Jacksonville’s lone record store kicked out the jams for Black Friday and for its second Record Store Day event.
The inaugural nationwide Record Store Day was first held in 2007. Jacksonville had outlets in the past, but Pizza Records’ owner Devin & Heather Smock brought the tradition back to Jacksonville this past year. The event is known for hosting special pressings of rare albums and releases of popular and limited edition albums for patrons to purchase.
Devin Smock says his day began early yesterday morning with a line of music lovers awaiting to get their hands on the special edition releases: “There was a pretty decent-sized line. I got here at 6AM and a couple of my regular customers were already here waiting outside. It was a good line and a nice turnout. It was steady since then, so yeah, it’s been another good one.”
Smock says that days like this one where people visit small retailers during one of the biggest retail event days of the year means a lot to him and his fellow small business owners throughout the area: “This directly impacts our store and our families. Not only does it help us pay our bills, obviously like every other small business; but a big day like yesterday and the coming Christmas shopping season is kind of what we use to get more displays, more stuff in the store, a variety of different and new items – especially with us expanding to 59 Central Park Plaza in a month or two. That will allow us to have more and different things in the store, more displays, and things like that. It’s a huge deal that these [Record Store Days] have been successful.”
Smock says that Pizza Records remains open as the lone business at Gillham House for now. He says he will let patrons know as soon as possible when their move to 59 Central Park Plaza will take place. For now, patrons can still come to the side door and visit the record store during regular business hours.