Mel's Record Shop

Mel's Record Shop is a retirement business and labor of love in Amesbury, Massachusetts. Mel built it as a "third place" as much as a store: somewhere people can buy records, talk music, hang out, and get recommendations from people who know the bins.

Interview with Mel's Record Shop

Mel's has become the kind of shop people say is "like visiting an old friend" — what's the story behind opening it in a small town like Amesbury?

My wife and I moved to the tiny city of Amesbury 7 years ago. Recently retired, I was starting to get bored. I’d always dreamed of opening a record shop since I was a teen. The opportunity arose 5 years ago, and I took it. It’s my retirement business and it’s a labor of love.

Mel's Record Shop sign in Amesbury.

You've got a reputation as a walking encyclopedia of music — how much of the shop is about the conversation and the recommendations versus the bins themselves?

Between me and the two guys who work here, Matt and Nick, there’s tons of talk and recommendations with everyone who comes into the shop. My idea behind the shop was to make it much more than a place that sells things. I wanted it to be a “third place,” where in addition to buying, people could come to hang, chat and listen to music.

Customers browsing inside Mel's, the kind of third-place atmosphere Mel describes.

Amesbury's a small coastal town up near the New Hampshire line — who comes through Mel's, and how's the local scene?

We draw people from all over Northeastern Mass. and Southern New Hampshire. There’s a great art and music culture in Amesbury, which has contributed to the success of the shop. Also, lots of great breweries and restaurants that attract out-of-towners.

What's the most valuable or surprising record that's come through the door?

Most valuable was a third-state copy of a Beatles Butcher cover, which we sold for $1,000. We recently sold a record from an artist with whom I was unfamiliar, Paul Pena. Turns out it was a great record, highly sought after and worth a couple hundred dollars. That one surprised me.

Your used records are known for being well-cleaned and well-presented — so should sellers clean records before bringing them, or leave it to you, and what condition problems hurt value most?

While it would be great if all records came into us clean, we can normally assess value even if they are not. It’s fairly easy to tell a solid, dirty record, from one that has scratches, excessive wear, etc. Feelable scratches and excessive wear are the two biggest issues that hurt value. We clean all used records we put out with an ultrasonic cleaner, which in 99 percent of the cases significantly improves how a record sounds.

Crates of used records at Mel's, where condition and presentation matter.

When someone brings in a collection to sell, how do you approach valuing it?

Most of the time we ask customers to leave their collections with us so they can be fairly assessed. This is especially true for collections that are more than 25–30 records. We look at every record for condition and their retail value. Most records are fairly easy to assess, but there are often those that require research. We mainly use Discogs, and for bootlegs we use a site called Popsike. We normally pay between 35 and 50 percent of what we assess as the retail value of collections.

Beyond LPs you carry CDs and tapes — do 45s and the smaller formats still move, and are CD buyers coming back?

We sell a lot of CDs, but only used currently. We are considering ordering some sealed CDs to see how that goes. We also occasionally sell used cassettes. We have definitely seen an uptick in customers purchasing CDs. As for 45s, we have a few, but they rarely sell.

What do people most often get wrong about what their records are worth?

Most people are cool with the retail values we give them for their collections. However, there are those who way overvalue their records and usually we end up not buying. Some people think because they have Beatles’ records or because they have records that were released in the 60s, that they are automatically worth a lot of money. Of course, that’s not true. The retail value of a record is mainly based on how rare/common it is, the demand for it, and whether it’s an early pressing or not.

Last updated: 2026-08-20

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