Some top Record Store Day events in metro Detroit Street Corner Music You should be able to go to multiple stores, see what they have, have a good time and spend a whole day record shopping.” “You should do five shops in one day,” says Anderson. Then he’d head over to Bob Mays’ house, a famed record collector in Detroit with tens of thousands of records in his home, and keep digging there. On Saturdays he’d hit the now-defunct Record Time, Melodies & Memories, Flipside Records and Solo Records & Tapes in one afternoon. “A lot of people think you just go to one store and check off your list and go home,” he explains, shaking his head no. Chris the owner always says, ‘If you like music, you’re all right with me.’ We’re going to meet you at your level, whatever it is.”įor Anderson, who grew up in Detroit and worked at Saint Andrew’s Hall in high school, later owned a coffee shop-venue Zoot’s and spent his off days driving to record store after record store, he decided early on what record shopping should be like. There’s never been an antagonistic quality with our customers. “We sell clean, used records at a good price. Don’t expect record store snobbery, though, because that’s one thing you won’t find. Amid the scores of music T-shirts for sale - Muddy Waters, AC/DC, Jay Z - and new and used turntables, like the Audio Technicas and Technics SL-1900s, and the walls of gospel, jazz, rap and classical, there’s something for just about any music fan. There’s customers here I’ve seen for 17 years.” Some, who frequented as children with their parents, now shop there as adults.Įveryone is welcome at Street Corner. It took the place of CD sales.”īut he says what makes Street Corner unique is that it still carries CDs, even though used vinyl is what’s hot right now. By the time we fully moved into this location, the record revival had happened and it kept us afloat. “We started seeing teenagers coming in and buying rock records out of the dollar bin,” Anderson recalls. Street Corner’s two co-owners, Chris Flanagan and Mike Rome, who were previously managers at Sam’s Jams record shop in Ferndale, moved the store from its original home at 13 Mile and Southfield Road, where it was opened in ’92, to its current but smaller spot on Greenfield Road, which was once a butcher shop. “As CDs became unpopular and downloading moved in, and with the auto bailout and bankruptcy, things got tight,” says Anderson. The quality of official releases jumped, more stores began participating, then the long lines started happening because around the same time, there was an unexpected vinyl resurgence that came shortly after a steep economic drop and music industry shift from tangible to digital product. “We were like, ‘Who’s going to even show up? Who wants a new Dylan record?’ It was a light turnout, but it kept us interested and we sold out.”Įvery year, Record Store Day got stronger. In 2007 at the holiday’s launch they bought only five RSD releases, including a Bob Dylan record. “We realized that this could be a real thing.” “Six years ago, it just kicked in,” recalls Anderson, who has worked at the shop for 17 years and participated in Record Store Day since day one. records are on display among the listening stations, with a black record strung up nearby that says “that record you need, but we won’t sell” in blue permanent marker, the staff of seven sits in the back office area and drinks coffee while they look at spreadsheets and do research. Record Store Day takes months of planning. But this year, there are three official releases that people won’t stop calling about: a two-piece Grateful Dead box set from '77, a Pearl Jam 7-inch “State of Love and Trust”/“Breath” and, perhaps most surprising, a 25th anniversary release of U.G.K.’s "Too Hard to Swallow." “Half of the line waiting here in the morning just wants to look at used stuff,” says Anderson. Street Corner, which will carry 326 official RSD titles this year, also amps up its used supply for Record Store Day, which is usually a 60-40 used-to-new sales ratio. For any serious record collector, these items are must-haves. Hundreds of LPs, EPs and singles are released or rereleased on colored vinyl, clear vinyl, double vinyl, picture vinyl. Many shops, like Street Corner, host special events and parties. Record Store Day launched in 2007 and is held on a Saturday every April to celebrate independent record store culture. You order $10,000 of records and then you’ve gotta wait."Īfter, it’s sink or swim time. “Imagine getting a list of 500 legitimate RSD releases, 200 unsanctioned releases and having to pre-order them with no knowledge of what people want. “Record Store Day is one of the most stressful and rewarding times of the year,” says Street Corner manager Aaron Anderson, 45, of Ferndale.
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