HD2 Brighton

HD2 is a second hand shop, specialising in DVDs, video games and music, just up St James Street on the way into Kemptown. As second-​hand shops go, this is a viable alternative to a lot of the big chains around town, although the selection is a bit peculiar, and the presentation is somewhat lacking. Still, if you’re looking for that one special DVD/​video game/​music that you can’t find anywhere else, try here before resorting to Amazon.
As second hand shops go, HD2 does exactly what it says on the can: buys and sells second hand media. There’s loads of stuff on offer here, although the mix is somewhat strange. I guess the DVDs and music that ends up in second hand shops isn’t always the most popular, but I couldn’t find one band I knew on a 5 minute browse! Still, you might find a buried treasure in here, and I do mean buried: everything is piled on top of each other in a rather hodge-​podge manner, and the filing system can, at best, be described as ‘lazy’.
Still, as second hand shops go, the atmosphere is the place does bring to mind the hidden den of some new media afficionnado, unlike the sterile colours of places like Game. However, is atmosphere worth more than being able to find what you want?
I find it hard to directly recommend HD2, as it’s impossible to find anything, and the chance of them having the one thing you’re looking for is pretty remote. If you fancy a browse, the filing system makes it a bit of a nightmare to find anything that might even interest you in the slightest! Still, the kooky charm here is quite pleasant: worth a short visit at least.

HD2 is a pretty cool little second hand DVD games and music store that is filled to bursting. Walk in, and you feel swamped by boxes with the shelves tottering under the sheer volume of DVDs that line the place like wallpaper. Prices are also pretty reasonable, especially on CDs which are sold as 2 for 1 on anything. However, actually finding something you’d like to buy is slightly more of a challenge, as there doesn’t seem to have been much organisation other than tenuous genres. Is Alien a horror or a Sci-​fi? Either way, it may be here for a very good price for all I know, but I couldn’t afford to spend two hours looking…
There’s a… unique and possibly pleasant vibe about the place too, with whoever is working here watching a film or two on a portable DVD player while you browse around, meaning you often overhear familiar lines from old films while you search the shelves.

The place is small and cozy, but they have a surprisingly wide selection of CDs, DVDs and VHS tapes to choose from. Impressive for me was their collection of sports and stand-​up comedy DVDs, and they had much more than what I was expecting. Even when asking questions about a certain animé, the representative responded with «I don’t have any Studio Ghibli unfortunately». I asked him a few other questions about what he had in stock, and his memory was very impressive, with him saying «no» immediately if he didn’t have anything in stock, and, if he did, went to the appropriate shelf and pulled the DVD right out. The shop also has a small selection of NTSC DVDs, which is an added bonus.