Camel Records' story began in 2014, on a scheduled Istanbul–Ankara bus journey, with the sentence, "Let's set up a record page." While still a university student, its founder started delving into record stores, second-hand bookshops, and antique markets in Ankara in 2015 to complete his collection. Weekends spent amidst dust, morning frost, and the phrase "Can I also look at these boxes, please?" gradually turned into a habit, then a passion, and eventually a kind of addiction. Life, of course, intervened with its classic duties: graduation, internship, work, responsibility, intensity… but the music never stopped, and this love never faded. It always continued subtly.
One day, we realized that our hands were still in the boxes, and we were still chasing different sounds.
Camel Records moved to Istanbul in 2021 by chance and served music lovers as “Fuaye Kadıköy” in the foyer of Kadıköy Cinema between 2022 and 2024. It was not just a record stand; it was a space where musical conversations, new discoveries, and friendships were forged.
When the foyer adventure ended, Camel Records made an unexpected maneuver and returned to the nine-to-five grind. But it couldn't simply detach itself from music. On the one hand, it started "DJing" with records at some of Istanbul's leading venues. The music never went silent. It wouldn't. About a year and a half of working as a white-collar professional was enough experience, and that first sentence came to mind: "Let's set up a record page.”
Now, with the same spirit as day one but with a stronger infrastructure, it is reborn as an online platform where collectors and music enthusiasts meet.
Although our collection today consists of records carefully selected and gathered over the years from all continents except Antarctica, our roots are still the same, somewhere in the patience of Ankara, the crowds of Istanbul, the heartbeat of sifting through that first box, in pursuit of new sounds.
Whether you are looking for a piece of a collection or wish to set sail for new horizons, we invite you.
Camel Records: "Loves, collects & sells beautiful gems around the world."
