Record Stores in Montreal

Montréal offers something particularly useful to a record-shopping day: several shops that really are close enough to compare on foot. On Bernard Ouest, La Rama, Phonopolis and Sonorama occupy a short stretch of Mile End without offering the same selection. Electronic releases and local labels, independent and experimental music, soul and francophone records each get a different emphasis. A three-shop afternoon can stay on one street and still change direction musically.

The Plateau adds another route. Aux 33 Tours and Freeson Rock sit near each other on Mont-Royal Avenue, pairing a broad new-and-used catalogue with a metal and progressive-rock specialist. L’Oblique on Rivard keeps local and independent releases central to the browse. Farther south, Beatnick on Saint-Denis and Atom Heart on Sherbrooke give records and CDs different kinds of attention.

Downtown, Cheap Thrills is upstairs on Metcalfe, with a used-music history reaching back to 1971. North of Mile End, Death of Vinyl takes the route toward Beaubien and Little Italy. Those are extensions, not adjacent stops on Bernard. Keep the east/west suffix when saving an address: Bernard Ouest and Mont-Royal Est are the parts of those streets used in this route.

Leave room for Montréal records in the bag. Phonopolis’s local section, La Rama’s Canadian and label selections, and L’Oblique’s independent focus offer different ways into music made here. For an evening show, the Rialto and Fairmount relate naturally to a Mile End day, Bar Le Ritz PDB to a northern extension, and MTELUS or Club Soda to the Sherbrooke end. Check the actual route and current opening information, especially for upstairs entrances and collection appraisals.