Beverly Records, located at 11612 South Western Avenue in Chicago, is not for the faint of heart. Even hardcore vinyl junkies get a bit flushed when they walk into this shop. There are massive, massive bins of vinyl, no prices apparent, cramped quarters and use of the ladder in the back areas is strongly recommended.

The apparent lack of prices will daunt the first-time shopper, but you CAN find some very nice stuff here if you don’t mind wading through some piles of mangled, beat-up covers and record store golden moldies. Personally, if I ever see another vinyl copy of any Edgar Winter album, Fleetwood Mac’s Rumors, the Hair or Jesus Christ Superstar soundtrack, I will shoot myself in the face. But I digress.

Beverly Records has a ton of surprises aside from the vinyl. There is a lot of nostalgia here from ancient record players to this collection of 8-track tapes–only a small sampling of the collection pictured here.

I had no idea they made Grease trading cards. But they did.

The vinyl finds at Beverly Records on my visit were pretty sweet. I found a release by The Units I didn’t know existed, a copy of the BBC vinyl release of The Genesis of the Daleks with Tom Baker (I am a nerdy, it’s true) and a few other things including MOST of the Ohio Players original vinyl releases–all those delightfully naughty album covers including the one with the horse.

Verdict? Brace your back and your knees for punishment and be ready to wade through a lot of beat up crap to find the gems, but definitely worth a stop, especially if you’re a new vinyl junkie. No prices listed=major annoyance, so ask before you check out. Beverly Records is situated on one of THE longest single stretches of street in Chicago–Western Avenue goes and goes and goes and goes. Best to take the highway there after mapping it with Google Maps.

–Joe Wallace