Berlin's independent record shops

Map of 5 locations in Berlin, Germany

Berlin's vinyl trade has spent the last decade losing leases: Hard Wax left the Kreuzberg building it shared with Dubplates & Mastering when the flats came, and Sound Metaphors was out on the street in June 2025 when a contract went unrenewed. What follows are five shops that are still trading, each with a genre territory it actually owns rather than a general stock, listed with the address and the hours the shop or the map currently carries. Some of them have moved; where they moved from is part of the record.

Places in this collection

  • Spacehall — One of the largest record shops in the city, in the Bergmannkiez, with hip-hop and indie shelves at the front and the house, techno and min…
  • Sound Metaphors — Run by the label and DJ duo of the same name, the shop opened its first premises in 2015 and lost the Kreuzberg one in June 2025 when the l…
  • Soultrade — The stock runs from original rarities to current pressings across soul, funk, jazz, hip hop, downbeat, disco, boogie and African records, w…
  • Hard Wax — Opened in November 1989, weeks before the Wall came down, the shop started out in soul, funk and reggae before American import runs turned…
  • Dodo Beach — VisitBerlin calls the Dodo Beach East branch the oldest record shop in East Berlin, and the operation has since spread to Prenzlauer Berg a…

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