End of An Ear

End of An Ear sits on Clawson Rd in South Austin and runs both a physical shop and an active online store, restocking with new deals daily. The shelves lean into hip-hop and rap heavily, including Houston-area artists and reissue labels like Get On Down, often on colored vinyl - alongside a broader stock of records and CDs. Beyond the bins, the shop carries audio gear and hi-fi equipment, so it's a stop for turntables and components as well as titles. They buy and trade records or full collections, making it a viable option for anyone looking to sell rather than just browse. The store also hosts in-store events, giving it a bit of a community hub feel beyond straight retail.

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Interview with End of An Ear

"End of an Ear" is a great name — what's the story behind it, and how long has it anchored Austin's record scene?

Myself and Blake are huge Robert Wyatt fans, so we named the store after his first record.

You tell sellers what you're looking for is "too vast to answer" and ask what they have instead — how did that open-eared approach become your buying philosophy?

We know what works well in the store. Customers selling records sometimes are not sure what we are most interested in. We have had cases where we passed on stuff they believed were in high demand, but the more obscure items that they thought were worthless ended up the real treasures.

What's the most valuable or genuinely surprising record that's walked in?

Prob rare Ethiopian and African records. But those are few and far between.

You take albums in any language as long as genre and condition fit — does Austin's mix bring in a lot of international records?

We see a lot of latin and reggae mostly. But not very much Indian, Arabic, or South American records as we would like.

Austin's music identity is huge; how does End of an Ear fit into it, and who comes through your door?

We have a wide range of customers - from teenagers, families and older folks as well. A wide mix. We carry a wide array of music - but we are probably known for records that are outside the mainstream.

Store credit is 20% over cash — how do you walk sellers through that?

We just let them know at the time of the trade. "IF you want cash you get $10 or we can offer $12 in trade" - that kind of thing.

You skip classical, big band, showtunes and crooner albums — what surprises people most about that list?

We do take classical but on a limited scale. The others we just don't have the room for.

Roughly what does a common record fetch versus something rare you're glad to find?

I would say a vast majority of used records we sell on average $10 ro $15 range.

Do you buy 45s and 78s, and how do the VG+ condition rules apply to them?

We do buy 45s but not 78s anymore.

What's the biggest thing people get wrong about the value of a collection — and what's worth more than they expect?

Lately it has been customers looking up value via AI on their phone and that has a high probablity of being wrong. We have several sources and sales history we look through to get a more accurate value. It is chaning constantly.

Last updated: 2026-08-28

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