Rasputin Music

Rasputin Music is the largest independent chain of record stores in the San Francisco Bay Area, California. It was founded as "Rasputin Records" in 1971 in Berkeley, California by entrepreneur Ken Sarachan. It is named after 19th century Russian religious figure Grigori Rasputin.

Rasputin Music currently operates seven locations around the Bay Area: the flagship Berkeley store at 2401 Telegraph Avenue, San Francisco, Newark, Campbell,Pleasant Hill, San Lorenzo, and Fairfield. There are also three locations in the Central Valley cities of Modesto, and Fresno.

The original Rasputin Music store was located at 2523 Durant Avenue where Sweetheart Café & Tea is located. They moved to Telegraph Avenue in the space currently occupied by Blondie's Pizza, which is also owned by Ken Sarachan. Rasputin moved across the street into a larger space when Odyssey Records went out of business. In the late 1970s it split into two separate locations, with one store specializing in rock music and the other in soul, jazz and other music genres. In July 1982, a fire at next-door Steve the Greek's restaurant destroyed the soul and jazz store. Rasputin's Berkeley operations were then consolidated into a single location. It currently operates at the corner of Telegraph Avenue and Channing Way.

Although in recent years its prices have become more commensurate with those of other music stores, Rasputin was known for offering low prices on new and used CDs, DVDs, and vinyl records compared to other Berkeley music stores like Leopold and Tower Records. Its selection of new vinyl is unusually rich, as is its selection of used CDs and DVDs.

...
Wikipedia