UK | Putting finishing touches to Record Store Day plans: I finished placing our orders for Record Store Day on Wednesday, which is always a relief. The earliest order had to be in last week but quite a few had a deadline for the middle of next week. My last two decisions were whether to stock an EP by Wallows, who are a band we are occasionally asked about but whose album we didn’t stock last year, and whether to take even more Charli XCX than I originally intended given her success at the Brits. In the end I hedged my bets on Wallows and took a couple and more obviously increased what was already a large order for the two Charli XCX releases. There had already been some tricky decisions with two female singers who are big sellers for us in Gracie Abrams and Laufey both having live albums released for Record Store Day. The young girls who make up most of our sales are certainly fans but not collectors the way fans of some of the other older artists are and may well decide they don’t need a live album.
Barrie, ON | Music lovers ‘devastated’ by impending closure of local Sunrise Records: ‘It’s a spot my dad and I regularly come to, so it’s kind of a closed opportunity for us and other record buyers, too,’ says record collector. A popular destination for local music lovers is closing its doors after more than two decades. Sunrise Records, located inside Bayfield Mall in Barrie’s north end, is scheduled to pull the metal security gate closed for good at 5 p.m. on Sunday, March 16, store manager Earl Young told BarrieToday. The store, which sells a wide variety of vinyl records, games and other pop-culture paraphernalia, was previously a Sam the Record Man before being taken over by Sunrise Records, noted Young. While the outside of the store boasted a 50 per cent off sale on apparel today, Young said there weren’t really any big sales on vinyl. “Everyone wants everything to be on sale now that we are closing … if the whole company was closing that would be different, but it’s just our location,” he said, noting Sunrise Records has more than 80 stores across Canada.
Glasgow, UK | Glasgow gets new independent record store as Second Line opens in the west end: Second Line Records has opened on Hyndland Road offering an independent record shop with an extensive collection of music genres such as hip-hop, soul and blues. Glasgow’s music fans can now enjoy a new independent record store after the city’s latest spot opened in the west end. Second Line Records has just opened on Hyndland Road, offering an extensive collection of music genres. While specialising in jazz, the shop boasts an eclectic mix of genres, from hip-hop to soul and blues. The new store, which opened in February, has a sleek wooden interior and features an in-store dedicated listening lounge with cosy seats and listening posts where you can sit and enjoy the rare and high-end re-issues of classics and live recordings available in store. The team behind the shop say the name of the store is a nod to New Orleans jazz parades, with the parade leader and band named the ‘first line’, while the ‘second line’ were the strutting revellers who would fall in behind to dance and listen to the music.
San Antonio, TX | Friends of Sound opens cool, new location in Southtown neighborhood: The record shop is replacing a short-lived wine bar. Big things have been happening for Friends of Sound, the long-running record shop that’s served San Antonio for nearly a decade. In January, the Beacon Hill vinyl seller moved a few blocks away from its home on Fredericksburg Road, landing at a new space between NoFi Slow Bar and The Wicked Wich. This month, Friends of Sound also expanded with a new location in Southtown. If you ever visited wine bar A Perfect Day, you’ve already been inside of the new Friends of Sound. The difference is, instead of dining tables and wine bottles on display, you’ll now find a curated collection of records spanning every genre from funk to punk. On Wednesday afternoon, I stopped by the reimagined space, which remains connected to Bar Gimme Gimme with its own entrance on South St. Mary’s, like the previous neighboring concept.
Paris, FR | Disquaire Day 2025: Free vinyl sale, concerts and DJ sets at Ground Control: To mark Disquaire Day 2025, the Société civile des producteurs phonographiques (SCPP) is organizing a festive, free day at Ground Control in Paris on Saturday April 12. On the program? A vinyl market, conferences, a photo exhibition, DJ sets and concerts, not to mention 70 labels present for the occasion! Disquaire Day returns across France on Saturday, April 12, 2025. Throughout the day, vinyl collectors will go on a treasure hunt at partner independent record stores to unearth the LPs they’ve been dreaming of. But Disquaire Day is also a series of events organized all over the world, particularly in Paris. On April 12, the SCPP (Société civile des producteurs phonographiques) has announced the return of a major festive event at Ground Control, in the 12th arrondissement, entitled “Les labels fêtent le vinyle.”
Kochi, IN | Mr. Record Man: Sujit G Ponth’s store boasts over 6,000 vinyl records. The collection includes the Who’s Who of music in the past 50 years. Sujit G Ponth remembers the day 21-year-old Rahul Nair walked into his record story—JD’s Jukebox in Kochi. “It was the first time the youngster was seeing physical records,” says the 47-year-old Ponth, who amassed his collection over the last 12 years. As Nair wandered around the store looking at all the different styles of music, his eyes lit up as he found Eminem’s record, Recovery, released in 2010. The youngster was overwhelmed. “In my life, I have only seen Eminem on the phone. This is the first time I have seen something physically connected to Eminem,” he smiled with wonder. Ponth understood how he felt. His store boasts over 6,000 vinyl records.
Tokyo, JP | Tokyo’s vinyl experts say overseas buyers are ‘sustaining the scene.’ For all the millions of tourists flowing into Japan, what are the most popular souvenirs they’re bringing back home? Tea, omamori charms and bottles of rare whisky are perennial favorites, but there’s a new hot item that overseas visitors are increasingly eager to snap up: vinyl records. By some metrics, Tokyo boasts the highest number of record shops of any nation’s capital at 93, and valuations for global vinyl record sales stand at $1.9 billion, according to market research company, Imarc Group. The Record Industry Association of Japan says that 2023 saw the number of analogue records produced jump 26% from the previous year. Imarc Group expects this growth to continue, projecting the Japanese vinyl market will grow from $85.5 million in 2024 to $165.3 million by 2033.
Vinyl record automatic watch combines retro designs into a distinctive timepiece: Although smartwatches bring a ton of functionality to our wrists, mechanical watches still continue to have a very strong following. There is just a sense of beauty in the way the tiny gears work together with precision and accuracy to tell the time, something that both digital watches and smartwatches are unable to reproduce. There is also one other design aspect where smartwatches fall short: the ability to have unconventional and sometimes even weird cases and dials. Yes, smartwatches have a nearly infinite number of choices when it comes to watch faces, but because of the technologies involved, they mostly come in square or circular shapes only. Mechanical watches, on the other hand, can play around with different designs and themes, as demonstrated by this rather unusual timepiece that makes it look like you’re playing a vinyl disc on your wrist.
Buffalo, NY | The Buffalo Record Riot! Vinyl Records! Sat March 15th, Knights Hall, 2735 Union Rd, Cheektowaga NY: The Buffalo Record RIot! It’s a GIANT vinyl record POP-UP sale at the Knights Hall in Cheektowaga! Over 15,000 vinyl records in ONE ROOM! Great music and amazing family fun. LPs/CDs/45s, DOOR PRIZES. The Buffalo Record Riot returns! It’s a GIGANTIC vinyl record POP-UP sale at Knights Hall, 2735 Union Road in Cheektowaga! Over 15,000 vinyl records in ONE ROOM! Great music and amazing family fun. LPs, CDs and 45s. Dealers from far and wide converge for a giant music sale! All types of music from punk to funk to country to classic rock, hip hop, soul/jazz and more. Dust off that turntable and come on down. DOOR PRIZES TOO! Regular admission starts at 10 AM ($5) with early admission at 9 AM ($15). Don’t miss the BIG VINYL DIG!
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