A Blast from the Past - Stans Record Bar in Lancaster, PA…

Photo of Stans Records, a hometown record store in the heart of Lancaster, PA. Photo taken by photographer Ricky Davis of TRD Photography on Kodak Tri X Film.

Who can forget the old record stores from the 70’s and 80’s? The signs, the boxes of records, the flyers and neon in the storefront. It was an awesome time. I’ve been working on a vinyl record series of photographs, and one so one of my favorite things in my travels is finding old record stores that keep that nostalgia alive. Lets face it, a lot of the modern record stores just don’t have that same retro feel. A lot of them have more of a sleek, modern vibe and those ones I typically bypass because it’s just not that feel for me.

Let me tell you a little about Stans Record Bar up in Lancaster, PA. I first went to Lancaster back in 2023 for a Peanuts convention my wife was apart of. One morning I went out exploring in Lancaster and lo and behold I came across Stan’s. It was like stepping back in time. The sign out front was what caught my attention but I had a blast flipping through the boxes. I went back to Lancaster again in 2025, and again I made a point to go check out Stan’s and it was just as great as I remembered.

The store was founded back in the 1950’s, and it’s definitely kept the yesteryear vibe. It’s such a breath of fresh air seeing shops like this still kicking. So if you’re ever up in Lancaster, or close by, definitely take the time to support a shop keeping the dream alive.

Ricky