Secondhand Record Shop Near Me in Hackney: Kristina Records

Kristina Records opens at 8 am on weekdays, which makes it the rare secondhand record shop near me in east London where you can dig through used house and techno 12-inches with a morning coffee. The shop is at 194 Well Street, Hackney, London E9 6QT, in Homerton. It started in July 2011 in Dalston and specialises in second-hand and selected new dance vinyl, with a cafe and occasional events under the same roof.

Kristina was founded in Dalston in July 2011, and it built its name selling club records to people who play them out. It has since moved a short distance east to Well Street in Homerton, a quieter parade of local shops, takeaways and cafes. The focus has not changed: underground and independent electronic music, bought and sold.

The shop also stocks new releases from small labels and artists, and it actively asks producers who press their own vinyl to get in touch. That mix suits the customers the stock is built for: DJs replacing worn copies of old tunes, younger selectors chasing UK garage and jungle they missed the first time, and producers looking for a shop that will carry their own pressings.

Second-hand stock is divided by the way DJs actually think. The shop's categories include minimal and tech house, techno and electro, house and deep house, nu disco and Italo with edits, leftfield and wave with EBM and ambient, a jazz, soul and reggae section filed as outernational, and breaks, bass and drum and bass. Go straight to the genre you play rather than working from one end of the room to the other.

Most records are 12-inch singles, so condition matters more than sleeve art; many come in plain company or die-cut sleeves. If you are buying to play out, look at the run-out groove and the area under the label, where mixing wear shows first. If you want to hear a record before buying, ask at the counter, and keep it to a minute of each side when other diggers are waiting.

Kristina posts a rolling list of second-hand highlights online, and the prices show where the value lies. A Daddy Dreadlocks and Gary A'Gaye reggae 12-inch was listed at £10, the Sync 24 and Privacy with Defekt split Excursions Vol 1 at £20, and Infinity and Rewind's The Blue and White One at £50. Those are fair numbers for records that rarely turn up in general shops.

Rare UK rave and garage pressings climb fast. A Mystic Matt and the Anthill Mob EP was listed at £125, and an Origin Unknown Eastern Promise EP at £50, both sold before most visitors saw them. The honest advice is to skip the highlights wall if you are on a tight budget; the cheaper finds are in the general genre racks, where records have not been pulled out for the website.

The posted hours are Monday 8 am to 3 pm, Tuesday 8 am to 3 pm, Wednesday 8 am to 3 pm, Thursday 8 am to 5:30 pm, Friday 8 am to 5:30 pm, Saturday 9 am to 5 pm and Sunday 10 am to 5 pm. Notice the early closing on Monday to Wednesday: a visit after work only works on Thursday or Friday, and weekday afternoons after 3 pm are a wasted trip early in the week.

The shop is frank that it is sometimes closed or out temporarily, and it asks visitors to let it know they are coming, on the day or in advance. The team also offers to open outside the posted hours for anyone who arranges it, which is worth doing if you are travelling across London for a long dig.

Kristina buys as well as sells, and it pays cash at what it calls honest prices. The buyers are looking for good-quality house, techno, disco, world, funk, soul and ambient records, and everything in between.

Dance 12-inches sell on condition and pressing, so sort your crate before you go: originals separate from represses, test pressings and white labels together, and anything with heavy wear set aside. A collection that arrives sorted gets a quicker answer at the counter, and you are less likely to undersell a rare first pressing hidden among common records.

Well Street sits between Mare Street and Well Street Common, and Victoria Park is a short walk away for a coffee in the grass with your new records. Homerton and Hackney Central on the Overground are the nearest stations. The street has its own run of cafes and takeaways, but the shop counter is the obvious place for a drink before you start digging.

If Kristina is closed when you arrive, or you want older soul and rock rather than club records, take the Overground or a bus toward Islington, where Flashback Records on Essex Road has a large basement of used LPs across every genre. For more dance music specifically, Phonica on Poland Street in Soho is the central London alternative for new house and techno.

Kristina Records is at 194 Well Street, Hackney, London E9 6QT. Opening runs 8 am to 3 pm Monday to Wednesday, 8 am to 5:30 pm Thursday and Friday, 9 am to 5 pm Saturday and 10 am to 5 pm Sunday. The shop sells new and used records both in person and through its Discogs store.

Come here if you play or collect electronic music, especially UK garage, jungle, house and techno; casual browsers looking for classic rock LPs will find little. Bring headphones you trust, a list of catalogue numbers if you are chasing specific records, and enough time to work through one genre properly rather than skimming them all.