Local Record Stores Riding Wave Of Vinyl

The recent Record Store Day acted as a catalyst for people who don’t think too much about their music collection to kick the local record store back into their mind, even if it is just to remember that they exist.

For many people, proprietors and customers alike, these stores never went away. Since the 1980s, when the shops stocked mostly vinyl to the late 1990s and early 2000s when compact discs were the mainstays, to today, where vinyl acts as the lifeblood. Record stores have never totally left the music scene.

Record Store Day tends to focus on limited edition records that stores might get in for the special occasion. If you would have asked many store owners what the landscape for physical music would look like in 2017, it is probably a fair bet that not all of them would have put money on vinyl being the most popular medium.

“You know, who would have thought, twenty years ago that records would be this popular again? I certainly didn’t,” said Bobbie Lewis, the owner of the Newtown Book and Record Exchange.

The Newtown business opened up 36 years ago. In 1981, there were only records and CDs wouldn’t be huge for nearly 15 more years. Once people started to trade in their vinyl for CDs the exchange saw some of its busiest days ever. People would come in to sell their vinyl and would look to get a lot of their collection on CD.

“We have just sort of gone along with the flow over the years,” Lewis explained.

That sentiment is shared by Mitch Barth, the owner of Positively Records near five points in Levittown. For awhile, Barth didn’t even want to look at records as a trade in option.

“Over the years, it really has come full circle,” Barth explained.

When the shop opened in 1984, they strictly stocked records. In the 90’s, the switch to tapes and CDs came. Over the past 10 years, vinyl has come back and even been a saving grace for the store as tapes and CDs lost their luster.

People kept coming in and asking Barth if they could get vinyl. The writing was on the walls, and over the past 10 years, Positively Records started to stock vinyl again.

Not all local record shops would argue that vinyl ever really went away, though.

“The vinyl never really went away. I think the main stream might have made it seem like it did,” said Blair Elliot, the owner of Siren Records in Doylestown.

“The truth is that vinyl has always been strong for independent stores,” Elliot explained.

Even today, Elliot estimates that vinyl accounts for about 80 percent of the store’s business. Siren Records has been around for about 30 years.

Recently, Elliot said, he has been seeing customers come in and saying that they have heard vinyl is returning. His response would be that vinyl never actually left the scene.

There are constantly new people of all ages coming into Siren poking around and getting into vinyl.

“There’s a coolness to holding a record in your hands that really can’t be replicated in any other physical medium,” explained Elliot. “Flipping through record racks is a thing people grew up with, and it is really just soothing to the soul,” Elliot continued.

“There is something to vinyl in terms of the artwork, holding it, and looking at the line notes,” said Barth. “And I really think that adds to it.”

There isn’t one single reason that business owners and vinyl lovers can point to reasoning why old-school records are coming back into the public consciousness. Surely, some people, like Elliot, value the physicality. Others likely have a nostalgia attachment. Some others cite musical qualities, mentioning that the music sounds warmer when listened to on vinyl.

“I really don’t know the answer, and I’m not sure anyone really does,” Barth explained.

Lewis and Barth both mentioned music downloads and streaming as a possible obstacle to the future of physical music. Collectors won’t be going away anytime soon, though.

“A collector is a collector. The physical element isn’t going to go away,” Barth started. “The same way people might collect old radios or fans. They may not use it, but it still exists and is there,” Barth concluded.

It doesn’t look like vinyl is going away anytime soon. Many new records that release come with some sort of download code so that the customer has more ways to enjoy their music. More and more people are getting into vinyl and collecting music, if trends amongst local record shops are any indication.

The Guardian cited industry data earlier this year that noted vinyl sales are an a 25-year high, moving more than 3.2 million records in 2016. The data showed vinyl sales weren’t just spurred by new records but also the classics.

The Book and Record Exchange doesn’t deal in equipment, and Positively Records will occasionally sell a turntable as a good starting point for people who want to get into collecting. To get started, Barth recommends taking a trip to your local record shop and just having a conversation with the person behind the counter. In all likelihood, they can point you in the right direction.

The most important thing for people to keep in mind when they decide to visit these stores and delve into the world of vinyl, according to Barth, is that they need to be doing it for the music.

“You need to make sure you’re buying it for the music, not for the investment or the status.”