Bananas Records: Vinyl Warehouse

Bananas Records has spent decades building one of St. Petersburg's deepest record inventories. The store's answers are less about a narrow niche than about scale: years of buying, major jazz collections, rock from the 1950s onward, and shelves that draw collectors from well beyond Tampa Bay.

Interview with Bananas Records

You run two storefronts on 16th Ave N — records and memorabilia at one, audio gear at the other. How did Bananas grow into something that takes up that much of the block?

50 years of buying and struggling through slow years, so we can have the type of inventory we now have. Takes a lot of years to amass this.

Your anchor is rock 'n' roll from the '50s to now and jazz specifically from the '50s and '60s — how did those particular eras become the backbone of what you carry and buy?

Rock N Roll from the 50's onward just happens to be what the buying public has primarily wanted. 50's/60's Jazz has been more of a recent specialty of ours. Between 2 extremely large collections back to back and various smaller collections we have procured the last few years, combined with an existing unprocessed backlog of jazz stock, we have built what we now consider one of the best jazz collections available.

Tampa Bay's scene flies under the radar for people outside Florida — who's coming through Bananas, and what's the St. Pete record world actually like?

Between Bananas and other long term record stores, we have built a reputation as a destination for record collectors from all over the world. As a place traditionally where people retire to from other places, their records have come to St. Pete with them. We have been fortunate enough to end up with a lot of these records as time has gone by.

What's the wildest thing that's ever come across the counter — a record, or maybe a piece of memorabilia?

Over the years we have had a handful of Beatles "Butcher" covers come to us in various states. It is always one of the rarest and weirdest things to come across. We have also had a signed recording of a satanic mass by Anton LaVey.

You deal in autographed records and memorabilia — how do you tell a genuine signature from a hopeful fake, and how much does that authentication swing the value?

Honestly, we don't have as much experience w/autographs as one may think. We do not specialize in autographs but if we confirm that it is authentic, we add a little value depending on the artists. We do a lot of online research comparing items a particular artist has signed to make sure they are matched.

When someone brings in a whole collection, what's the thing you're secretly hoping is buried in those crates?

We are usually very general about what types of records we buy, so really we just want good clean records to provide the public to buy without having to do too much work. Everybody has a different thing they are looking for. We view the records as more for our customers than for ourselves.

There's a world of music that only ever lived on 45s and 78s — jukebox sides, early rock, soul singles. Do those smaller formats still have a place in what you buy, or has the demand dried up?

There are still niche markets for 78's and 45's (more so for 45s). We have tens of thousands of 78's still and more than a million 45's. The amount of items that are valuable and desirable is a very small percentage of what is out there.

What do people most often overvalue about their records — and what quietly sells better than sellers expect?

We come across all of it. Some people greatly overvalue their records, some undervalue. A lot of people when using Ebay as a guide, tend to see ridiculous asking prices not realizing sellers can ask anything they want, it has nothing to do with how much a certain record actually sells for. This is a constant occurrence these days with trying to correct those ideas without being insulting to the seller.

FAQ

What does Bananas Records buy most broadly?

Bananas says it is usually general about what it buys, but clean records that can go to customers without too much work are especially useful.

Are 45s and 78s still relevant at Bananas?

Yes, though they are niche markets. Bananas says demand is stronger for 45s than 78s.

What should sellers know about online asking prices?

Asking prices on Ebay are not the same as actual selling prices, so Bananas looks at what records really sell for.

Last updated: 2026-08-22

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