Strangely enough, that would-be dead-as-the-dodo retail outlet known as the record store is making a comeback. For evidence, look no further than this tiny shop along Scottsdale Road between Indian School and Camelback Road. We dig this outpost of vinyl because of what it's not: a catch-all receptacle for the kind of mass-produced platters you tend to see at most used record stores. (So, for 99-cent copies of gajillion sellers by Eagles, Fleetwood Mac, and AC/DC, Meatloaf, and The Boss, you're gonna have to look elsewhere.)
No, John Rose's shop is where you'll find very-good-to-near-mint copies of cool old (and most likely long-forgotten) R&B, country, rockabilly, and exotica acts. There's also a solid selection of garage, punk, and New Wave slabs from the '80s and '90s. Why, just recently, we nabbed a beautifully preserved copy of 1967's Carryin' on with Johnny Cash and June Carter for about $8, a $3 copy of Nick Lowe's The Abominable Showman, and the Amuck compilation of early Phoenix punk for $12. We almost picked up a $15 long-out-of-print copy of the Circle Jerks' debut, Group Sex, to go along with it all, but we gotta eat, too.