Recently, I’ve found myself passionately loving physical media. I adore the intentionality, immortality, and the craft behind it. Within this realm falls CDs, which I’ve now taken to collecting. My collection began from just ordering CDs on Amazon, but it wasn’t much of an experience. I think that when you collect something, you’re collecting a moment, not just a physical item. There wasn’t much of an experience in ordering CDs from Amazon, and thus began my search for a store to collect my new obsession from.
As an ODU student, I spend the majority of my time on campus. Rarely have I ventured out of my comfort zone that is this walkable little bubble. You can imagine my happiness when I discovered Not For the Weak, a vinyl and CD store just an 8 minute drive from Old Dominion.
Tucked away in the Freemason District, with a sign out front reading “records inside,” is this beautiful hidden gem. Upon walking inside, you’re greeted by a most friendly host, Boston the dog. A beautiful border collie and lab mix, Boston will follow you around the store to help you pick out the perfect vinyl, CD, cassette, or shirt.
Laid out in the store are plentiful shelves displaying records from A through Z. According to their website, they focus on hardcore punk, but have music for every taste. To my surprise, this was very true. While I didn’t recognize most artists offered, I did see records by Taylor Swift and Carole King, two very non-punk rock sounding artists.
The store advertises that they sell CDs, and while this is true, their collection is vastly smaller than the abundant vinyls displayed throughout the store. On a little table by the checkout counter are two stacks of around 15-20 CDs. Above that are a couple shelves of cassettes, which I personally enjoyed browsing.
Even with their small collection of what I originally came for, I found a CD to take home with me. I’ve started playing a game of roulette with CDs, because I’ve found that there are more CDs of artists that I don’t know than there are ones that I do know. The only rule of the game is to pick up a CD that you don’t know and buy it without listening to it. Both times I’ve played this game, I’ve walked out triumphant with a pick that I ended up loving.
The CD I purchased actually came into my hands at the advice of the shop owner, Jordan Greenough. While rifling through the CDs, a red one caught his attention, and he told me that it was a CD that he had actually loved during his childhood. After hearing his high praises of the band (the album was Dirty Rice by Mad Caddies), I was sold. At only $3, I decided it would be my roulette pick for the day.
If you want to join me in my game of roulette, but aren’t confident in yourself enough not to judge a book by its cover, or just want to add another level of mystery to the game, you can pick a blind box record out. Priced around $15-$20, it’s a bit steeper than my $3, but it just adds another layer of anticipation!
Finally, the store offers a great collection of new and used shirts on a rack by the window. While they weren’t my personal taste, I’m confident that someone more into the punk rock scene would have a field day looking through them. The price range for these was anywhere from $12 to $20.
While Not for the Weak is an incredibly close drive to ODU, it isn’t walkable, meaning you would have to factor in parking to your trip. There is street parking available through Freemason, however I had a difficult time finding any spaces. I ended up using the parking garage placed conveniently right next to the store. For an hour or less, which is how much time I spent, you can expect parking to be about $3.
I could sing praises about Not For the Weak Records all day, but the bottom line is that they are definitely a vinyl and CD store worth checking out. However, given their small CD selection, the search continues for the best CD store in Norfolk.
