Express & Star

Vinyl fans take a spin at Record Store Day

Record Store Day looked very different this year – as people arrived at their favourite music shops in masks and with social distancing in place.

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Claire Howell, owner of record store Vintage and Vinyl in Wolverhampton, was on hand to advise customers

The special event is held each year across the country and allows record fans to get their hands on limited edition releases.

Normally queues stretch down the road outside independent record retailers in the early hours of the morning – but Covid-19 concerns meant it was less busy than in previous years.

Claire Howell, owner of record store Vintage and Vinyl in Wolverhampton, said it was "to be expected".

She said: "It was a good day. Obviously very different than last year and any other year.

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"The queue was a lot shorter but we knew it was going to be less, as Record Store Day has been split over three days this year, one in August, one in September and one in October. So obviously not as successful as before.

"We had hand sanitiser as people went in, screens round the counter, and people wore their masks in store. We could only have 12 to 15 people in at one time so we opened at 8am and had people throughout the morning.

"We're quite a big shop so we can get people in safely. That's why we decided to just do the same we always do. I know other shops did a click and collect drive by service, or asked customers to book a spot online, but that all got rather complicated for us.

"We ordered 70 per cent less stock than normal - that's how cautious we were.

"But given the circumstances, we thought it was a success."