CD Research

This entry refers to a departed business that has closed or left town. All information here is for historical reference only.

 

There was a little record store located on G street by the name of CD Research. When it first opened, compact discs were so new that many townies wondered what "CD Research" even meant. The uniqueness of this store makes it quite noteworthy and adds some background to the current operations of Armadillo Music.

CD Research contained a rectangular bar in the middle of the store with large late-80's era cd players located at regular intervals around the bar. A customer would sit at the bar and look through a large binder of CD listing that were available to listen to. Once the customer had selected a CD they wanted to hear, they would ask the person working inside the bar to grab the CDs for them. You could then listen to them with headphones and determine if you wanted to buy. All of the available CDs were located in the middle of the circular bar.

-Didn't they take your ID while you were listening to prevent theft?—RogerClark

Yes they did —StevenDaubert

The one disadvantage of the place is that it was slightly more expensive than other music stores around, so a fair number of students would go and listen to determine if they wanted to buy a CD, then go buy it somewhere else at a lower price. However, their catalog was a lot more diverse, so it was the only place in town where you could find some albums.

Armadillo supposedly bought CD research around 1998 and moved locations to where it operated on F Street.

There was a scandal around the time it closed, a flyer was distributed around Campus saying that during a certain time CD Research was going to be giving away CDs since it was going out of business, it also said to ask for someone who no longer worked there. The flyer was bogus but a lot of people came in and asked, to the point that the owner filed a police report. Although it was never solved, the culprit was rumored to have been a former employee or business partner.

2011-08-15 12:01:48   This place was great back in the day. Amazing to think how outdated the concept is now though with iTunes! Random thought: Does anyone remember the CD "long (cardboard) boxes"? They were unnecessary and environmentally unfriendly, but as a kid I always thought they looked cool. —OldDavis73

2011-10-17 14:00:20   Was always able to find CDs here that were tough to track down elsewhere. —Jeffrey9

2012-09-02 23:00:39   A business card shows that Jon Lee worked/owned/founded. It says "Hear It Before You Buy It". —SteveDavison

2014-05-01 21:06:28   No, CD Research was owned by Dana Drennen's husband, who's name escapes me now... —JoePace

2014-05-01 21:11:20   Unless it moved before closing, CD Research wasn't on G Street — it was a numbered street — I think on Third between E and F (south side). —JoePace

I spent a lot of time in this store and it was definitely located at 407 G Street. You might be thinking of the CDealer though, which I think was on 4th between E and F. jefftolentino

2014-09-24 23:15:01   Worked there in the early 90's. Ray Johnston was the owner. April West was his sidekick. We used to go clubbing on a regular basis. Best place to preview anything digital in town. Sure, you could pay less elsewhere, but we ran some great deals, too. We had premium tracks from across the globe - very rare and desirable. I L O V E D this job... back in the day...

—MichaelForner