Reading Time :- 10 mins
This year, Record Store Day (RSD) took place on Saturday April 12th. But, what is it, what was it like and should you care (even if you do have FOMO)?

Record Store Day
Record Store Day is a one day event, dedicated to the pursuit of vinyl records, and takes place annually, at participating record shops across the globe.
The nearest Record Shop for me was Novel Sounds in Maldon (about a mile away) but I also took a drive to Intense Records in Chelmsford (about 10 miles away) which had a much greater selection of records on offer.

So, what is it?
Taking place every year (a bit like International Jet Wash Your Patio Day but slightly more interesting) RSD is when hundreds of special edition vinyl albums are released (there are some geographical differences), and are only available in record shops (to begin with).
What’s the point?
It began in 2007 in the US (before 25% tariffs were imposed on vinyl) as a way to reinvigorate the ailing vinyl records industry. Vinyl had been out of fashion since the invention of the CD in the 80’s, which, as many of you will know were purported to work even if you dipped them in jam, but all that really happened was you ended up with a CD player clogged up with Strawberry Conserve and a roomful of bees.

And as a result, a couple of record shop owners decided they would try to encourage people back to a few nearby record stores, with a ‘special’ vinyl day. RSD is now in it’s 18th year and is getting bigger every year.
So, how does it work?
Well, it’s like this. The record companies decide which new albums/singles they will ‘release’ on Record Store Day, the record shops decide if they want to participate (it can be a big money spinner – more on that later), then the RSD organisers release a list of records which will be available, anything from a-ha to Zombina and the Skeletones (a particular favourite of mine) and everything in between.
Then people like me who actually buy vinyl records (I’m listening to one while I’m writing this), fill in a form ‘requesting’ certain records they would like to buy and email it to their local record shop.
Who invented these lists?
The record shops then ‘order’ the records based up on these requests, e.g. 25 Bowie albums, 9 Blur albums, 3,811 Zombina and the Skeletones albums etc.

1st Rule
All straightforward so far? Not for long. The first rule of Record Store Day is “never talk about Record Store Day”. Oh, no that’s Fight Club. The first rule of RSD is:- Record Shops cannot guarantee the requested records will be received (aka supply and demand). For example, I ordered a John Lennon EP from Novel Sounds. Howard the owner, explained he was unable to get any copies at all.

Early Doors
The second rule of RSD is, even if the record shop is able to fulfill your requests, they are not able to hold onto them for you. All records are available on a ‘first come, first served’ basis. This is because the idea is to get people into record stores on the day, not sometime next week, maybe, when I’ve got a bit more time. Which means every year you hear horror stories of people ‘camping out’ days before the event!

Hope
So, yes the queues can be very long. At 8 am in Chelmsford the queue was about 400m long. In Maldon it was a little shorter but people were outside at 8am. I wasn’t; I was still in bed. I did get there at about 9.30 though. Novel Sounds is quite small. I mean, anymore than 5 people and you’re on first name terms within minutes.

Triangulation
One slight issue I have with Novel Sounds is it sits right on the outer rim of what is commonly referred to (in my house at least) as The Maldon-Bermuda Triangle. This is made up of three distinct map references. The first, towards the north end of the High Street is Novel Sounds Record Shop. The second is Maldon Bookshop next door, and just across the High Street is the third reference point, the Maldon Coffee Company.

Holy Trinity
It has been noticed that when people like myself enter this triangle they can go missing for days at a time. And when they do finally return to their loved ones, they are confused, they have no memory of where they have been, all their money has gone, but it has been magically replaced with records, books and coffee beans. It happens to me a lot.

Request
Sadly, my request to Novel Sounds for 4 RSD albums and an EP ended up being 1 album and no EP (perhaps I should have got up earlier after all). Which is why I decided on a trip to Intense Records in Chelmsford. Being a much larger store they were able to accommodate a lot more people and a lot more albums.
Driven
So Vikki (my wife, who often forces me to buy vinyl) and I drove through Danbury to the Chelmsford park and ride, took a bus into the town centre and walked up to Intense Records in the Meadows shopping centre. We arrived at about 10 o’clock and were greeted by a very long queue!

Horrified, we joined the back, we were then told off by security for standing in the wrong place, and then listened to a few acoustic sets by the invited buskers, providing entertainment for the record buyers.
Passport Control
We’d already parked at a massive open air car park, taken a bus and were now in a long queue. It felt like I was going on holiday, so I started removing my shoes, belt, and electrical equipment, in readiness to go through the security scanners at passport control.

Trousered
Vikki asked me what I was doing. I explained about passport control and she gave me the ‘thousand yard stare’ and told me to put my trousers and underpants back on. So I did. Before security told me off again.

Cosplay
On a few occasions it felt a little like being an extra in a Star Wars film, as there appeared to be a cosplay convention going on in The Meadows at the same time. Moss Eisley spaceport has never looked so inviting, even if Obi-Wan did famously refer to it as a “hive of scum and villainy.” That’s Mos Eisley, not The Meadows. Well, I’m not sure which one he was referring to now I come to think of it.

Baby
When we got to the far end of the queue we could see the buskers and the cosplayers. At one point Vikki said quizzically, “Do you think the baby on that fellow’s back looks a bit odd?” I looked over to where she was indicating.
“Yes,” I said. “You’re right, it does.” She continued squinting and studying it. “But that’s because it’s Yoda,” I explained.

Poor eyesight, you have!
Fun
And the fun didn’t stop there either. Actually it did but not for me because soon we were in the shop and I was spending money like there was no tomorrow and all the records I’d been desperate for since 9.30 this morning (about 90 minutes ago), were within my grasp.

I ended up with a few albums; one by the Boomtown Rats, a Sabbath album I picked up in Maldon, a couple of others, and yes, an EP by Lennon. I knew you’d be concerned but it’s ok now.

After Eight
If you can’t get to your local record shop on the day, many are open on Sunday, selling off additional stock and also you can buy online on Monday after 8pm. They also start appearing on sites like eBay and Discogs soon after, with the usual markup added.
2024
Last year we also went to Intense Records on RSD and wandered straight into the shop at about 11.30. It was certainly much busier this year, which is encouraging but also disconcerting in some ways, because usually when the pursuit of money outweighs everything else, it results in a sea-change, from quality to quantity; where the quality goes down and the price goes up.

2026
However, whilst waiting to pay I was speaking to the shop assistant about the day and she explained they would make enough money today to keep the shop open for another year. So, perhaps Record Store Day is working, if like me you like to have a plethora of shops to choose from. Which I do. I draw the line at card shops and charity shops though; they have been abusing the privilege for years.
FOMO
And, in answer to my question about whether to go to Record Store Day because you have FOMO? The answer is no you shouldn’t. You should go to therapy instead.
Links
Further information can be found at the following links:-
Record Store Day UK
Record Store Day | Celebrate the UK’s independent record shops
Novel Sounds
Novel Sounds | Record Shop | 21c High Street, Maldon, UK
Intense Records
Intense Records Drum & Bass, Dubstep, CDs and Vinyl Record Shop
Thank you for your time.
Back to Blogs