Similar to Small Business Saturday on Thanksgiving Weekend, Record Store Day is an international promotion to get shoppers to support their local music merchant. The goal is not only to sell music and merchandise, but to celebrate the unique record store culture and the role independent stores have in their communities. Participating stores throughout the world will offer special vinyls LPs and CDs to commemorate the event. Many host musical performances, parades, cook-outs and plenty more festivities.
Vinyl records are experiencing a renaissance, with many artists releasing albums on the seemingly retro 12-inch platters. Sexy French dance robots Daft Punk released their most recent album, Random Access Memories, which won album of the year at the 2013 Grammys, on vinyl in addition to a digital download.
“The day brings awareness to everyone that record stores exist, and that records are back,” says Randy Ellis, owner of Randy Now’s Man Cave and Consignment Shop in Bordentown. “It’s almost like a Hallmark holiday. I’m waiting for Hallmark to make ‘Happy Record Store Day’ cards.”
In its seventh year, Record Store Day initially had a slow start but has grown in popularity in recent years.
“Somewhere along the line it caught on, especially in the last 3 or 4 years,” Ellis says. “It’s been very healthy for business for these stores. It’s almost like second Christmas.”
Ellis says the clientele on Record Store Day represents a wide age bracket.
“You see people from 8 to 80,” he says. “You’ve got kids as young as 12 coming in with their parents who love music, and these kids are buying anything from the Beatles to the Dead Kennedys.”
To locate a record shop near you, visit the event website linked above.