text: Most people will try to tell you that Zia Records is the best record store in the valley Those people would be correctnnWhy the low score then Because being Crown Prince of the Turd Playground that is Phoenixs record store selection is not exactly a glowing accomplishment This store does several things wrongnnFor one this location in particular pesters the shite out of you Are you finding everything alright Are you finding everything alright YES Jesus Christ I was finding everything alright the first four times you asked me now be a good little retail monkey and leave me the bloody hell alone so I can shop and eventually give you my moneynnIm sure it is this economy business that is to blame and not necessarily corporate nonsense but someone needs to take their manager out back and explain that annoying the piss out of your customers may actually be worse than ignoring them And it is just this store I went to the TBird location and was not bothered Someone casually asked me if there was anything I needed and I said No and was done with it But at this store I was literally asked three separate times by the SAME IDIOT if I was finding everything okaynnPerhaps it was the annoying tunes they had playing that added to the grating atmosphere Censored Rap Not that I am a fan but hearing the song go silent every five seconds to omit a blatant swear is fairly tiresome after awhile s Funk and bad Butt Rock seem to be on the menu ad nauseum Though in fairness perhaps it is just the staff during the morning or something I notice at night it gets a bit better if you can crawl out from beneath all the employees asking you if you are doing okay long enough to even noticennIve never gathered the courage to stand in the line of leering meth addicts at the Trade Counter to tell you whether they give decent store credit for used stuff though so I will leave it to greater minds to judge that facet of their business model I will say that their used stuff is in good enough shape if you do not count the bleeding stickers they put on absolutely everything nnYou inevitably spend twice the time you would have spent actually listening to your purchase doing nothing but peeling tape and stickers They are worse than Gamestop that way I payed for it it is mine Why are you putting your ugly stickers all over my albumnnBad neighbourhood toonnI hate to sound so negative without balancing out with some positive but the experience is fairly fresh in my mind as I just went earlier today I guess their prices are good unless you want something newish In which case bending over and having plenty of lube handy is the best advice I can offernnJust know what you want Go in Get out And for gods sake avoid their overzealous employees as if they were landminesnnOr just give the constant irritants a pass and go to a different location Or Bookmans I know I will