Laurie’s Planet of Sound has been a fixture of Chicago’s Lincoln Square neighborhood since 1997. Located down the street from the 80-year-old Davis Theater cinema, Laurie’s doesn’t waste an inch of its space, offering customers new and used CDs, LPs, and DVDs (a sizable portion of which are music-related, e.g. concerts and documentaries) as well as previously viewed VHS tapes.
Back in March I wanted to buy a copy of Conquer the World: The Lost Soul of Philadelphia International Records after reviewing it for Popdose. Laurie’s didn’t have it in stock, but they were more than happy to order it for me. And when I recently brought a new copy of Sloan’s Navy Blues up to the counter, I was offered a used copy that cost half as much — but I refused! Know why? Because we all need to support our local independent record stores, and Laurie’s is my favorite in the Windy City. One of its employees, Melissa, was kind enough to answer a few questions recently about the Planet of Sound and its particular place in the music-retail universe.
