I went to the same Satellite location 6 weeks ago during a family vacation. I basically got the same impression as you about the store but that didn't bother me because I'm used to being in the minority with my music tastes. I somewhat agree with you that the trance selection is very small. I espeically found this with their back catalog of trance, virtually nothing of note. I did find, however, their new trance releases to be about as numerous as all other genres so I was pleased. My mom was with me at the time so that put the kibosh on big spending but overall I was pleased with my haul and the store.

What I got there:
Three Drives-Carrera 2/Freaky Runway Massive Drive (HOL)
Plastic Boy-Silver Bath/Dahab Bonzai Progressive Trance (IT)
Binary Finary-1999 (Kaycee/Gouryella) Positiva (UK)

i think that its very very, extremely difficult to find a dj shop in the USA with a good trance selection. Maybe good, but not great. Majority people in the USA have not been exposed to the max with Trance, cause they follow the Radio Mainly.
Im talking about majority, excluding us in the TA forum that live in the USA. I think people in the US always want whatever is "IN" and whatever may be considered "NEW". So if the media (radio/TV) say House is in, then house rules majority, etc. Sometimes it just makes me sick and want to move to Europe somewhere.

In regards to the satellite store, it doesnt surprise me, as i never was impressed with their online store; their trance picks/selections and sections are more into the tribal progressive type trance or just shitty/corny uplifting/hard trance. In addition, if they appear to carry some records you want to buy, they are "out of stock" most of the time.
On a final note: I've never received any good service from DJ local shops in my area. I has always appeared to me that many of the Djs down here that run these places have their head stuck up their ass for no reason, and I never understood why.

as a NYC person, i guess i should offer my two bits.

yea, satellite is known for being snobby. their service ain't too great...there is one girl there that knows her trance though, i can't remember her name. she's usually organizing the trance vinyls tho...=P but satellite is from my experience the biggest record store in NYC (downtown anyway) that has the biggest collection of epic trance.

as for house in NY, it's the biggest thing there...while trance is still decently big, it's following is nowhere close. beyond bass was a great trance store but it shut down. if u ever go back though, i recommend decadance(can't remember the address as it changed, somewhere in lower e. village though), as it has a bunch of trance...throb vinylstore on 14th btwn 2nd/3rd ave (goa and prog trance) and at eightball records on 4th ave and 9th. eightball is primarily a house store, but it's cozy and has some decent trance that you have to search for. once in awhile u'll find some golden oldie trance classics.

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Whenever I shop at Satellite I always do a Pick Up At Store order a few days before I head to the store... they have a lot of old and new stuff that's not in the store which you can order online... that way you'll get stuff you actually want from that place and can just go browse the inventory for some additional tunes... what I hate about that place is how new releases sell out far too quickly...

edit: eightball is definately a good place to check out... i've found many oldies in there... most recent being acension - someone and chicane - saltwater...

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mmmm.. delicious...

I went to the store a few weeks ago,and I was quite disapointed. I guess they had that big sale the week before so I couldn't find anything that was on my list. The dude there tried to help so that was cool. I did find Walhalla there so it wasn't a total disaster...

I'm near D.C., so I order via internet from Satellite Records.

I'll have to go with the majority here as far as finding "popular" trance is concerned. I've noticed that at just about every U.S. record store, they simply don't carry the stuff that European DJs are spinning.

However, I was pretty happy with Satellite's service, all transactions have gone smoothly, they have decent prices, and shipping only took 2 days. Since I haven't been able to "popular" trance (sorry I keep calling it that), I've been spending alot of time listening to the no-name producers, and I've found ALOT of stuff that I like. I tend to lean towards the deep/progressive stuff (love tribal stuff), satellite has been able to provide me with some cool tunes.

Recent vinyls from Satellite:
MOSHIC PANIC SYSTEM
GARDNER & THOMAS PROPAGANDA
MOSHIC & LANDA FAZA
SAN PROJECT XEL-HA
DARUDE SANDSTORM *DRIVER, JAN/SUPERCHUMBO
KELLY PROJECT FADING
DARKO CODE OF THE TOAD
ICE CREAM SOCIAL WOVEN AIR
INDIGO DIVISION *
INERTIA BLUE LOSS OF CONTROL
MADOKA DIVE
PUNK KIDZ CHOCOLATE ROOM
REDANKA OUT OF THE DARK
URBAN DWELLERS LOVERMAN
DECEPTICONS EASTERN PROMISE
MAVI MY DREAM/PRECIOUS

Haven't heard of most of these producers (except darude and san project), but I like their music, kind of dark and tribal. Not like the epic trance I ususally hear PVD and the likes spin. Chocolate room by punk kids is a really bangin tune.