Record Store Day Rundown: A Guide to Record Store Day in Gainesville

It’s almost the time of year again where music-thirsty fans line the streets and camp out in hopes of claiming a limited-edition vinyl from their favorite artists.

At the crossroads of Black Friday chaos mixed with the buzz of Christmas morning exists a holiday for the music enthusiast: Record Store Day.

The eleventh annual Record Store Day will take place on April 21. Across the globe, independent record stores participate in the event that helps bring attention back to purchasing music on vinyl. Gainesville’s Arrow’s Aim Records and Hear Again Records will be hosting a day of exclusive releases at their shops.

Arrow’s Aim co-owners Steve Parker and Jeff Smith expect busy crowds all day and high volumes of sales. They have been managing a handful of record stores together for the last 12 years after meeting at a record show in Orlando.

All the advertisements generated by the event help to draw back in people who have gotten too busy with life to go record shopping, according to the co-owners.

Over the years, they have experienced the chaos of Record Store Day from customers trying to go behind the counter to find more products to people sneaking in the back door and setting off alarms to try and beat long lines.

“If you go through that much trouble, you need that Flaming Lips box set more than I do,” Parker joked.

Arrow’s Aim will have an entire section of the store specifically set aside for Record Store Day special releases. A few of the exclusive items they have stocked up on are two new LP’s from Mac DeMarco, rare LP’s by David Bowie and Grateful Dead box sets.

“It’s going to be a fight club here,” Parker joked. “It’s going to be like a hockey game; people getting checked into the wall for their Grateful Dead LP.”

They are encouraging customers to visit their shop and Hear Again Records. The stores have a friendly relationship because Arrow’s Aim specializes in used records while Hear Again mainly sells new ones.

If they don’t have something at their shop, people can easily run a few blocks over to Hear Again and look through its inventory.

It’s going to be like a hockey game; people getting checked into the wall for their Grateful Dead LP.

Andrew Schaer, owner of Hear Again Records, has been participating in Record Store Day since 2010. He said this is undoubtedly one of the store’s biggest days of profit throughout the year.

“Every year we’ve got a pretty good reputation of building up a solid inventory of Record Store Day limited releases, and we put a line pretty much around the building,” he said.

In previous years, he said some people have camped out in front of the store to be the first to get their hands on exclusive titles.

Schaer said he loves the spirit of the event because people have a good time waiting in line with friends and other music lovers. On numerous occasions, he has seen complete strangers give away a record they snagged to someone who wanted it more.

Every year we’ve got a pretty good reputation of building up a solid inventory of Record Store Day limited releases, and we put a line pretty much around the building.

Parker and Smith agreed that Gainesville is the perfect location to run a record store, because there is such a strong music community with many interconnected bands and fans. They watch regular customers strike up conversation and form relationships while flipping through bins of records.

Parker said that every generation sees a resurgence in the popularity of owning records, but the current generation have the most options when it comes to owning tangible forms of music. He said owning a record collection is like an art instillation for your home.

He has noticed that a lot more families that will go shopping together on Record Store Day.

“The first couple of years was kids,” he said. “Maybe the kid was pulling records out of the closet and the dad was like ‘hey, hey, hey—what’s going on?’ Now, I see a ton of dads, sons, moms and daughters buying records together.”

Invoking some nostalgia has become an effective tactic kids use to get their parents to pay for records, according to the co-owners. From personal experience, this strategy works nine out of ten times and is absolutely worth a shot.

Despite the craziness surrounding the day, Parker and Smith agreed that they are fans of Record Store Day because it brings people together to buy music.

“At the end of the day, it’s going to be a room full of people buying records, which is awesome,” Parker said.

You can keep up with the select titles available on RSD on Arrow’s Aim and Hear Again’s Facebook pages.

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