Red Onion Records

Stopped in this morning for the first time because I was visiting and wanted to see a local shop before I drove home. This is the first time I’ve been in Red Onion Records. The store is organized, has a good selection of records, the vinyl/​covers were in pretty good condition, and the prices were fair.
Best of all was I spoke to the owner while I was in the store. Nice guy and knowledgeable about music. This was a great experience all the way around.
I don’t get down to D.C. often but I know I will be coming back to Red Onion Records whenever I return. Whether you are local or just visiting do yourself a favor and check this place out.

I bought my husband a new turntable for Christmas to play his old vinyl. Yet, I couldn’t find his stash. A friend recommended the Red Onion and it turned out to be my Christmas miracle. I found a great selection of old rock n’roll. The covers were in good shape, the vinyl clean and scratch-​free, and prices exceptional. I picked up the Beatles, Rolling Stones, Harry Chapin, and Bruce Springsteen (much cheaper than concert tickets). My husband was thrilled with his gift, including the gift certificate so he can add to his collection. This is a great vinyl shop!

Good place for rare jazz, world and rock. Good used vinyls, but slightly (and I am being petty, here) overpriced. I’ve only been here a hand full of times and got a few good jazz records, but I’m poor and so the fact that they don’t have a tad bit «fairer» pricing upsets me.
I remember the first time I traveled to Red Onion, I was looking for some eastern sounds and upon finding their lush world music section, I was then met with disappointment that every record was out of my price range (like the cheapest was around 22 bucks and the albums didn’t appear «brand new»). I know that lots of places overprice their records because its such a yuppie and hipster commodity nowadays, and these people usually have the means and the ego to pay for overpriced records, but it makes record shops appear desperate, to me, that’s all. I am a deal-​hunter first, and collector, second, so if things don’t add up, I just move away. I priced checked a few items against online prices and other area record stores, and definitely can tell you that some of the records there should not be as pricey. Therefore, this place kinda just faded in the background, to me, as I frequent other places in search of some bargains.
The atmosphere was cool and the clerk guy was cool that one time I went. The other experience was a little less pleasant but the guy wasn’t rude, just a tad condescending (which I simply attribute to white hipster-​ism). As I opened with, however, this place is worth the visit. If your smart you may not come away with anything, but its a nice place.
I’m giving it 4 stars because of its decent selection of world and jazz music, but not for that, it would be a solid 2.5 or 3 star place.

Have you ever had an experience so exquisitely awful in a store that when you walked out, you had to ask yourself:
Did that just happen?
It is really difficult to offend me — even if you tried your hardest, you probably couldn’t do it. There are only two things that really get under my skin: calling me a liar, and dismissing me without even giving me the time of day. The dude at Red Onion Records managed to do both things to me in 30 seconds, which is actually quite impressive.
I called ahead to Red Onion and made the trip from Suburbia specifically to go to this store. While walking down U Street, I saw another record store along the way that I didn’t even know existed, so I walked in. They were playing hardcore angry guy tattoo music pretty loudly, so it wasn’t surprising that they weren’t in the market for the Sinatra and Brahms collection I came in with to try and sell. They were super cool about it though; business is business, no hard feelings.
On to Red Onion. Upon walking in, I mentioned that I had been to another record store down the Street. Red Onion guy’s response was «Then I don’t even want to look at your stuff because they got all the good selections».
Outside of that just being silly and illogical, because you never know what I have, what they might have taken (nothing as it turns out) and what they might have missed, his tone was so assholey I had to do a double take. Maybe he was having a bad day. I’m so polite, it always freaks me out a little when someone treats me crappy within a few seconds of meeting me.
«Um, noooo … they said they weren’t in the market to buy anything classical and didn’t buy any of my records at all».
«I find that hard to believe».
«Dude, I’m not lying to you.»
«Oh no no no, I believe you.»
Um, what?
He then pretended to look at my records for 3.7 seconds, then leaned on the stack with his arm, turned to me and told me that we were done. I stood there in shock.
As he left he said «But I do appreciate you coming in and showing me».
Oh sure. You are just brimming with appreciation.
(PS — I gave two stars because I love vinyl so much that I can’t bring myself to one-​star any record store).

Great store and super helpful manager, owner?. A nice selection of quality vinyl. A must shop location if you collect vinyl.

Great little DC shop — which is moving over to U street. The owner was down to earth and willing to help out with some searches. I was able to track down some vintage Sonic Youth and Ralph Boshki’s Lord of the Rings soundtrack. He had a nice mix of old and new and even had a small dedicated 1990’s section — recommended!

Not bad, if you’re looking for the latest underground on vinyl. Went there with a friend who’s an avid collector off just about everything. I personally would have enjoyed it more if there were more CD’s, because that’s as far back into the past as I’m willing to go. I still have a CD player, anyway. I think the rediscovered vinyl obsession is just another way for record companies to cash in, but I digress. This place probably has that jem you’ve been looking for.

Rather you’re into records or not.. this is a great place to go if you need one. The surah is super helpful and friendly. Idk record stores. I just needed one for a birthday present and I would go back again if I needed another. Customer service you can not beat and if they do not have what you’re looking for, they will recommend you towards the right direction. You just can’t beat it.

I am not a vinyl afficionado, per se, but I do like my records. Josh, the owner, is very helpful in obtaining not in store records from their distributors. It’s a cool and clean place not like some bigger outfits in Silver Spring. This is definitely one of the best records stores in DC.

A great out of the way sore, Red onion has a great selection and great people manning the register

The facts:
This place is dope!
I’m a hipster asshole so I stick to that section for the most part
It is a well curated store with a selection that’s always changing. I only get a chance to visit once a month but it’s always a surprising mix. Everything from Jessica Pratt, to Queens of the Stone Age, to smaller bands like Mount Carmel. Check out the psychedelic section.
Prices are really quite fair! You can definitely pick up a lot of solid stuff in the $ 16 range.

As a frequent patronizer of independent record stores, I will admit that this is a good one. They have a large selection of music across genres-​everything from old blues recordings to Hard Bop Jazz to current Indie Rock to Brazilian Tropicalia to 80s pop. Additionally, they also have a smaller selection of used books, which are mostly about music, and DVDs, including complete seasons of «Mad Men» in Red Onion, as well. This small store really is jam packed with treasures. My complaint is that they do not have a very large CD section, although they did carry some great artists, like James Brown and Elvis Costello, on disc. Nevertheless, this is a great place for a music lover to visit and add to pieces to their collection.

A hidden gem in the DC Metro. Located on 18^th St NW between Dupont and Adams Morgan. Its one of my favorite stores. It has a friendly staff always ready to help find anything that you might be interested in. I cannot tell you the number of times I asked for something I have had a hard time finding then I get a call from the owner telling me that they have a copy if I am interested. The carefully curated collection of old and new records is great. Over the last couple of months I have noticed how they have started to expand sections according the the needs of the vinyl enthusiast. Its a store I visit now on a regular basis and always seems to walk out with a new stack of records to add to my ever growing collection. Its not the largest vinyl store in the DC metro, but considering the size it has a great collection of all types of music.

After visiting last weekend, I can say this is my favorite Record Store in DC. The location is small but the collection is well organized and extensive. I found a Fela Kuti re-​release, an original Joni Mitchell and a Library of Congress Woody Guthrie box set all for reasonable prices. Be sure to have a good hour or more to peruse through everything, you don’t want to miss any of these tasty records.

Best record store in DC! Aside from being a wonderful person, Josh is a great reference for the vast universe of music in his store. Over the past few years, I’ve found everything from long-​sought treasures to great newfound artists I likely wouldn’t have found elsewhere. Can’t recommend it highly enough to anyone passing through the neighborhood.

I stopped in here because of the star rating they had on Unilocal!but I was very disappointed by the selection of records as well as the organization of the store. If you’re looking for a new unopened vinyl from a band which no one has heard of you MIGHT find it here but they also don’t have very many good old records.
If you’re passing this shop on the way to another place it’s worth a quick pop in.

Great selection of used and new records. I like that they have a couple of used records crates labeled 90s and 2000s. This is not something you find in your typical record store. So I was able to find a used version of the new Shellac album! I also purchased a few rockabilly, soul, and garage rock records from different eras.
The used records are very fairly priced ($ 4 – 15 for the most part) and their $ 1 crates have some hidden gems in them.
Josh is super nice and very knowledgeable about all kinds of music genres. He was very helpful and set up a listening station for me.
If I lived in DC I would find myself shopping here quite often.
The one negative things I have to say is that the records are not very well organized but it seems to be because I happened to come here only a few days after they started remodeling the store (work in progress). So they’re not losing a star over this.

I had heard about Red Onion Records through Unilocal.I always meant to go, but something else in DC always came up instead so I kept putting it off. While wandering around Dupont, I passed a sign with a little red onion on it… How could I deny fate, which was *clearly* leading me to Red Onion Records? I had to go in.
I was immediately greeted upon entering. There’s something about being greeted (especially at a record store) that makes me more inclined to buy something. It was pretty busy when I stopped by, but most people there seemed to be looking for something in particular (not just to browse) so it cleared out pretty quickly. I followed my standard route when hitting up a record store: browse the «Just In» bin, check out punk, maybe check out some Classic Rock, and if there’s time, troll the dollar bins.
For such a small store, they have really good selection! (At least for the genres that I’m interested in…) Nothing is really outrageously overpriced here, and if you look hard enough/​get lucky, you can some really sweet deals! I found a record that I haven’t seen for under $ 30 online for only $ 7 here. Too bad I’m not into reselling and it wasn’t something I was into, or I’d totally have snagged it up!
Long story short, pretty good record store. It’s one of the better ones in the DMV that I’ve been to. The worker (owner?) was very nice and friendly. The store had good stock at pretty good prices, especially for its size and location. My only point of disappointment is that they don’t have any tapes.

Love it. Bought a couple albums and traded in a bunch of old vinyl I no longer listen to. The owner Josh is a solid dude. Great spread of newer stuff, which is primarily what I was checking out, and the used and older stuff is solid as well.
If you want vinyl check here first!

Fantastic vinyl shop. Unlike many other record stores in the DMV, this one has more than just the usual crap that you find at thrift stores — in other words, they have a well trimmed and maintained selection. Their prices are fantastic — I found 3 albums that were significantly cheaper than discogs and Amazon.

They definitely take advantage of what little space they have by filling it almost to the brim with decades worth of records.
This place has a fairly good selection of newer material, but really hits the ballpark with their jazz and blues sections. I have yet to see a record store that carried such a diversity of that genre. Of course, their rock, country, classical genres are great as well, but the jazz/​blues really stood out.
You may spend a great deal of time looking for what you want, but its better than having nothing to sift through.

All record stores share a common denominator: crates and cartons of records to browse, a select few sleeves usually line the walls along with some old show flyers/​posters, the lone staff/​owner behind the counter playing something interesting (in this case it was Beirut), they are always super knowledgeable of their inventory and will usually share an interesting tidbit about whatever it is you’re asking for/​about.
I happened to be on my constant quest for The Adverts… because I’d rather try to find it in person than just order it online. No dice. Then, being in DC, I had a sudden hankering (nostalgia) for Nation of Ulysses since all I could think about after I got off the Amtrak was, «So many things that I’m dying to show you… you’re my Miss Washington DC!!», a song I first heard two decades ago (yikes!). No dice again. Although there were a few other Nation of Ulysses 7″ records to choose from. I did, however, find out that Ian has come in to the store. Nice.
I was hundreds of miles from NJ but being in this shop made me feel close to home again. That, or I’m just more inclined to feel at home surrounded by records. Great little place that I’d recommend to anyone passing through as most of the locals of Dupont Circle seem to know what kind of gem this is already.