tales from the record store crepuscule

S/FJ is hosting a series of reader-submitted record store stories, starting here, spurred by an article on fading stores.

My favoured mode of purchase remains the record store: the whole trip/gathering/unwrapping experience is highly pleasurable. Scouring the web to save a euro or two is tiresome. Recently, I even had some interaction at the FNAC's till for the first time (it only took 5 years), mainly consisting of the cashier approving of my TV On The Radio purchase. I got to know P (who works or worked in the jazz section) at concerts, through a mutual friend and regular FNAC visits, so I felt at home there. And I have never had unpleasant clerk-related experiences anywhere.

I've chronicled the decline of the Brussels FNAC (a French cultural supermarket that evolved from a single store set up by a couple of ex-Trotskyists to a multi-national behemoth), which will probably force me online, as I am unaware of any other good jazz section in Brussels (if you are, please let me know). All the other good shops I know are second-hand.