Vinyl cut: Copenhagen’s coolest record shops

By News Room On Nov 7, 2023

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free

This article is part of FT Globetrotter’s guide to Copenhagen

Donald Trump used to have “executive time”; I like to have “record-shop time”. On most of my foreign trips, if I get a spare hour I go hunting for vinyl treasure rather than eat lunch.

As vinyl has come back into fashion in the past decade, overtaking CDs in sales, so traditional second-hand-record shops have regained their place at the heart of music enthusiasts’ shopping. For my money, Copenhagen vies with Stockholm for the honour of the best Nordic capital to dig for records in, making it one of the best cities in Europe too. There’s a wide range of shops accounting for most tastes, especially second-hand ones.

Vinyl may be bulkier than CDs but the sound is warmer, the album art bigger and the range of titles from around the world and all the way back to the 1950s and ’60s far greater. I tend to visit only one shop per trip, but it’s possible to spend an entire afternoon touring the best in the Danish capital.

The shops below are my personal favourites, and the ones I like the best are those that surprise me with records I’ve not heard of and genres I know little about, as well as having knowledgeable and friendly owners. There are others that could have made the grade — I’ve bought plenty over the years at Accord, which has two sprawling second-hand stores; Rekords comes highly recommended for hip hop; and Beat has plenty of new vinyl and music books. Enjoy digging!

Ooh Aah Records

Ryesgade 77, 2100 Copenhagen

Good for: Small but high-quality shop with a wide selection
Not so good for: New vinyl
FYI: Open Monday–Friday, 1pm–6pm; Saturday, 11am–3pm
Website; Directions

I’ve bought everything from a Prince live recording to a private-press Ghanaian album and an obscure Colombian Cumbia compilation from the 1960s at Ooh Aah. The selection is eclectic and well organised. There are plenty of new items every time I visit and nearly always a surprise or two. Best of all, the owner Tim Rose is chatty and really knows his stuff.

The shop is some way out of the centre, close to Sortedams, the northernmost of the three lakes in Copenhagen. It’s in a quiet residential street but well worth seeking out. They also sell on Discogs, the main online platform for second-hand records, where they have thousands of items to purchase. Somewhat randomly, they also have the odd obscure football shirt for sale too, as well as plenty of 7-inch singles.

Can

Tullinsgade 5, 1618 Copenhagen

Good for: Handpicked used gems
Not so good for: A wide selection
FYI: It’s also an art gallery. Open Monday–Friday, noon–5.30pm; Saturday, 11am–3pm
Website; Directions

Can Records has the smallest selection here — it’s often just a few boxes each with only a couple of dozen records in. But owner Martin Aalykke Kristiansen curates that selection carefully and has become a dealer of choice for many DJs. There tend to be soul, disco, world, hip hop and electronic music to dig through. On my last visit, I picked up a hard-to-find compilation by the rap duo Gang Starr that I’d long been searching for.

The shop is in the hip Vesterbro district, and you enter through an art gallery often containing work by Aalykke Kristiansen’s wife, Stine. Aalykke Kristiansen has a pair of DJ decks in the shop and can often be found spinning tunes as well as engaging with customers. Sound Station (see below) is nearby (as is Accord), so the three can be easily combined into one trip.

Paname City Records

Søllerødgade 46, 2200 Copenhagen

Good for: DJs looking for obscure sounds
Not so good for: Anything mainstream
FYI: Open Monday–Wednesday, 1pm–5pm; Thursday–Friday, 1pm–6pm; Saturday, 1pm-4pm
Website; Directions

The smallest of these shops physically, Paname City Records is crammed full of predominantly black music — everything from African and Brazilian records to jazz and hip hop, even French rap. There are plenty of soul releases and 7-inch singles, with vinyl you just won’t find anywhere else in Copenhagen (in fact, much of it in not so many places in all of Europe). For me, it hits the sweet spot of music from around the world, with everywhere from Senegal to Guadeloupe via Ethiopia and Cuba represented.

The shop is located in the multicultural area of Nørrebro, and that vibe is carried inside where the staff seem more likely to speak in French or English than Danish. It can be a tight squeeze in between all the crates, but it’s worth it given the quality of the records and the huge geographical spread of where they come from.

Sound Station

Gammel Kongevej 94, 1850 Frederiksberg, copenhagen

Good for: Huge selection, and some new records
Not so good for: There’s so much that it’s hard to look through it all
FYI: Open Monday–Saturday, 10am–6pm (until 7pm on Friday); Sunday, noon–6pm
Website; Directions

One of Copenhagen’s most established second-hand shops and probably the biggest, Sound Station is something of a Copenhagen institution. There’s a decent selection of new vinyl as you enter this Frederiksberg store, and then a couple of larger rooms filled to the brim with used vinyl. The choice is more mainstream than the previous three choices, and I’ve come away from here recently with live recordings by Oasis and the Rolling Stones.

The shelves are tightly packed, making it sometimes not so easy to rifle through, and the huge choice normally mean that I only browse through certain parts of the shop each time. There’s a decent selection of Danish music, as well as UK and US indie and rock, and everything from jazz to blues. The kind of place it’s hard to leave empty-handed.

Route 66

Fælledvej 3, 2200 COPENHAGEN

Good for: New records
Not so good for: Second-hand treasures
FYI: Open Monday–Friday, noon–6pm; Saturday, 11am–4pm
Website; Directions

I prefer looking around used-record shops, but the ground floor at Route 66 is strictly new vinyl only. The selection in this Nørrebro store is decent, with most genres represented and prices generally reasonable.

When I was last there, it had everything from reissues by Aphex Twin, Blur, Nirvana and Talk Talk to the latest chart releases. It has its own record label for more obscure Danish artists that is worth checking out. Downstairs, where they have a good second-hand selection for rooting through, is more my domain.

Tell us about your favourite Copenhagen vinyl store in the comments below. And follow FT Globetrotter on Instagram at @FTGlobetrotter

Read the full article here