Article about Downstairs Records from The New York Daily News

All Sales Are Vinyl

Take the few steps upstairs to Downstairs Records and you'll find yourself a few steps closer to a vinyl-collectors heaven.

Located on a second floor (it moved from its aptly named location near Grand Central about three years ago), Downstairs is the source in the city for 45s and has been for the last 25 years.

If you've wondered where rap and hip-hop artists as well as oldies radio stations go for those rare tunes, the secret is out. Downstairs supplies popular oldies stations with platters, and current customers include a veritable A-list of vinyl-lovers — Sean (Puffy) Combs, Dr. Dre, Bruce Willis, Usher, Matt Dillon — plus a legion of less-famous but equally loyal followers.

"We're basically an oldies store for doo-wop, soul and R&B," says manager Stephen Nicholas. "We carry music from the '20s and '30s and up."

Downstairs boasts the biggest collection of 45s in the city. It also carries a number of LPs, cassettes and CDs, and is one of the few outposts for Country & Western 45s.

If you can peel yourself away from the rows of records, you'll notice the walls are lined with rare original labels (first pressings of records), reissues and posters.

With a staff that knows their oldies (Nicholas is also on Jammin' 105's Rhythm Revue on WTJN), Downstairs can find those hard-to-get-records.

They have a huge international clientele, especially from London and Japan. CBS-FM often calls for a song, as do VH1 and MTV.

So what's hot now? According to Nicholas, it's "obscure soul, those hidden gems that were never really popular."

Downstairs Records, 1026 Sixth Ave., (212) 354-4684; Mon-Fri., 10 a.m.-6:30 p.m.; Sat., 11 a.m.- 6 p.m.