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Vinyl tourism: the guide to travelling for record stores
Vinyl tourism means planning trips around record stores. The Vinyl Vine maps 2525 record stores in 1144 cities, with 484 ready-made record store crawls and 163 record store road trips.
What is vinyl tourism?
It is the habit of arranging a day out, a weekend or a whole road trip around independent record stores. You pick a place, line up the shops worth visiting, and let the bins guide the day. A record store crawl is the one-day version: a handful of shops in one walkable area, visited in order.
Start with our home turf: Metro Atlanta
The Vinyl Vine started in Marietta, Georgia. Our featured Metro Atlanta crawls split the area into routes that never repeat a shop:
- The Founders Crawl
- The Record Loft Crawl: East Atlanta to Little Five Points
- Atlanta Intown Run: West End to Buckhead
- Decatur and the Eastside Dig
- Gwinnett Grooves: Norcross, Duluth and Lawrenceville
- North Metro Side Trip: Alpharetta to Marietta
- South Side Run: Headland to Morrow
Also see Chattanooga, a founding city: Chattanooga Vinyl Trail, and Athens: Athens: Wuxtry, Low Yo Yo Stuff and the Record Booth.
Featured Georgia road trips
- Atlanta, Augusta and Savannah Georgia Run
- Atlanta to Cartersville and Rome: Northwest Georgia Record Run
- Atlanta to Newnan: Intown Digs and the South Side
- Atlanta East: Cheshire Bridge to Covington
- Blue Ridge Mountains Road Trip
- Georgia Foothills: Gainesville to Athens
- Northwest Georgia to Chattanooga
- Glasgow to the Ayrshire Coast: The Founding Store Trail
How The Vinyl Vine helps
- Record store directory: 2525 shops by state and country, with hours and addresses.
- Record store crawls: stops in a sensible walking order.
- Road trips: multi-city routes linked by the drive.
- The app: challenges like the Vinyl Vine Scavenger Hunt, and a want list.
Route types explained
Every crawl is labeled by how far apart its stops are, so you can pick one that fits how you want to travel. The distance is the total of the legs between stops, in order.
- Walkable (up to 3 miles)
- Every stop is close enough to walk. The whole route is about 3 miles or less, so you can leave the car behind.
- City Route (3 to 12 miles)
- The stops are spread across a city. Plan on a rideshare, bike, transit or a short drive between shops.
- Car Crawl (more than 12 miles)
- The stops are spread across a metro area or several towns. Plan on driving between shops.
Frequently asked questions
What is vinyl tourism?
Vinyl tourism is travelling to visit record stores: planning a day, a weekend or a road trip around the places that sell vinyl. It is part record shopping, part exploring a city through its music scene.
How do I plan a vinyl tourism trip?
Pick a city or region, choose a ready-made crawl or road trip, check each shop's opening days, and leave time for lunch between stops. The Vinyl Vine lists stops in order with hours and directions.
Where should I start?
Metro Atlanta is our home area, with six featured crawls. Chattanooga and Athens are also good places to start.
Is The Vinyl Vine free?
Yes. Browsing the directory, crawls and road trips is free, and listing a record store is free too.
Own or work at a record store? Get listed for free.