Patrick Berger of North Aurora, standing outside Kiss the Sky in Batavia, holds the official list of Record Store Day releases – more than 300 – that were available exclusively at independent record stores on Saturday. Russ Martens, who has operated the St. Charles-based Hoarders Trading Post record shop the past five years, may be biased about the benefits of vinyl albums, but he’s not alone, as crowds on Record Store Day on Saturday show.
First conceived in 2007 and celebrated a year later on April 19, 2008, Record Store Day recognizes more than 1,400 independent record shops around the country as well as thousands throughout the world with limited-edition vinyl releases that can’t be found anywhere else. “Taylor Swift has really jumped into this thing in a big way,” Warrenfeltz added. “Last year, she had her own limited release for Record Store Day, and two years ago, she was the Record Store Day ambassador. She’s known around the industry as being really savvy and a smart business person and I agree with all of that. I applaud her, quite frankly.”
Customers begin to file into the Kiss the Sky record shop in Batavia at 7 a.m. Saturday when sales for Record Store Day officially began. Kurtz noted the cost of a vinyl album these days averages about $25 per disc, a price point that might seem to inhibit younger collectors from getting in the game.
April Zamirowski of Montgomery drew the top number and said this was her first time coming to Record Store Day “because my husband wanted some records.”