I’d never been to Nuggets before, but I saw a spot open in front of the store on my way back from the doctor’s office and, as a reward for actually getting one of my hockey injuries checked out, made an impromptu visit. I soon realized that I shouldn’t have fed the meter the rest of my quarters, since I would have needed every last one if I’d wanted to buy something.

Forty bucks for the Smiths’ Meat Is Murder? I got that LP at RRRecords for $4.50 two years ago. Twenty dollars for a Regulator Watts LP? I got one for $4.50 at Mystery Train a few weeks ago and I doubt there was a rush. If I’d taken notes instead of an anti-inflammatory drug, I could regale you with other examples of in-city overpricing (lots of $30, $40, and $50 LPs for bands without noted cult followings like the Smiths), but Nuggets makes In Your Ear and Looney Tunes seem like bargain outlets. Do I understand that the proximity to Kenmore Square necessitates such pricing? Sure. Was their stock fresh enough to justify it? Oh hell no.

I looked through every rock LP, most of which would have been dollar bin candidates at Stereo Jack’s, and the only one I remotely considered purchasing was Füxa’s Three Field Rotation for $12.99. I already own Venoy, their contribution to Darla’s Bliss Out series, and it’s not exactly in my heavy rotation pile, so I passed. Filing the soundtrack for Married to the Mob under both Brian Eno and the Feelies is a cheap trick to pad artist dividers, much like the inclusion of early 1990s magazines covering a given artist. I skimmed their jazz vinyl with no luck, finding a best-of compilation for John Coltrane for a whopping $20. If I’ve learned anything about jazz LPs, it’s to avoid such compilations, something that has been confirmed by their entry-level pricing at virtually every other record store I frequent. I couldn’t even get at their barred-off understock, not that I was optimistic about any potential finds.

With any used record store, the stock could be considerably better on a later visit, even if it’s just one record you’ve been hunting down, but Nuggets didn’t fill me with optimism that it would ever happen (or that the album wouldn’t be 4x eBay prices when I find it). It’s unfair to compare its selection and prices to an out-of-the-way store like RRRecords or Mystery Train, but Looney Tunes proves that an in-city store can maintain the stock turnover necessary to justify the increase in prices.