Hamra, since 1964. One of the finest Arabic collections anywhere, and it survived a war.

Shop: Chico Records
Address: Sadat-Sidani intersection, Hamra
Town: Beirut, Lebanon
Established: 1964
Formats: Vinyl, 7"
Crates: Rock, Jazz, Funk, Soul, World, Psych

Khachik Mardirian opened the shop in Hamra in 1964 as Pick Of The Pops; his sons Paul and Diran run it now. Alongside a deep 60s and 70s run - krautrock, prog, psych, folk, hard rock, jazz, funk, soul and disco - it holds what is reckoned one of the finest collections of Arabic music anywhere in the world, including rare Lebanese titles whose masters were damaged or destroyed during the civil war. That is the part worth travelling for: not a shop that sells old records, a shop that is the reason some of them still exist. It also sells turntables and accessories and cleans records.