The world’s best record shops #059: Groove Attack, Cologne

A basement of wonders.

Every week, we pick out one must-visit spot from a different city around the world with photos and a little bit of history. Think of it as a kind of 1000 places to see before you die but for record shops.

Having visited OYE Records and Hard Wax in the German capital, we hopped on an ICE to Cologne and the effortless cool of Cologne’s Groove Attack records.

Groove Attack

Location: Maastrichter Str. 49, 50672 Köln, Germany

Go for: Hip-hop, beats and samples

What’s the story? The oldest record shop in Cologne, Groove Attack has been peddling wax since 1992, a year that still informs much of its most crucial stock. Although Cologne has a rich and varied selection of shops, Groove Attack stands out for its hip-hop focus, which is extensive and well curated.

Like all good record shops though, it understands the context of the music it sells enough to pack the rest of this spacious basement with new and second hand funk, soul, disco, soundtrack, Latin, jazz and just about anything else you can imagine might have been sampled at some point since ’92 (and before).

A pillar of the city’s strong music scene, Groove Attack is little harder to find than most if you’re visiting as it’s now located in the basement of menswear retailer Monsieur Courbet, in case you fancy picking up a shirt on your way out too.

Photos: onthegrid.city curated by Elastique