Dissapointment in London...

I thought I would find some good stuff for fair prices, and certainly lots of my favorite genre, prog. Unfortunately this was not the case. First off, the used LP selection in all of the stores I visited was terrible if not non-existent. Now, that being said, I don't mind new records at a reasonable price...but these records were expensive! There was barely anything worth buying under 25 pounds which is about $30 in the USA where I live. At the first three stores, I bought nothing and was immensely disappointed by their collections as I thought there would be lots of rarer prog records. At Phonica, there was a small used rock and pop section. The best I could find was "Chicago VII" for 8 pounds. It is a double album, and they gave me only one of the LPs...It wasn't even the right album (instead they accidentally slipped in a Vinyl from Chicago VI). After this disappointment, I thought I'd hit one last store, being Fopp records. Fopp has absolutely nothing outside the plastic wrap. That being said I was very pleased by their selection of prog bands and records. I ended up opting to buy 5 great CD's instead of 1 or 2 expensive ass records. My CD pickups were Camel's debut, Mirage, Moonmadness, Cant Buy a Thrill (Steely Dan), and Quadrophenia (The Who), which all came out to about 33 pounds. 

Here's a link to the full haul:

Even though I'm a bit surprised by this turnout, I want to hear from you guys what some of the best record stores are in London, so that I can be more prepared next time. Happy listening!

Been a few times in London over the decades (GF's shopping spree and concerts for me) and I never did find much - especially at decent prices, unless it was on one of those super/megastores like the two HMV on Oxford street (the one towards Marble Arch has been closed for quite a while and I'm not sure the one close to Piccadilly is complete in their offer anymore) or Tower Records (which has closed down as well).

AJ Junior wrote:  My CD pickups were Camel's debut, Mirage, Moonmadness, Cant Buy a Thrill (Steely Dan), and Quadrophenia (The Who), which all came out to about 33 pounds.

I have zero interest in going to a physical record store at this point, it's just too frustrating. Used to do that a lot in the 2000s, but times are changing ...

Your better off looking On Discogs for that 70s prog record.......many of the sellers are brick and morter stores but at least you don't have to drive all over the country visiting stores to find what you want.

Back in 2015 we were in Barcelona and I found a few record stores and bought some decent records as well a couple prog records, exchange rate was good back then so I got some deals, and the store owner shipped them to my abode in 'Merica for free too....such a deal. 

You do you! I am focusing on the music itself, while appreciating nice cover art that complements/augments it.

EDIT: Since I'm receiving attacks left right and center, let me clarify that "were invented" is not a good way to put it. Of course vinyl records were "invented" as a way to record music onto a physical medium (as a successor to shellac discs). It would be more appropriate to say that they were used heavily as a way to market and promote music. 

I appreciate music at least as much as you. Probably more, since my primary focus is music, whereas yours seems to be movies and a thousand other things you talk about more than the music itself. Cheers! 

But what is clear in your post is that your not seeing the artistic value of what the cover art conveys as part of the music as well the hours that bands put in to create a complimentary part of the actual music.

I am sure that most if not all music lovers would frown upon albums that came in album sleeves with no artwork, no liner notes nor anything else as you mentioned.....That would be boring.

It is marketing, but in a way that gives the people a small view into what they can expect when they open up the package and play the music, it provides a canvas to help you dive deeper into what the band/artist was thinking when they created the music in the first place.

I ask you to simply stare at the PA banner on the home page, and describe what you see in all that artwork that has been created, it would be extremely sad if all that did not exist due to your kind of thinking.....sad.