Spin Me Round – Books, Music, Movies & More

Located at the dwindling Phillipsburg Mall on the western fringes of Route 22 is a wonderful store called Spin Me Round.

It’s about the only store that attracts foot traffic over at this “ghost mall” of days past.

Record stores are rare but popular

Outside of major population centers, where there is always something “vintage” because of demographics – places that have very niche markets are far and few between.

There are hardly any record stores along the Route 22 span across the waistline of New Jersey.

Spin Me Round is practically the ONLY one!

There is the infamous Vintage Vinyl Records in the Woodbridge, NJ area, as well as Scotti’s Record Shop over in Summit, NJ, and a couple of places further south, such as Spina Records and Revilla Grooves & Gear in the New Brunswick area. Other than that – slim pickins’ unless you want to head to the big city.

Concerns about location for Spin Me Round?

Visiting this “dying mall” the other day – we bought some records from Spin Me Round, and asked one of the owners Stephanie, about their future.

“The mall is not closing,” she said in an effort to deny obvious reality.

Apparently, if the mall were to close – all remaining merchants would have to be given 90 days notice. And that has yet to happen, Stephanie said.

So how long will the Phillipsburg Mall last is anyone’s guess? If they can manage to this day with the few stores that remain, perhaps it will stick around for a while longer.

The reason the proprietors love this spot is the fact they have dirt-cheap rent and a fabulous, large space. The customers will come, as they ofter are more than willing to drive great distances for a piece of classic vinyl.

If and when the day comes that the mall is completely shuttered – we’re sure they’ll find a new place to set up camp. Where exactly, remains to be seen. Most non-dying locations command much steeper rents – and the location is crucial when the overhead plays a bigger role.

More than just vinyl at Spin Me Round

While most vintage record shops are primarily vinyl (90%) – Spin Me Round appeared to dedicate half their space to other great stuff. Thousands of books, plus movies, CD’s, video games and related apparel.

They also hold occasional live music events featuring local bands.

We didn’t have a ton of time to shop, as the mall was closing in a few minutes – but we’ll be back when we have more time to browse around. Prices for vinyl are kind of high, but they’re in line with what the market demands, so we have to deal. Buying these items on eBay would probably cost about the same. The nature of the beast, right?

We now definitely have more reasons to visit the Phillipsburg, NJ area again!