Record shops in Edinburgh

Beginning your adventure on Cockburn Street in the Old Town, at the bottom you’ll find the wonderfully knowledgeable Underground Solu’shn. Run by a plethora of the city’s finest DJs, they specialise in dance and electronica, and boast a pretty goddamn eclectic mix of other stuff too. Turn left at the bottom of the street and if you head up to the top of The Mound you’ll arrive at CODA Music, who specialise in folk and trad, but also stock lots of other genres.

Heading towards the New Town, you’ll find Fopp at the east end of Rose Street. While Fopp's parent company is HMV, it still retains the vibe of an independent retailer with a great selection of current pop, alt, indie, dance and hip-hop records. It also doubles up as a great place to buy cheap DVDs and books. Venturing deeper into the New Town, definitely hit up VoxBox on St Stephen Street in Stockbridge. They’ve loads of records by local artists and labels, as well as a lot of great new releases and collectibles, plus a bangin' selection of second-hand records through the back. Round the corner, Oxfam Music on Raeburn Place offer the chance to give your record shopping a charitable flavour with an extensive range of albums and 7'' singles.

Down in Leith, Vinyl Villains and Elvis Shakespeare are both packed to the rafters with pre-loved vinyl from across the musical spectrum, while Backbeat Records, Hog's Head and Record Shak fulfil the same function in the Southside.

Next on your list and just off Lothian Road, very close to ECA, is Assai, a spacious wonder which is an utter pleasure to browse in with an excellent selection to boot. They also run a points scheme and sell their own Assai-branded turntables. Yes! Next up, near Edinburgh Uni’s Potterrow union building is Paradise Palms, which as well as being an awesome veggie restaurant and super cool bar, is also a flippin’ record label and record shop specialising in indie electronica and experimental dance music.

And almost completing your trip full circle, don't forget Unknown Pleasures on the Royal Mile, with its cracking selection of records from right across the genres as well as a good choice of collectible and hard-to-find LPs. We say 'don't forget', because they slipped our minds the first time 'round, but if you're trying to dodge tourists in the Old Town they're a great place to seek musical refuge.

Record shops in Glasgow

Start at Monorail Records. A 10-minute walk from Strathclyde Uni, you'll find Monorail housed within vegan restaurant, bar and live music venue, Mono. Behind the shop’s counter you’ll find a number of local celebrities, in the form of some of the city’s finest musicians, and in the sleeves you’ll find a wonderful and eclectic selection of vinyl.

Head west towards the city centre and after a short walk you’ll find Fopp on Union Street just behind Central Station. Round the corner is Rubadub, a true hub for the city's electronic music scene that stocks an expertly-curated selection of records as well as all the equipment you could possibly need for playing, DJing and making your own music.

Moving ever so slightly northwards towards Queen Street station, tucked away on Dundas Street is Love Music Glasgow who specialise in rock music. From Buchanan Street jump on Glasgow’s subway and ride three stops to Kelvinbridge, and after a brief walk you’ll arrive at LP Records; a stone's throw from Glasgow Uni, they're one of the city’s newest record shops, as well as a record label.

Round the corner from there is the excellent second hand shop, Mixed Up Records, and just a bit further up the road is the Byres Road branch of Fopp. By this point, you may as well, right? Also on Byres Road is the Glasgow branch of Oxfam Music, which is always home to a few excellent discoveries among the racks of pre-loved records.

Record shops in Dundee

While Dundee is on the smaller side, the city still has some excellent independent record shopping available. There’s Groucho's in the centre of town, just down the street from DCA, who specialise in second hand vinyl; Assai – the original shop run by the same people who run Assai in Edinburgh – in Broughty Ferry.

At the time of writing this we’ve also just received an email about a brand new record and art shop is set to open up on Perth Road called Le Freak. Le Freak are planning to host a solid selection of indie, soul and dance music on their shelves and have promised a wall made of Lego inside. As far as the opening date goes, Jack Le Feuvre tells us: "Let's say 20 Sep. Could be sooner, could be later. Will definitely be before October." We can't wait for a dig!

Elsewhere in Scotland

If you're outside these three cities, you can also get your vinyl fix at Feel the Groove in Paisley, Europa Music in Stirling, Rare Trade in Kilwinning, Big Sparra Vinyl in Ayr, Concorde Records in Perth, Mo Fidelity in Montrose, Union Vinyl in Inverness and Spin, Maidinvinyl and Chameleon in Aberdeen.