Tennessee RSD FAQ
How many record stores are in Tennessee?
Tennessee has roughly 84 active record stores across the state. Nashville alone holds nineteen shops, Memphis carries nine more, Chattanooga adds eight, and Knoxville fills out the eastern anchor with five. Bowling Green sits a short drive north of Nashville on the I-65 corridor toward Kentucky, Chattanooga butts up against the Georgia line, and Memphis sits on the Mississippi River straddling the Mississippi Delta scene to the west.
What are the best record stores in Nashville?
Nashville is Music City, and the record-shop map reflects it. Third Man Records on 7th Avenue South is Jack White’s flagship, attached to the Third Man Pressing plant where the records on the wall are literally pressed. Grimey’s New & Preloved Music has been the East Nashville indie anchor since 1999 (at the East Trinity Lane location since 2015). The Great Escape on Charlotte Avenue runs a 7,000-square-foot superstore that handles new and used. Swaggie Records now operates two Nashville locations (Donelson and Downtown), and Vinyl Tap in East Nashville pairs a craft-beer bar with a working record shop.
What are the best record stores in Memphis?
Memphis is the home of Stax, Sun, and Hi Records, and its indie shops carry that lineage forward. Goner Records in Cooper-Young is the city’s punk and garage anchor and runs its own internationally distributed label. Shangri-La Records, also in the same neighborhood, is the longstanding indie pillar with a separate label arm of its own. A. Schwab on Beale Street, the historic 1876-founded dry-goods store, stocks vinyl on its second floor. River City Records and Memphis Music Records Tapes & Souvenirs round out the downtown record-trade circuit.
What are the best record stores in Chattanooga and East Tennessee?
Chattanooga’s eight-shop cluster centers downtown. McKay’s Chattanooga is the regional used-everything anchor (the Knoxville McKay’s closed in May 2026, but Chattanooga and Nashville locations remain open). Yellow Racket Records on the Northshore and Winder Binder (featuring Chad’s Records) in the same area cover indie and used vinyl, and Dallos Vinyl Love opened on the Southside in June 2025. East in Knoxville, Magnolia Records and Wild Honey Records (which now runs three East Tennessee locations across Kingsport, Knoxville, and Oak Ridge) anchor the eastern end of the state.
Tell me more about Third Man Records.
Jack White opened Third Man Records on 7th Avenue South in 2009 as a record label, retail shop, and production complex; the on-site Third Man Pressing plant began pressing records in 2017. The Nashville store hosts in-store performances, Voice-o-Graph 7-inch recording sessions, and Vault subscription releases that move through the storefront. White served as Record Store Day Ambassador in 2013, and Third Man’s RSD slate every April pulls collectors from across the country to the Nashville location.
Does Tennessee participate in Record Store Day?
Yes, and Tennessee is one of the most-trafficked RSD states in the country. Third Man Records in Nashville is foundational to the event’s culture, Grimey’s draws the East Nashville RSD line, and Goner Records and Shangri-La Records anchor Memphis’s annual Record Store Day turnout. Check the official Record Store Day store locator each spring for the current Tennessee participant list.
Where to find country, Americana, blues, and soul records in Tennessee?
Tennessee’s musical heritage runs through the state’s shops as the baseline catalog. In Nashville, Third Man Records and Grimey’s keep deep country, Americana, and roots sections, and The Great Escape superstore on Charlotte Avenue moves volume across every TN-relevant genre. In Memphis, Goner Records and Shangri-La Records stock the Stax, Sun, and Hi catalogs the city built, alongside the contemporary Memphis punk and rap-adjacent inventory that Goner’s label is known for releasing.
Are there any unusual record stores in Tennessee?
Tennessee has its share. Phonoluxe Records in Nashville only opens Friday through Sunday and is the city’s longest-running collector haunt. A. Schwab on Memphis’s Beale Street is a working 1876-founded dry-goods store with the vinyl section upstairs on the second floor. Driftwood Records and Collectibles in Johnson City shares its space with a working tattoo studio, Studio 931 in Columbia operates on the third floor of Bleu32, and Inherent Records in Chattanooga works inside a clothing store.