UK | Vinyl fans flock to UK record shops for Record Store Day 2022: Some customers queued from the early hours to get their hands on their desired RSD release. Vinyl lovers have been flocking to independent record shops across the UK today (April 23) for Record Store Day 2022. As part of RSD’s 15th anniversary, hundreds of exclusive physical releases – including vinyl, CD and cassette – were made available at over 260 participating indie retailers nationwide. Fans can get their hands on special records from the likes of Blur, Taylor Swift, Elvis, U2, Bring Me The Horizon, Sam Fender and Blondie. Many celebrated managing to bag ‘The Lakes’ 7″ by Swift, who is the global ambassador of Record Store Day 2022. “Still can’t believe this happened but I’m so glad to have another addition to my Taylor Swift collection, especially one of my favourite tracks for my first RSD!” one customer wrote on Twitter. Another Swift fan shared a picture of their clear vinyl of ‘The Lakes’, captioning it: “Three hours later and she’s finally mine.”
Indio, CA | Coachella 2022: Record store day draws new and veteran collectors: As Saturday, April 23 marked record store day nationally, both new and experienced vinyl collectors took the opportunity to expand their collections at Coachella. Crate diggers descended upon the centrally located Record Safari! on the festival fairgrounds to indulge in the 15th annual record store day, in which record store staff, customers and the artists collaborate. Through sales, exclusive promotions and vinyl re-releases, the goal is to keep the tradition of record collecting alive. Some customers had to wait outside in a line at Record Safari! on Saturday as there was a special section of records set aside for the holiday, said Ivan Castaneda, spokesman for the record store. While there were no exclusive releases at the store this year, Castaneda said they had a special selection of releases, featuring some artists performing at this year’s festival. “I was not expecting a line like this,” Castaneda said.
Hazard, KY | Eastern Kentucky record store sees great turnout for Record Store Day: Queen City Records in Hazard experienced Record Store Day for the first time. Store leaders said they saw great success and plan on participating in future Record Store Days moving forward. The shop was scheduled to be open 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. but stayed open for as many customers as possible. Co-owner Mary Jo Everidge said it was busy all day. “We’ve had people camping out this morning,” she said. “We’ve had a couple customers here since six o’ clock this morning. We didn’t open until 11, so, we’ve had a very, very good turnout.” Everidge said, when the store opened, they immediately had 15 to 20 people come in and shop.
Fresno, CA | Vinyl records making a comeback in Fresno for one-day, here’s why it’s booming again: The annual national “Record Store Day” brought collectors out by the hundreds Saturday in Fresno. According to Recording Industry Association data, Vinyl records are making a comeback. Vinyl records outsold CD sales in 2020 and 2021 and that hasn’t happened in decades. Although it’s great for record shop owners, they say, it’s seeing another bigger issue come from it. Paul Cruikshank, owner of Ragin’ Records, had over 500 people waiting in two lines when he open the doors at 7:30 A.M. The lines went for blocks around the Tower District. “Record Store Day was conceived in 2007 at a gathering of independent record store owners and employees as a way to celebrate and spread the word about the unique culture surrounding nearly 1400 independently owned record stores in the US and thousands of similar stores internationally.”
Green Bay, WI | Customers share memories of The Exclusive Company during Record Store Day Celebration: The Exclusive Company has been a hub for music lovers in Green Bay for generations, first opening its doors in 1985. Now, many customers will soon have to say goodbye to their favorite local music spot. This month, the Wisconsin chain announced it would close all of its stores following a liquidation sale. “It was kind of a shock. It’s been here forever pretty much,” said Steven Lichin, a customer who’s been visiting the store for the past 8 years. “You hear your parents talk about the place you know ‘Is that store still there?’ Yeah it’s still there.” Customers shared their favorite memories of the store during its Record Store Day sale on April 23rd. Customers waited in line as 20 people were let in to shop for 15 minutes at a time. “I got a record player for Christmas from my dad who’s super into music,” said Colton Coulombe, another regular customer. “This is the only record store that he would buy at in the area so we started coming here.”
Atascadero, CA | Local record store celebrates Record Store Day: Traffic Records in Atascadero held its Record Store Day (RSD) celebration with live music, food, drinks, giveaways, and a store-wide sale on Saturday, April 23. This year marked the fourth time that Traffic Records, located on 5850 Traffic Way, participated in Record Store Day, allowing customers to get their hands on limited edition record releases. Traffic Records in Atascadero held its Record Store Day (RSD) celebration with live music, food, drinks, giveaways, and a store-wide sale on Saturday, April 23. This year marked the fourth time that Traffic Records, located on 5850 Traffic Way, participated in Record Store Day, allowing customers to get their hands on limited edition record releases. Record Store Day is a first-come-first-serve day full of vinyl digging, and Traffic Records had hundreds of RSD titles, a large selection of used and new release large play titles, audio gear, collectibles, store merch, and more. “Now we’re coming together for the first time since the early pandemic, for a real Record Store Day and it’s very celebratory, people were in such a good mood,” Traffic Records owner, Manuel Barba said.
Mankato, MN | Vinyl lovers celebrate Record Store Day at Tune Town in Mankato: Vinyl lovers came together at Tune Town in Mankato Saturday to celebrate Record Store Day. “I do really love taking a record out of the sleeve, putting it on a turntable, putting the needle down, listening to the crackle and then getting into the music,” said customer Jen Tiernan. “Just to see how Record Store Day has created this whole new generation of music lovers, of vinyl lovers, has rekindled that interest in a lot of people as well, is really great to see.” Record Store Day is a time to recognize and support independently-owned shops. It started 15 years ago, and since then, thousands of record stores around the world take part in the annual celebration. “No matter what you’re going through in your life, people just love to listen to their favorite musicians,” stated customer Rachael Hanel. “So to come out today and find that, or to be with people who also feel that way, it’s a community.”
Nottingham, UK | Record Store Day attracts hour-long queues to Nottingham’s Rough Trade: The store described it as the ‘best time of the year’ Hundreds of record-seeking shoppers flocked to Nottingham’s Rough Trade for Record Store Day. Some camped out before opening at 8am and other waited in queues for more than an hour on what the store described as the “best time of the year” on Saturday, April 23. At times the queue stretched from the shop in Broad Street around to Pelham Street. Among those lining up was Spencer Owen, who came from Bramcote said he “wasn’t expecting” the length of the queue. “There’s nothing in particular I’ve come for, although there are three records here that I quite fancy if they’re still in stock,” said the 50-year-old. He said those included LPs by Dire Straits and Iggy Pop. “I’ve got a fairly small collection but it’s still growing.”
Terre Haute, IN | Local record store hosted first global event: April 23rd was a monumental day for a local record store located at the historical 12 Points of Terre Haute. The Local Vinyl hosted its First Annual Record Store Day. Record Store Day is an annual single-day music event that shines light on the culture of indie record stores across the globe. However, this the first time a record store in Terre Haute has participated in the event. Owner of The Local Vinyl Eleanor Jones said the community was very vocal about the titles they wanted to see. “I think we were able to supply the specific titles customers suggested via Facebook,” Jones said. “There were over 400 hundred titles on the list and we ended up with 92 different titles.” Jones hopes her shop will continue to grow so she can buy more titles for the community. The shop reached the highest number of sales it’s seen since The Local Vinyl opened last year.
Leicester, UK | Eager vinyl fans queue up overnight for Record Store Day: One man started queuing up at 10.20pm. Vinyl enthusiasts camped out overnight outside Rockaboom and into the early hours of Saturday morning. The queues were for Record Store Day which takes place today. Record Store Day is one of the biggest days of the year for collectors, an event which promotes independent music stores across the UK and offers limited edition, rare vinyl records to help entice collectors in. The event has been described by Rockaboom’s owner, Carl Petty, as “bigger than Christmas”, with hundreds of people coming out to browse through the limited edition vinyl. One person who decided to camp out overnight was Philip Bunney, 30, from Leicester, who arrived at 10.20pm to be at the front of the queue. He said: “I ended up camping overnight, but the funny part is that I’m not even here for myself. I’m getting a record for my mum’s 60th birthday, and also a Mel C record for my girlfriend.
Lima, OH | Music lovers flock to Groamy’s for National Record Store Day: Limaland has a bunch of music lovers, and they stopped by one local institution to add to their collection. Groamy CD’s and Tapes welcomed everyone in for their National Record Store Day celebration. The line was wrapped around the business Saturday morning, with the first music enthusiast getting to the store three and a half hours before they were ready to open. Besides finding that hidden treasure inside the store, there were live bands from a variety of music genres playing outside. Since it was National Record Store Day, we asked Groamy about the resurgence of vinyl sales. “Vinyl resurgence, for my store anyway, started about 10 years ago,” says Groamy. “It’s kind of funny because I have been doing this 40 years, I have never dreamed it get to the point where I am selling 20 records for every 1 CD.”
Oxford, UK | Dozens of vinyl fans queue up for Record Store Day 2022: Dozens of record fans queued outside Truck Store on Cowley Road this morning, eager to get their hands on special vinyl releases. Record Store Day celebrates the unique culture of independent record shops across the country, with special vinyl releases made exclusively for the day and many shops hosting performances. Truck Store opened its doors two hours early this morning in light of the day but a long queue of record collectors already waited outside the shop well before 8am. Music enthusiasts had until 6pm to pick up the newly pressed records, with a DJ set Mandrake Handshake in the afternoon to break up the day. Prior to the event the store made it clear people could buy as many Record Store Day titles as they like but they were limited to one copy per person, to make it fair for everyone.
Evansville, IN | The needle drops for Record Store Day in Evansville: For some, Saturday was just any normal start to the weekend. For others, it was a day to celebrate the unique culture that surrounds one of recent times fastest growing hobbies — record collecting. Record Store Day finds listeners of all ages visiting their local record shops to flip through bins of vinyl and enjoy the rich history of the format. Space Monkey Records owner Patrick Holl says there’s been a major resurgence of vinyl records in the last couple of years. Many listeners credit the sound quality of records for their recent revival. “There is just nothing else that compares to dropping the needle,” says Holl. “Vinyl is absolutely like no other medium, it’s just something you have to experience.”
