22 Sound

22 Sound in Mandeville is an independent Northshore shop built around careful selection rather than sheer volume. Manuel's answers focus on discovery, clean used records, metal and new-release depth, and the realities of buying collections in South Louisiana humidity.

Interview with 22 Sound

22 Sound deliberately builds a thoughtful selection rather than trying to carry everything — how did that curated philosophy shape the shop?

We are a store that is completely independent and we built our collection from the ground up. That meant that we had a limited budget in the beginning, so we put a lot of thought into each individual title right from the start. It was important to us to have a great mix of classics, of popular records, but also of hidden gems. We want people to be able to build their personal collection at our store, but also to discover things that they may have not known. The discovery aspect is one of the most important things for us. The same care goes into our choices of used records. It is important to us that people know that they can come home with the records they bought at 22 Sound and will be able to enjoy playing them. We inspect each record and clean it before it goes out. While we want to offer a wide range, we also don’t buy blindly. I mean, at some point you don’t need any more Dan Fogelberg records. Having a thoughtful selection doesn’t mean being elitist though. We welcome everybody and everybody’s tastes at our store. You should never feel bad about the music you’re passionate about. This means we listen to our customers and are happy to expand when we see that our community requests things. A beautiful thing about any good record store is that it’s never the same any given time you visit. Our collection is constantly expanding – with old and new records.

Mandeville is across Lake Pontchartrain from New Orleans — how does being in the NOLA orbit but not the city shape who comes through?

While we are near New Orleans and it’s easy to get to us from the city, it is still a different market – a smaller one. This means that we need to be wider in our selection as far as styles go to appeal to a more heterogeneous audience. In a bigger city, you’re probably better advised to find a niche for yourself and go deeper. Still, we are a store with our own character and the tastes of all five of us owners shine through. For instance, we always felt that many stores treat their metal section as a bit of an afterthought. Since this is a genre that is dear to our hearts, we pride ourselves in going deep and offering records that come from the underground. We do this with care though by handpicking which records we bring in. This is just one example. We also put a big emphasis on new releases. We don’t see our store as a nostalgia experience. No, we are at the pulse of the music culture that is happening right now. This also shows in the many listening parties we organize for new releases. Those are not just an opportunity to get cool, exclusive giveaways but to meet other people in the community who are passionate about the same artists. I think these are some of the things that set us apart. We serve our expanded community on the Northshore, but 22 Sound is also worth a trip for record lovers living in or visiting New Orleans.

New Orleans has one of the deepest music cultures anywhere; does that regional richness show up in your bins?

As described above, our collection is very wide-ranging, but of course you will also find records that are specific to the wonderful music culture in our area. Since we’re buying most of our record collections locally, our store reflects what people in our area love and have loved in the past. I personally love music from all kinds of different areas and I don’t love a record more or less just because it comes from a certain place. As I’m typing this, I’m listening to a death metal record from Chile. Earlier, I was checking out a modern new wave band from the West Coast. I do think though that every local store that is embedded in its community like we are will always reflect the place it is in. It adds to the uniqueness of each store.

Do you buy records from the public, and how do you approach valuing a collection?

Yes, we are always happy to check out records from the public. Very often, people bring their collections in and we’re generally very open-minded. If it’s a manageable amount we can make an offer right there at the store. If it’s a bigger collection, we might take a little moment to review it closer so that we can come up with a fair offer. We are music lovers and we do this out of passion, so we certainly don’t want to take advantage of anybody. At the same time, we have to be cautious, because we have to keep our audience in mind and we have to be able to keep the lights on. As far as valuing goes, it’s a mix of our own experience and tools like Discogs that help us assess the value fairly. What goes into it are things like the title, the specific pressing, the shape the record is in, the amount of records in a collection, etc.

Should sellers clean records before bringing them, and what condition problems hurt value most in the Gulf humidity?

They don’t necessarily have to be cleaned before bringing them in, but of course the way records are stored and taken care of affects their condition. We have seen many people bringing records in that have been stored in non-climate-controlled spaces like sheds or attics. As you can imagine, in the South Louisiana heat that’s a record killer. Those are usually not salvageable anymore. It’s also not the most fun thing to be greeted by a roach that’s been dead for decades when you take a record out of a sleeve. If the records are still in good shape though and the titles fit our selection, we will generally still make an offer, but of course we clean them individually before we put them on the shelves. It is really important to us that our customers can buy high quality, clean records from us.

FAQ

Does 22 Sound buy used records?

Yes. The shop checks collections from the public and makes offers based on title, pressing, condition, quantity, and demand.

Should sellers clean records before bringing them to 22 Sound?

They do not have to, but storage and condition matter. Records kept in sheds or attics in South Louisiana heat may be unsalvageable.

What makes 22 Sound different from a nostalgia-only shop?

The shop emphasizes discovery, new releases, listening parties, and current music culture alongside older records.

Last updated: 2026-08-21

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