Entry No. 43 — the Portland file — filed under: records
Speck's Records & Tapes
Speck's sits on N Denver in Kenton, a few blocks from the Paul Bunyan statue, and runs on a five-day week: 11 to 6 Monday and Thursday through Sunday, dark Tuesday and Wednesday. The pitch on the door is blunt — always buying and trading records and tapes — and the tapes half is not decoration, since cassettes get the same counter treatment as vinyl. There's a Discogs storefront and an online shop running alongside the brick-and-mortar, with stock priced from about $7.50 up past $100, so the bins aren't purely dollar-crate filler. The shop even keeps a Calendly for shopping appointments, which is a very small-business way of saying the room only holds so many people at once.
→ Three more vintage, record & maker shops in Portland — never the same twice
The story
Kenton was a company town before it was a neighborhood: Swift Meat Packing built it in 1911 for the men working Portland's stockyards, and the city annexed it alongside St. Johns a few years later. The cattle trade left; the two-block business district it paid for stayed. Speck's Records & Tapes sits in the middle of that strip at 8216 N Denver, one block down from the 31-foot Paul Bunyan raised for Oregon's 1959 centennial, with the Kenton Club on the same corner and the MAX Yellow Line letting people off at the end of the block.
The sign on the door is the entire business plan: WE ARE ALWAYS BUYING AND TRADING RECORDS AND TAPES. The tapes half is not decoration. Look at what the shop has out on Discogs in a given week and the cassettes are doing real work — 1990s singles by Coolio, Da Brat and the Goo Goo Dolls, a Ricky Martin maxi, a Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan album — filed beside Southern soul 45s from James Carr and Ben E. King, German new-wave seven-inches, a shellac ten-inch called Destination Moon, a Hawaiian glee-club LP and this year's indie pressings.
That online counter has been open since December 2016, and it has since collected more than 400 seller ratings at a flat 100%, plus sixty ratings as a buyer — the number that matters if you're the one hauling the crate in. Prices there run roughly $10 to $150, most of it near $20. The physical shop keeps a five-day week, 11 to 6, dark Tuesday and Wednesday, and it is small enough that Speck's posts a Calendly link for shopping appointments, which is a very small-business way of saying the room holds a finite number of people.
What it's like
Come in off the Yellow Line at Kenton/N Denver or find a spot on the street; either way this is one room, not a warehouse, so the visit is mostly a question of where you plant yourself. Vinyl gets flipped fast; cassettes get picked up, turned over and read, which is slower and more sociable, and the counter is close enough that whoever's working will hear you deliberating and weigh in. If you're selling or trading, say so on arrival rather than at the end — buying is a standing offer, not a scheduled event, but it takes someone's attention. Two things to plan around: closed Tuesday and Wednesday, and 6pm means 6pm, so a 5:45 arrival is a lap rather than a dig. If you want the bins to yourself, book the Calendly slot.
The move: Get there by 4:30 on a Thursday, each pick one cassette for the other under $10 — no vetoes, no phone lookups — then walk five minutes to the Kenton business strip for a drink and play both tapes on the way home in whatever car still has a deck.
📍 Before you go Closed Tuesday and Wednesday; otherwise 11am–6pm. Phone (503) 495-3455. Small room — the shop offers Calendly shopping appointments if you want it to yourself. Street parking on N Denver, and the Yellow Line's Kenton/N Denver stop is right there.
- 📍 Portland
- 💸 $
- ⚡ Low-key
- 🌗 Indoors
Where: 8216 N Denver Ave, Portland, OR 97217
Hours: Added 2026-08-26 — confirm current hours before you go.
⚠ Seasonal or scheduled — always check before you go.
Pair it with
- Paul Bunyan Statue — One block north at N Denver and Interstate: 31 feet of 1959 concrete lumberjack on the National Register, and it's directly on the way back to the train.
- Kenton Club — Same corner, opposite temperature — a 1947 biker bar with Kansas City Bomber memorabilia and $10 three-band bills, so a quiet afternoon of flipping becomes a loud night without moving the car.
- Mississippi Records — A mile and a half south and a deliberate contrast: Speck's sells what the neighborhood carries in, while Mississippi presses its own gospel and global obscurities.
More weird in Portland
Good to know
How do I get there, and where do I park?
8216 N Denver Ave, in the Kenton business strip. The MAX Yellow Line's Kenton/N Denver Ave station is a block away, right by the Paul Bunyan statue. Driving, it's street parking on N Denver.
What days is it actually open?
Monday and Thursday through Sunday, 11am–6pm. Closed Tuesday and Wednesday, which is the standard way to waste the trip. Phone (503) 495-3455 to confirm before you commit.
Do I need an appointment?
No — walk in. The Calendly shopping appointment on the shop's site exists because the room is small; book it if you'd rather have the bins to yourself.
What should I expect to spend?
The shop's own web store lists items from about $7.50 to $130, and its Discogs inventory runs roughly $10 to $150 with the bulk near $20. Nothing here is dollar-crate filler, but a tape in the $10 range is an ordinary purchase.
Can I sell or trade my own records and tapes?
Yes — that's the standing pitch on the door, vinyl and cassettes both. Bring them during opening hours. The Discogs account carries sixty ratings as a buyer, so acquiring stock is a constant, not a favor.
Plan a visit & invite your people →
Further reading: Official site · goo.gl
last checked: 2026-08-26