Academy Records

Highly regarded by music aficionados, this record store has a longstanding following and still attracts ambitious listeners from younger generations, particularly as vinyl creeps back onto the scene. Serving New York since 1977, Academy opened as a bookstore under the ownership of Alan Weiner. During bulk pick ups of used books, the staff members would frequently come across discarded record collections that appealed to the owner's appreciation of classical music.  Academy employee Joseph GaNun, a knowledgeable jazz fan, eventually pioneered the official debut of Academy as a record store, setting a trend for the store's acquisition of various media types, beginning with cassettes, then CDs, as well as a smartly informed selection of film noir, classic movies and foreign films. For those not in New York, Academy has made painstaking efforts to become accessible to customers everywhere via their web presence, and as their prices have always been extremely competitive, there really isn't a better way to support this culturally in-tune company. The store isn't concerned with trend, and their stock won't change to coincide with the latest Top 40 List - instead, any day of the week, Academy affirms both the longevity of the analog age and its timeless masters that have shaped music, literature and movies of today.