Entry No. 41 — the Pittsburgh file — filed under: record store
The Government Center
The Government Center sells records from 9am and opens the bar at 5pm, which is the whole business model in one sentence. The stock leans harder than a neighborhood shop usually does — over a thousand new titles weighted toward experimental, ambient and avant-garde jazz, plus deep used racks of rock, soul, jazz and electronic, along with cassettes, CDs and music books, and they buy and trade daily. Shows land several times a month and skew local-plus-touring across indie rock, experimental and electronic; a September run alone had Rick Maguire of Pile, a Girly Sound Festival, and Weird Paul Rock Band on a bill with Nice Strong Arm. Shows are all ages, and the room is small enough that flipping through a crate during a set is a legitimate way to spend the night.
→ Three more underground music & performance in Pittsburgh — never the same twice
The story
Josh Cozby taught public school in Oregon before moving his family to Pittsburgh and opening a record shop on East Ohio Street in January 2019. He named it after a Jonathan Richman & The Modern Lovers song about a band turning up at a workplace to make all the secretaries feel better, which turned out to be a fair statement of the business plan. Derek January walked in as a customer about a month after opening, got recruited to help pull off a proper grand opening that March, and has run events ever since; he is a Pittsburgh native who worked in promotions at Stage AE before this.
The current building is why the place works. Cozby bought 715 East Street in 2019; it had been abandoned for years and was previously a bar called Key West and, before that, a flower shop. The shop reopened there in August 2021 with in-store sets from Rave Ami, Brenda and The Gotobeds. It runs to roughly 5,000 square feet against the old shop's 1,800, with two apartments above, a permanent stage, an espresso bar and a bar. East Street is a road people drive rather than walk, thick with cars queued at the light for the highway ramps, and Cozby's bet was that enough of those windscreens would eventually clock that there is a record store there.
The buying is deliberate rather than commercial: three copies of the record everyone wants instead of twenty, with the difference spent on breadth. That produces over a thousand new titles weighted toward experimental, ambient, archival reissues and avant-garde jazz, alongside deep used racks of rock, soul, jazz, alternative, electronic and country, plus cassettes, CDs and music books. The stage rents cheaply enough that local bands can actually use it, shows are all ages, and there is now a second shop, Government Center Outpost, on Potomac Avenue in Dormont.
What it's like
Before five this is a record store with an espresso machine - bins along the walls, staff buying and trading over the counter, nobody counting how long you flip. At five the bar opens and the room changes register without changing shape. On show nights the stage sits at the back, the crowd is all ages so it spans teenagers and people who saw the openers' influences the first time round, and the door is usually cash on the night rather than a ticket link, ten to twenty dollars being the normal range. Nothing stops you browsing the used racks mid-set, and people do. Etiquette: don't put a drink down on the bins, tip the bar even if you are three espressos deep, and buy something off the touring act, because a cheap room rental only works if the band gets paid somewhere.
The move: Arrive around 5 when the bar opens and the shop is still going, give each other a $20 limit and twenty minutes in the used bins, buy whatever the other person picked, then order a drink and stay for the set in the corner without ever leaving the building.
📍 Before you go Shop hours are Sun-Wed 9am-7pm and Thu-Sat 9am-10pm; the bar starts at 5pm daily. Shows are all ages. There's an espresso bar if one of you isn't drinking. Check the events page before you go — plenty of nights are shop-and-bar only, and show nights aren't ticketed in advance in the usual way. Phone 412-208-3262; selling records to them is a walk-in, daily thing. Booking inquiries go to [email protected].
- 📍 Pittsburgh
- 💸 $
- ⚡ Big night
- 🌗 Indoors
Where: 715 East Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15212
Hours: Added 2026-08-26 — confirm current hours before you go.
Pair it with
- Pittsburgh Banjo Club at Allegheny Elks Lodge #339 — Three blocks away and Wednesday-only: shop and drink here from 5pm, then walk to the Elks lodge for 7pm doors and free banjos until 11.
- Get Hip Recordings — A twenty-minute drive west, Get Hip is the wholesale, warehouse end of the same business - a 40-year-old garage-punk label and distributor, which makes the contrast with a curated retail floor the whole point of the day.
- Photo Antiquities Museum of Photographic History — Two blocks over on East Ohio Street, near the shop's original storefront, and a fair analogue: obsolete media kept alive by people who refuse to let the format die.
More weird in Pittsburgh
Good to know
Do I need to buy a ticket in advance?
Usually not. Some shows have a presale, but most are pay-at-the-door in the $10-$20 range. Check the events page at thegovernmentcenter.com before you go - plenty of nights are shop-and-bar only with no show at all.
What are the hours, and when does the bar open?
The shop runs Sunday to Wednesday 9am-7pm and Thursday to Saturday 9am-10pm. The bar opens daily at 5pm and runs to 2am, so there is a window in the evening when both are going at once.
Are shows all ages?
Yes. Shows here are all ages, which is rare enough in Pittsburgh to be the reason a lot of people come. There is an espresso bar if one of you isn't drinking.
Can I sell or trade my records there?
Yes, and it's a walk-in, daily thing rather than an appointment - they buy and trade used rock, soul, jazz, alternative, electronic and country, plus cassettes and CDs. Call 412-208-3262 if you're hauling in a large collection. Bands wanting the room email [email protected].
How do I get there, and is there anywhere else to combine it with?
East Street is a traffic artery on the North Side rather than a strolling block, so drive or take the bus and park on the street. If you'd rather browse in Dormont, their second shop, Government Center Outpost, is on Potomac Avenue on the other side of the city.
Plan a visit & invite your people →
Further reading: Official site
last checked: 2026-08-26