About Us

Thirdhand Records

Thirdhand Records is a record shop that is a product of the extraordinary times it was founded in. We started selling off bits of our own collections in the middle of the 2020 lockdown. In time we formalized the operation and started offering new records as well. We're beginning to do popup shops in Chicago.

chalkboard with writing saying "now playing: s/t by miles from exile"

Two Dudes and a Dream

Bill and John are two Chicagoans who love recorded music. The two of us first shopped for records together almost twenty years ago, at a little shop in the suburbs that was a community hub as much as it was a record store. We started Thirdhand Records in hopes of someday opening a record store of our own like that.

John

face of owner John Bergin

  • Desert Island Record: Boo Boo by Toro y Moi
  • Turntable: Audio Technica
  • Current Favorite Label: Wax Trax
  • First Record Purchase: No Depression by Uncle Tupelo

Bill

Face of owner Bill Neylon

  • Desert Island Record: Tea for the Tillerman by Cat Stevens
  • Turntable: Technics
  • Current Favorite Label: Topic
  • First Record Purchase: Full Collapse by Thursday

Let’s Get Physical

We believe that physical media is irreplaceable for artists and listeners alike. Every music fan deserves to experience the multi-sensory joy of dropping a needle on a new record while thumbing through the liner notes. And artists deserve to have an actual physical commodity to serve as the fruits of their labor. So we're here to keep the physical music fire alive, one record at a time.

3 people looking through record bins at a popup shop