Record Stores

Fascinating photos from 160 record stores around the world

The Hamburg photographer Bernd Jonkmanns has been documenting the culture of the "Record Stores" since 2009. At the beginning of his project it looked like there would hardly be any stores left within a few years and in fact many record stores have disappeared over the years. But at the same time, vinyl has been making a rapid comeback among enthusiasts for some time now. As a result, many new small and large stores opened in major cities such as Berlin, Brussels, Paris and Los Angeles, preserving the importance of the "Record Store" phenomenon as an expression of youth culture.

Over the past six years, Jonkmanns has photographed over 160 record stores on his travels on 5 continents in 33 different cities. His pictures show colorful facades, stores filled to the ceiling with vinyls and CDs and the people who work in the record store and buy their music there. They all share a love of music - and that's what creates the unique atmosphere of the "Record Stores".

His search for the most beautiful "Record Stores" took Jonkmanns through five continents and numerous cities such as Los Angeles, New York City, Boston, San Francisco, Paris, London, Brighton, Stockholm, Rio de Janeiro, Oslo, Amsterdam, Sydney and even up to to Hobart, Tasmania.