The Waiting Room

Uptown Normal is something many students may never think to visit before they turn 21 and feel the need to go to the bars. However, there are a few treasures in Uptown that are overlooked because it requires actually going off campus and away from the dorms and your friends.

Apart from the train station and the Children's Museum, there are two records stores. One is opened later than the other and seems to feature more popular and modern music, including newly released CDs as well as new vinyls. The other story closes earlier, but also has a very old feel to it, with their sun-bleached merchandise in the display windows and their record players on display.

If you're familiar with the term "hipster" then you'll probably get that vibe when you walk into The Waiting Room--which is the more modern music shop on the street with the store clerk dressed in plaid and sporting some facial hair that doesn't itself know what it is supposed to be. Oh, and the cat. A cat lurks around the store to put the cherry on top of the "hipster" vibe when you walk into the store.

There are some classics to be found within the store including many old Beatles vinyls as well as the music from Dirty Dancing and some Elton John too.