Entry No. 52 — the Pittsburgh file — filed under: used vinyl
Jerry's Records
Jerry Weber's record habit started in 1976 with a shop called Record Graveyard and a sign that read WE BUY RECORDS; the Squirrel Hill location has been going since 1994, in a 10,000-plus-square-foot former car dealership up a flight of stairs off Murray Avenue. The stock runs to about a million used records, added to daily, which is less a store than a filing problem you get to browse. Weber sold to longtime employee Chris Grauzer in 2017 and the operation didn't blink. A 2023 expansion called Future Zone added the other physical formats — cassettes, CDs, VHS, DVD — for people whose nostalgia isn't strictly 12-inch. Twice a year the dollar sales happen, and those are the days regulars take off work.
→ Three more vintage, record & maker shops in Pittsburgh — never the same twice
The story
Jerry Weber got into the record trade in 1976, opening Record Graveyard with Jim Petruzzi. A later shop called Garbage Records eventually became Jerry's Records, and in 1994 the operation landed where it still is: the second floor of 2136 Murray Avenue in Squirrel Hill, in more than ten thousand square feet of former car dealership. Fifty years on, the store's own claim is simply that it's Pittsburgh's largest record store, and the arithmetic backs it — close to a million used records on the floor, with more added daily.
That scale changes what shopping means. There is no meaningful way to plan a visit; the online inventory is deliberately limited because the store's whole proposition is that you have to come stand in it and flip. Records arrive faster than any catalogue could absorb them, so the stock is less a curated selection than an enormous, continuously fed sorting problem that customers are invited to walk around inside. Pricing spans the full range, from genuinely rare collectibles priced accordingly to the semiannual dollar sales, which are the days regulars plan their calendars around.
Weber retired in 2017 and handed the business to Chris Grauzer, a longtime employee, and the place did not skip a beat — Grauzer still answers the store email himself. In 2023 came Future Zone, an expansion into the rest of physical media: cassettes, CDs, VHS, DVD, with its own Instagram presence, for the customers whose nostalgia doesn't stop at twelve inches. The store buys, sells and trades all of it, which is how the million keeps growing.
What it's like
The stairs off Murray Avenue are the first thing and the honest filter — it's a second-floor walkup with no elevator, and whatever you carry up you carry down. At the top the room opens into something closer to a warehouse than a shop: long rows of bins under a former dealership's ceiling, aisles narrow enough that two diggers passing have to negotiate, and no soundtrack of curation telling you what to want. Nobody will hover. Ask at the counter if you're hunting something specific, because the staff's mental index beats the alphabet here. Bring cash and something to carry records in, and set yourself a time limit before you go up, because the building has no windows onto your afternoon.
The move: Get there when the doors open Saturday at 10, agree on a hard rule — each of you picks three records for the other, nothing you'd buy for yourself, twenty-dollar ceiling — then take the stack down Murray Avenue for a late lunch and defend your choices. Whoever picked worse buys.
📍 Before you go Tue–Fri 11am–7pm, Sat 10am–6pm, Sun 12–5pm, closed Monday. Phone 412-421-4533. It's a second-floor walkup — no elevator, and the stairs are the first filter. Bring cash and a bag; the floor is unheated-warehouse in feel and the aisles are narrow enough that two browsers negotiate. If you're selling records rather than buying, go early on a weekday when someone can actually look at your boxes.
- 📍 Pittsburgh
- 💸 $
- ⚡ Low-key
- 🌗 Indoors
Where: 2136 Murray Avenue, 2nd Floor, Pittsburgh, PA 15217
Hours: Added 2026-08-26 — confirm current hours before you go.
Pair it with
- Amazing Books and Records — Four blocks north at 5858 Forbes, the other half of Squirrel Hill's used-media economy — and it stays open long after Jerry's locks up, so it's the natural second half of the day.
- Everyday Noodles — At 5875 Forbes, a ten-minute walk with your bag of records: hand-pulled noodles and pleated xiao long bao made behind glass at eye level, which is a good place to sit and defend your purchases.
- Eons Fashion Antique — Two miles west on Ellsworth in Shadyside, open since 1986 and closing at 5 every day — the same instinct as Jerry's applied to clothing from the 1880s through the 1980s, so do it first and dig second.
More weird in Pittsburgh
Good to know
When is it open?
Tuesday through Friday 11am to 7pm, Saturday 10am to 6pm, Sunday noon to 5pm, closed Monday. Phone is 412-421-4533. Saturday morning is the fullest crates and the fullest aisles at once.
Can I check the stock online before I drive over?
Barely, by design. Only a limited slice of inventory is listed online — there's a Discogs presence under jerrysrecords — but the store is explicit that it prioritizes in-store shopping. A phone call to the counter is faster than any search box.
Is it accessible?
No. It's a second-floor walkup above Murray Avenue with no elevator, and the stairs are unavoidable.
What's the dollar sale?
Twice a year the store runs a dollar sale across a huge swath of stock. Dates aren't fixed to a calendar you can bookmark, so watch the shop's Facebook and Instagram in the weeks beforehand and expect a line.
What if I want tapes or CDs, not vinyl?
That's Future Zone, the 2023 expansion, which covers cassettes, CDs, VHS and DVD under the same roof.
Plan a visit & invite your people →
Further reading: Official site
last checked: 2026-08-26