Record Store Day, happening Saturday, April 12, is not a typically regarded and celebrated holiday. Obscure holidays like Puzzle Day (Jan. 29), Waffle Day (March 25) and National Beer Day (April 7) are often forgotten or are only celebrated by those already in that community.
It doesn’t take much to be part of Record Store Day. It just takes an interest in music, vinyl records and collecting them, or any analog music format for that matter.
The U.S. was the first to create and celebrate Record Store Day back in 2008, but it has since then become a global celebration. Some cities in the U.S. have even declared it an official holiday.
Participating artists wait to release special editions of a recorded album, an album repress, live concert albums, an anniversary release and even unreleased music, all exclusive to that day.
On the second Record Store Day, April 18, 2009, Jesse “Boots Electric” Hughes started a tradition of having a designated record store day ambassador by declaring himself one, according to the official Record Store Day website.
Since then, artists like Ozzy Osbourne, Iggy Pop, Jack White, Chuck D., Dave Grohl, Metallica, St. Vincent and Pearl Jam have taken on the title and brough their fanbases into the Record Store Day community. This year’s ambassador is American musician Post Malone.
There is something very special to say about Record Store Day, the reason for its creation and celebration. Not only is it keeping analog music formats alive, but it is also bringing people back to the stores who sell them.
From a record store employee’s perspective, Mick Dickinson, shares her two-year experience working at Telegraph Autonomous Zone (TAZ), the local record store in New London.
“It’s the best job in the world,” Dickinson said with a laugh, “I get to listen to music all day, input records and interact with a lot of cool people,” she said in a phone interview.
When it comes to choosing what to play, she says it depends on the kind of day,
“So, if it’s like a rainy day, I’m gonna go with something like The Neighbourhood or Bon Iver, and then usually if it’s a sunny day I go for some reggae, maybe some Khruangbin, some classic rock, you know?” Dickinson said.
During our call, she was listening to Subtronics, something she likes to put on when the store is dead to hype herself up.
Some stores, like Willimantic Records, were not able to participate in Record Store Day this year due to poor business, according to Joe from Willimantic Records. For TAZ, relocating to the main strip, and active online presence has contributed to good business and keeping their participation in holiday alive.
Once the Record Store Day releases list is available, TAZ encourages customers to browse the printed list and submit any order requests, according to Dickinson.
“We also post on our social media like announcing records and like if there’s anything you want to see like leave a comment,” she said.
This year, TAZ customers asked for a variety of artists from Taylor Swift, Gorillaz live at the Apollo (2006), Gracie Abrams, and Charli XCX, to Grateful Dead and The Cure, Dickinson said.
Aside from putting out those pre-ordered vinyls on Record Store Day, starting at 2 p.m., TAZ will host eight different live performers including their headliner, local Boston band Worshipper.
In an alleyway in downtown Mystic, Connecticut, you’ll find the 42-year-old record store, Mystic Disc, owned by Daniel Curland. The store has been taking part in Record Store Day since the inception of the holiday. Still, he brings up the reality that owning a record store is a “tough business” and taking part in this event can be expensive.
“The kids want them so you gotta have it cause you don’t wanna disappoint the local kids. I’ll get my customers all year round but new records are very expensive, and you don’t make a lot of money on them,” Curland said.
To this sentiment, it seems that record stores diversify with what they offer and how they promote it, the more likely they will be to have a consistent customer base and growing community.
When asked about other record shops, Dickinson recommends Mystic Disc and Tumbleweeds in Niantic because of what they sell aside from records.
“Tumbleweed[s] is super cool. I go there a lot for clothes on. I check out the records, of course, when I’m there, but it’s like a really cool little hippie shop so I totally love the clothing there and the jewelry. So that’s where I go for that,” she said.
Of course, everyone has preferences when it comes to choosing and buying anything. That includes clothes and music, how they find it, how they buy it or listen to it. For record store owners, there is always a preference for how to run it and if they consider things like aesthetics, social media and live music events.
For Curland, his preference is talking to his costumers and real-life interactions. He believes making it more than a record store doesn’t always mean having to be active online.
“People come in and talk about music, and have the kids in town hang around, we talk about music, we talk about politics … So, it’s really a credit to the people in town and customers that come here and buy records,” Curland said.
Curland’s store features a lot of used vintage records. In sharing how he collects them, he brings up “the unfortunate part” of his business of dealing with a lot of deaths. Aside from deaths he’s experienced in his own family, he confronts other people’s deceased family members when buying their collections.
“You know Uncle Billy’s records will go to people that are really gonna love them, and Uncle Billy will know that when he’s up in heaven … Uncle Billy lives on through his records,” Curland said.
This belief is tied to the idea that record stores are all about nurturing the gift of music sharing and reminding people of the beautiful art that is music.
Though not every independently owned record store in Connecticut or even the U.S. has the money to participate in the event, the holiday itself is one that aims to encourage customers to visit and support any local record shop.
The 18 record stores in Connecticut highlighted on the official record store day website are: Newbury Comics Danbury, Disc & Dat (Bethel), Gerosa Records (Brookfield), Revolution Records (Torrington), Static Era Records (Milford), Exile on Main (Brandford), Replay Records (Hamden), Redscroll Records (Wallingford), Uncle Joes Records (Cromwell), C Bug’s Records (East Windsor), Newbury Comics Manchester, The Good Kind (Vernon), Paul’s Boutique (Vernon), Little Lost Records (Stafford Springs), Willimantic Records (Willimantic), Tumbleweeds (Niantic), Telegraph Autonomous Zone (New London) and Mystic Disc (Mystic).
Don’t forget to check out the Record Store Day U.S. website for the 2025 official list of special edition title releases.