The Sound Garden

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Call us vain, but we love to read what people think of us. We thought you may want to know too. The Best Record Stores in the USA: The top 25 spots for unique vinyl and CDs, from San Francisco to Boston Rolling Stone September 17, 2010 Baltimore, MD: The role of Baltimore's central new-and-used, vinyl-and-CD, DVD-and-BluRay, music-and-more-music store has been comfortably played for more than two decades by the Sound Garden, in the heart of Fells Point, which stays open till midnight on weekends and features the city's biggest stock of physical music. It's an enjoyable hangout spot. Not only do the shelves teem with the latest in everything from hotly tipped indie rock to streets-approved rap, but also because the Sound Garden has one of the friendliest staffs you could hope for. And if you care to broadcast your finds, they sell DJ equipment as well. Sound Vision - Bryan Burkert's music store in Fells Point defies the odds in a downloaded world By Stephen Kiehl Sun reporter December 13, 2006 The first of them appeared at noon on a balmy day in November, young women, mostly, lining up on the brick sidewalk of Thames Street. They had cut work and skipped class to huddle for hours outside a record store for a glimpse of a rock star. The Goo Goo Dolls can have this effect on people. The band has sold more than 10 million albums and played at such storied venues as Radio City Music Hall and the Sydney Opera House. But on this day, the Goos were at the Sound Garden, a scruffy but superb music store in Fells Point. "Part of the reason the Goo Goo Dolls came to us is they appreciate record stores," said Bryan Burkert, who opened Sound Garden in 1994 with little money and no business experience. A bartender and freelance writer at the time, he's not someone you would have bet on. But as music store chains have collapsed around him -- bye-bye, Tower Records; so long, Sam Goody -- Burkert has quietly shown how an independent, old-fashioned, bricks-and-mortar store can thrive in the era of iTunes, Amazon.com and illegal music downloads. With a wide selection, a deep catalog and decent prices -- as well as good relations with the music community in Baltimore -- Burkert's Sound Garden is having its best year since opening. He said about 20,000 people visit the store each week, and an in-store stage Burkert built this summer has brought in hundreds of suburbanites to see artists such as Ludacris and Regina Spektor. "It's one of the best record stores in the U.S., no doubt," said Michael Kurtz, president of the Music Monitor Network, a coalition of 11 independent retailers, including Sound Garden, that have 85 locations across the country. As big chains scale back, the remaining independents are filling a void. "It's hard to find nice independent record stores now," said Tori Borland, 14, who came to Sound Garden from Ellicott City for the first time to see the Goo Goo Dolls. The suburban offerings, she said, are limited to large chains such as FYE and Best Buy. "It's become so corporate.

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