The Top 10 Records Sold Last Week at Gimme Gimme Records in the East Village

In 2009, the traditional practice of exchanging physical copies of records for money is a trade that might best be called quixotic. But New Yorkers are stubborn people, and the record store is not dead. Below, the top ten records that sold in the last week at a store near you.

Gimme Gimme Records is only open Thursdays through Sundays. The rest of the time, the space is occupied by a piano teacher (two pianos sit among the record shelves). “It’s kind of a weird thing,” says employee Rich Grebanier, a longtime Gimme Gimme shopper who began working at the store three years ago. The store is located within a block or two of fellow used record shops Good Records, A-1 Records, and Tropicalia In Furs, and houses everything from rock to hip-hop to new wave. “You’ll find a really obscure hip-hop twelve inch, and then David Bowie records,” says Grebanier. The store provides a few listening stations, including the obscure circular 8-track/vinyl player the Weltron 2005. “It looks like a UFO,” Grebanier says. “[The store] has part of the flavor of New York that’s not as strong in the East Village that it used to be. It’s the way it was 10 or 15 years ago.”

“Since we are a used record store and don’t necessarily sell more than one copy of a title a week,” adds Grebanier, the store elected to select a sampling instead.

The Top 10 Records Sold at Gimme Gimme Records for the week ending Aug 4:

1. Beastie Boys: So What’cha Want 12″ (“Gimme’s #1 all time bestseller actually,” according Grebanier.)
2. John Fahey: Death Chants, Breakdowns, and Military Waltzes
3. Miles Davis: Bitches Brew
4. Talking Heads: 77
5. 13th Floor Elevators: Easter Everywhere
6. David Bowie: Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars
7. Muddy Waters: Real Folk Blues
8. Gram Parsons: Grievous Angel
9. Hi-Rise: Funky Nite 12″
10. Fela Kuti: Expensive Shit

Gimme Gimme Records is located at 325 E. 5th St, between 1st and 2nd Avenues. It is open Friday and Saturday 1pm-10pm, Sun 1pm-7pm, and closed the rest of the week.