Counterweight Vinyl & Espresso

A small disco ball spins outside the entrance to Counterweight Vinyl & Espresso. Breakbeats drift through the air and, surrounded by colourful graffiti, customers hang out on wooden-box furniture drinking coffee.

Inside there are racks of second-hand vinyl, a large communal table and a couple of turntables to inspire crate digging. The music is a mixture of mostly electronic genres, plus a few soundtracks and a bit of punk rock for variety.

The store is by local DJs Rob “Spinfx” Graham and Sam “D-Gen” Hastings. The store specialises in drum‘n’bass, jungle, dubstep, hip-hop, house and techno, and has a great trance selection.

Prices range from $1 for a single to $95 for a first press of Cypress Hill’s iconic Black Sunday. Counterweight also stocks needles and cartridges for turntables, cleaning supplies and spare record sleeves. Plants dotted around the room are by East Coast Plant Supply and are also for sale.

North Melbourne’s Bailey Coffee supplies the beans, and there are pretzels, doughnuts and cookies in the cabinet from Cobb Lane. There’s also Prana chai and cold brew, and the team uses St David’s cow’s milk and Milk Lab almond milk.

There are toasties, too, but there’s no menu. The standard is bread, havarti (a semi-soft cow's-milk cheese), spinach, mushrooms and a bit of truffle oil, or salami and sauerkraut.