Encinitas institution since 1980, from a Cardiff strip mall to street-closing in-stores.
- Shop
- Lou's Records
- Address
- 434 N Coast Hwy 101, Encinitas, CA 92024, USA
- Town
- Encinitas, United States
- Established
- 1980
- Formats
- Vinyl, CDs, Cassette, DVDs
- In the shop
- In-store gigs
- Opening hours
- Mo-Su 12:00-18:00
Lou's Records first opened on February 15th, 1980 in a small strip mall in the beachside community of Cardiff by the Sea, built a reputation for hard-to-find releases, moved to a larger storefront in downtown Encinitas in 1982 and to its present location in 1990. The shop sells a mix of used and new vinyl, CDs and cassettes as well as turntables, DVDs, t-shirts, gift certificates and accessories, with a collectors-first approach it describes as edited rather than overwhelming. In-store history includes the Mazzy Star display contest event that turned the store into an invite-only nightclub, and a run of Jack Johnson shows that grew from a corner of the shop in 2001 to an estimated 3500 people filling the streets in 2005 before the sheriff shut it down.