Best Place to Buy Music: Exile on Main St.

For the second year in a row, Exile on Main Street (yes, it’s both located on Main Street and named after the Rolling Stones album) has been voted the best place to purchase music in the area.
Casually surveying the store aisles, I was awed at the plethora of eccentric, niche-oriented music memorabilia and paraphernalia, from the latest popular LPs to vintage records. When asked about the “most obscure” item in the store, Exile owner Jeff Brandt excitedly pointed out a 16-year-old bottle of Ministry (the industrial band) motor oil that both houses a trace amount of actual oil and advertises, “Jesus built my hotrod.”
Such anomalous pieces distinguish Exile from its more mainstream competitors. In addition to the “rare,” the store also boasts an extensive array of local music, from Hathaways to Angie Heaton and the Gentle Tamers. In support of the local scene, Exile even participated in this fall’s Pygmalion festival, hosting an in-store show featuring area favorites such as Santa and Snowsera. No wonder fans of the local and the aberrant flock to this music mecca.
As of late, vinyl records have been the best-sellers at Exile, most notably the latest TV on the Radio release and Radiohead’s reissue albums. As Brandt said, “Our customers are usually not looking for your average Top 40 records.”