-​slash-​warehouse.) I don’t know much about the label or mail order business at all, but I can safely say that Parasol’s storefront carries the best, and extremely well-​edited, selection in town for indie and punk vinyl, CDs, and DVDs. Just the latter alone! You can buy the Kill Rock Stars Video Fanzine III, live performances from Coachella, and documentaries about freestyling, K Records, or even that one about early California hardcore, which features far too much footage of TSOL. There are also bins full of seven-​inches, and a decent-​sized collection of $ 1 vinyl and CDs. Much time could be successfully killed here.
Anywhere I can buy the A-​Frames Black Forest LP, and peruse seemingly endless back issues of Mojo, is aces in my book. They’ll also special order anything you want, which means that I won’t have to save my shopping list for trips to Chicago’s Reckless!

Best indie rock mail order shop in the country. And if you live in Urbana — Champaign you should feel fortunate enough to walk in, look around and shop.
Responsible for breaking HUM, Poster Children, Absinthe Blind, White Town, Soundtrack of Our Lives, Velvet Crush and Menthol.
Parasol’s owner, Geoff, also owns That’s Rentertainment in Champaign. If you know anything about movie rentals in CU, you’d know that’s the one and only spot to rent DVDs.