It was a cold and gray Black Friday, but it was much warmer inside a crowded basement in the Del Ray neighborhood of Alexandria, Virginia.
Bob Clayton was going up and down the stairs, helping move the crowd along at Crooked Beat Records. He said Nov. 29 is Record Store Day, a nationwide event supporting local record shops.
Artists and labels release exclusive or small-run vinyl or albums that haven’t yet been released at big box-stores.
“These are limited releases, only released for today, and various artists participate,” Clayton said. “It is a great event because you see how it brings all the people out, but in addition, it really does financially benefit these independent record stores as opposed to places like Best Buy and Target, who sell in volume and bulk.”
Playing in the background was a song from The English Beat. The British band released a special Double LP for Record Store Day.
“In January, it’s going to be a single album, so if you get it today, you get an extra vinyl record,” Clayton said.
Outside, a line of people waited their turn, some of them sitting in portable camping chairs.
“I think I’m going to try to get some good Christmas records. They’ve got a few, kind of rare ones like that,” said Loren Southard, who was standing at the end of the line while bundled up in a puffer jacket and beanie.
“With these records, they only have them in the store, so the whole event is to try to get people to come to the store to support a guy like Bill,” Southard said.
Bill Daly, owner of Crooked Beat Records, was so busy ringing up customers that he only had a moment to speak to WTOP.
“We’ve been around for 27 years and we’ve been selling vinyl since day one,” he said, adding it felt great to see customers still so excited to buy records.
For those who didn’t have the opportunity to stand and wait in the cold, there is another Record Store Day in April.
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