A national movement that celebrates both music and small businesses returns in a big way this weekend.
Saturday, April 20th is National Record Store Day, which has grown into an internationally recognized day to celebrate popular music and the independently owned record store.
More than 1,400 locally owned record stores, along with thousands of similar stores around the globe celebrate Record Store Day as more than 350 new and special edition albums are released Saturday, most by major artists, to both celebrate and support the independently owned record store.
In Jacksonville, Pizza Records will be celebrating its first Record Store Day in its brand new location at 59 East Central Park Plaza, which was formerly home to Kresge’s 5 and Ten and later Denney Jewelers.
Owner Devin Smock says Saturday’s event looks to be the biggest one yet for Pizza Records. “We’re really excited to do our first Record Store Day here at our new place. We’ve ordered a ton of stuff, it’s a great Record Store Day.
There’s a lot of good releases coming out. I don’t have an exact number but I think they said there are three hundred and sixty-four releases for Record Store Day, and we probably have two fifty to three hundred of them.”
Music lovers packed the store late Thursday night as both Taylor Swift and Pearl Jam both released new albums that went on sale at midnight. Smock says they still have copies of each on the shelves, plus each artist also has special products also dropping Saturday for Record Store Day.
He says there is one rule for Record Day releases as there is a limit to some purchases. “ One title per paying customer. So what that means is, you can’t come in and buy ten copies of that new Noah Kahan album. You can buy one of every single one of the records, I don’t care (chuckles). But you just can’t buy more than one. We’re just trying to keep people from going on eBay with it.”
Doors open at 8:00 am and Smock says anyone who plans on showing up early to wait in line will need to form that line on the sidewalk along the side of the store that runs east on Morgan Street.
He says if you miss out on grabbing that sought-after title, some major releases are reallocated the following Monday, so you may have a second chance if you miss out on Record Store Day.