Hilton Head Island, South Carolina
Mojo's Island Records
24 Palmetto Bay Rd Unit D1, Hilton Head Island, SC 29928
Record shopping in South Carolina
South Carolina raised Dizzy Gillespie in Cheraw, gave James Brown his first years before Augusta took him, and produced Pink Anderson of Laurens, the SC blues musician whose name Syd Barrett borrowed when forming Pink Floyd. The Palmetto State also invented Carolina beach music along its coast, produced Hootie & the Blowfish out of Columbia and USC, and built the Marshall Tucker Band in Spartanburg. Papa Jazz Record Shoppe has anchored Columbia's Five Points since 1980 with one of the Southeast's deepest jazz, funk, R&B, and hip-hop digs, Monster Music & Movies in Charleston's West Ashley calls itself the largest record store in the Southeast, and Record Stop has run King Street since 1974. BJ Music in Spartanburg has been operating since 1977, B&T Music in Greenwood has stayed family-owned for over 50 years, R&R Collectibles in Myrtle Beach holds 400,000-plus albums and 45s, and Horizon Records keeps Greenville on the map. Take 17 down the Grand Strand, ride 26 between Columbia and Charleston, and see what the Palmetto State has been keeping in the bins.
Know of a New Record Store in South Carolina or one we missed? We want to Know! Contact Us, and we'll add it to the list!
BEYOND SOUTH CAROLINA: VINYL JOURNEYS FROM THE PALMETTO STATE
As the music fades out in the Palmetto State, every shop you flipped through today is just one corner of a much wider Southern map. The Atlantic coast runs east, the Blue Ridge rolls northwest into the Smokies, and South Carolina's bordering states put soul, country, and beach music shops within a couple of hours either direction.
North Carolina Record Stores: Head north into North Carolina, where Asheville's Harvest and Static Age cover mountain folk through weirdo punk, the Triangle's All Day Records and Sorry State hold the college-rock and rare-soul flame in Carrboro and Raleigh, and the Outer Banks stores keep summer beach soundtracks stocked from Currituck to Hatteras.
Georgia Record Stores: Drop south into Georgia, where Athens still hosts Wuxtry and the ghosts of R.E.M. and the B-52's, Atlanta's Little Five Points runs Criminal Records and Wax 'N' Facts as a daily clinic on trap, soul, and indie, and Savannah's coastal shops slow everything down to a lowcountry tempo.
Tennessee Record Stores: Roll west to Tennessee, where Memphis still spins Sun, Stax, and Three 6 Mafia in roughly equal measure, Nashville's East Side stocks outlaw country alongside Third Man pressings, and the Smokies pull South Carolina families up for cool-weather weekends in Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge.
Virginia Record Stores: Travel north to Virginia, where Charlottesville's college shops chase jam-band and Americana, Richmond's Plan 9 and the Carytown crates run punk and rare soul in equal measure, and Virginia Beach and Williamsburg keep the Tidewater coast stocked for the long drive up.
New York Record Stores: Hop north to New York, where Manhattan's Generation Records and A1 Records anchor the East Village dig, Brooklyn's Academy and Captured Tracks Shop fuel the borough's indie pulse, and Upstate college towns from Ithaca to Hudson hold the back issues no one else carries.
Puerto Rico Record Stores: Cruise south to Puerto Rico, where San Juan's Viera, OYE, and Electroshock keep 180,000-LP-deep salsa, jazz, and Latin trap stacks rotating, El Discotecario digs into salsa, boogaloo, and disco on Calle Cerra, and the island's bomba and reggaeton lineages stay close to every counter.
At Record Store Directory, every state line is an invitation to keep exploring. Share your finds, connect with fellow collectors, and chase down that next unforgettable album, because the perfect record is always closer than you think.
Happy hunting, and we'll see you in the next stack!
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