Your Guide to Record Stores and Vinyl Culture in Dublin
Dublin has a compact but busy record-shopping circuit, with 20 stores spread across the city centre and out into districts like Temple Bar, North City, Drumcondra and Dundrum. The scene is strongest in walkable central pockets where major names sit alongside smaller independents, so you can cover a lot in one afternoon. From the broad stock at Tower Records to the indie credibility of All City and the steady central pull of Spindizzy Records, Dublin rewards shoppers who plan by neighborhood.
All Record Stores in Dublin
Absys Records
Absys Records is a record label, record shop and recording studio, founded in 2008 and focused on deep, futuristic atmospheric electronic music.
Unit 22, Charthouse Business Center, 157 Richmond Rd, Drumcondra, Dublin, D03 R2R8, Ireland
Elevation Music Movies Comics
3 Johnson Pl, Dublin 2, D02 X226, Ireland
Indub Reggae Store
inside get up and Grow shop, 51 Bolton St, Dublin 1, D01 A0W6, Ireland
The Secret Book and Record Store
Cosy, independent bookshop offering a wide selection of new & secondhand titles, plus CDs & vinyl.
15A Wicklow St, Dublin 2, D02 Y765, Ireland
All City
Unit 4, Sprangers Yard, Crow St, Temple Bar, Dublin 2, D02 AF84, Ireland
Sound Cellar
47 Nassau St, Dublin, D02 P285, Ireland
Tower Records
7 Dawson St, Dublin, D02 X688, Ireland
Spindizzy Records
The Market Arcade, 32 South Great George's Street, Dublin, D02 DH79, Ireland
Freebird Records
15A Wicklow St, Dublin, D02 C924, Ireland
Sounds Around
Sounds Around sells DJ equipment, music-production and sound gear, including mixers, controllers, turntables, microphones, monitors, speakers and lighting.
9 Capel St, North City, Dublin, D01 C2P9, Ireland
The RAGE - Record, Art and Game Emporium
8 Crow St, Temple Bar, Dublin, D02 HX78, Ireland
Tower Records
40 O'Connell Street Lower, North City, Dublin, D01 PY90, Ireland
Golden Discs
Unit 12B, First Floor, Jervis Shopping Centre, Jervis St, North City, Dublin 1, Co. Dublin, D01 A3H6, Ireland
George's Street Arcade
Ornate 1881 shopping plaza offering indie clothing boutiques & food vendors, plus books & jewellery.
South Great George's Street, Dublin, Ireland
Golden Discs
16 Sandyford Rd, Dundrum, Dublin, D16 T210, Ireland
Mojos Records
2 Merchant's Arch, Temple Bar, Dublin 1, D02 TD39, Ireland
Golden Discs
Stephen's Green Shopping Centre, Unit 26 St Stephen's Green, Dublin, D02 Y738, Ireland
The Record Hub
Whitefriars, 9 Aungier St, Dublin, D02 XE48, Ireland
hmv
HMV sells vinyl and CDs alongside films and TV, technology, books, games, clothing and pop-culture merchandise; its music range includes K-pop.
18 Henry St, North City, Dublin, D01 WA24, Ireland
Bookmart & Gamexchange
73 Talbot St, Mountjoy, Dublin 1, D01 TW28, Ireland
The Vinyl Scene in Dublin
Dublin’s vinyl scene is concentrated, city-centre friendly and easy to shop in clusters rather than isolated one-off stops. There are 20 real record stores in this guide, and the character of the city is a mix of established chains, long-running independents and a few more niche operators tucked into arcades, side streets and mixed retail spaces. If you start in Dublin 2, you can move between heavyweight staples like Tower Records on Dawson Street, the dependable range at Spindizzy Records on South Great George’s Street, and the more underground pull of All City in Temple Bar without needing public transport. That central density is what makes Dublin good for crate digging: even when individual shops lean broad rather than narrowly specialist, the overlap between them means you can compare prices, pressings and stock condition in one outing. Further north, North City adds another layer with Sounds Around, hmv and the O'Connell Street branch of Tower Records, giving Dublin a scene that feels practical, busy and accessible rather than sprawling.
Best Neighborhoods for Record Shopping
Dublin 2 is the city’s strongest all-round district for record shopping. Around Wicklow Street, Nassau Street, Dawson Street, Aungier Street and South Great George’s Street, you can hit Freebird Records, The Secret Book and Record Store, Sound Cellar, Tower Records, Spindizzy Records and The Record Hub in a tight central circuit. George's Street Arcade also belongs on that route, especially if you like browsing a historic market setting while staying close to the main retail core. Temple Bar is another key cluster, with All City, Mojos Records and The RAGE - Record, Art and Game Emporium all giving the area a distinctly alternative edge around Crow Street and Merchant’s Arch. North City is more chain-heavy but still worth your time, with Sounds Around on Capel Street, Tower Records on O'Connell Street Lower, Golden Discs in Jervis Shopping Centre and hmv on Henry Street all within a manageable walk. Beyond the centre, Drumcondra has Absys Records, Dundrum has a Golden Discs branch for southside shoppers, and Bolton Street and Talbot Street add smaller, useful detours through Indub Reggae Store and Bookmart & Gamexchange.
What Genres & Pressings to Look For
The specialty data here is fairly broad, so Dublin is best approached as a city where you can expect a solid mainstream spread first, then pick off specialist finds at selected stops. New reissues, current indie releases, major rock catalog, pop, hip-hop, electronic staples and classic album back-catalog are realistic targets across central stores like Sound Cellar, Spindizzy Records and Tower Records. For more defined niches, Indub Reggae Store on Bolton Street is the clearest genre specialist in the list and should be your first call for reggae. George's Street Arcade is tagged with indie, so it makes sense for guitar records, newer alternative titles and left-of-centre browsing. Dublin also has a strong general appetite for Irish artists, UK pressings and well-distributed European editions, so collectors should keep an eye out for local and Irish releases mixed into standard stock. All City is a useful stop if you are interested in contemporary underground taste and dance-adjacent curation, while Freebird Records and The Secret Book and Record Store are good central places to browse broadly for vinyl rather than chase one narrow genre.
New vs. Used Vinyl in Dublin
Every store in this list is marked as carrying both new and used stock, which is helpful in a city where many shops mix current releases with secondhand copies rather than drawing a hard line between the two. In practice, that means chains such as Golden Discs, hmv and Tower Records tend to be reliable for sealed new pressings, giftable editions and current chart or catalogue reissues, while independents like Freebird Records, Mojos Records, The Record Hub and Sounds Around are often better bets for the more unpredictable pleasure of used browsing. Even shops without a stated niche can turn up older Irish releases, common UK originals and affordable secondhand classics, especially in central Dublin where stock moves quickly. One important point for sellers: none of the stores in the supplied list are marked as known buyers of used records, so there are no confirmed collection-buying shops to recommend here. If you are shopping rather than selling, that still leaves plenty of choice, but if you want to move a collection, it is worth contacting stores individually before carrying records across town.
Record Store Day & Local Vinyl Events
Record Store Day is the biggest annual vinyl retail event in Dublin, as it is across Ireland, and the key drop lands every April with a smaller Black Friday edition in November. In Dublin, the central concentration of shops means RSD works particularly well for shoppers who want to compare allocations or queue strategically across several stores in one day. The biggest attention usually goes to core city-centre names such as Tower Records, Spindizzy Records, Sound Cellar and Freebird Records, simply because they are well known and easy to reach on foot. Temple Bar shops like All City and Mojos Records can also be worth checking during busy release weekends if you want to extend the hunt beyond the most obvious first stop. Outside the official RSD calendar, Dublin’s vinyl activity is less about giant fairs and more about regular store traffic, new release browsing and the ease of combining several neighborhoods in one trip. The practical advantage here is simple: the city centre lets you build your own event day whenever fresh stock lands.
Vinyl Shopping Tips for Dublin
Work Dublin 2 on foot
The most efficient digging route is through Dublin 2, where Wicklow Street, Nassau Street, Dawson Street, Aungier Street and South Great George’s Street form a tight loop. You can compare stock at Freebird Records, Sound Cellar, Tower Records and Spindizzy Records without wasting time on transport.
Add Temple Bar after the main run
Once you finish the core Dublin 2 shops, walk into Temple Bar for a different flavor. All City, Mojos Records and The RAGE - Record, Art and Game Emporium are close enough together to make a useful second phase, especially if you want alternatives to the busiest central storefronts.
Use North City for easy extra stops
If you are arriving via the main shopping streets or public transport into the north side, North City is convenient for a quick add-on circuit. Sounds Around on Capel Street, hmv on Henry Street, Golden Discs in Jervis and Tower Records on O'Connell Street Lower give you several easy-access options in one district.
FAQ - Record Stores in Dublin
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