James - Store Lead

James is one of the people keeping Sold Out running day to day, helping with a little bit of everything around the shop. Shipping, inventory, customer help, pricing, keeping the chaos under control — if you’ve been in the store, there’s a good chance he’s helped you out. Up until recently James priced every single record that came into the shop. After pricing over 100k+ records we finally hired someone to help him out :)

Growing up, he was heavily into country and classic rock with a steady rotation of Johnny Cash and Willie Nelson, plus a little jazz mixed in. Over the years his taste shifted more toward hip-hop, soul, and jazz as his obsession with jazz records got deeper and deeper.

These days he’s usually spinning Mac Miller, jazz, soul, and hip-hop, with artists like John Coltrane, Miles Davis, MF DOOM, Bill Evans, Tyler, The Creator, Dexter Gordon, and Johnny Cash all in regular rotation.

Ask him for recommendations and there’s a decent chance he’ll point you toward Getz/Gilberto, defend Paul McCartney at all costs, or somehow connect the conversation back to jazz. 

Favorite record in his collection? A second track pressing of Daniel Caesar's Freudian
Biggest ISO? Spotify Singles by Mac Miller
Most underrated album? Believers by Don Mclean 
Best score you've ever found in the wild? You by Larry Lovestein, RSD 
When did you starting working here? September 2023
Favorite thing about working at Sold Out? The community — both the staff and the customers.

Fun fact about James, he was one of the first customers of the shop. Back when we had a few hundred records and only three bins. A short while later he became one of our first employees!