Record Store Day at Piccadilly Records, Oldham Street, Manchester 2018
For crate diggers used to queuing outside the UKs plethora of independent record stores searching for rare vinyl, CDs and other collectables on Record Store Day things will be different this year. The twice postponed Record Store Day 2020 will be staggered over three days : August 29th, September 26th and October 24th and collectors and fans will be encouraged to use the Record Store Day store locator from August 14th to find out how their local shop plans to open on August 29th.
Measures that are set to be in place include bookable time slots (which will be available one week in advance on a first-come, first-served basis) and the operation of socially distanced queues.
For this year only, RSD will relax online sales so that products can be made available on participating shop websites or over the phone from 6PM on the evening of each “drop”.
For a full list of releases for Record Store Day 2020 click here.
More than 230 independent record shops in the UK faced huge uncertainty with the postponement of this year’s RSD due to the coronavirus lockdown.
Many stores are now hoping that the first instalment of the ‘RSD Drops’ will provide a much-needed sales boost in order to get them back on the road to recovery.
Speaking to RSD, Natasha Youngs, owner of Resident Music in Brighton, said: “We may not be partying this year but we’re still determined to make sure we celebrate the artists and labels that have made special releases available for our event. Getting them into the hands of the fans safely and sensibly is our top priority this year.
“We will be operating a socially distanced queue and will be serving from 8am. With the releases being made available online at 6PM the same evening, customers who would rather not visit the shop in person can choose to order them online in the evening instead. They can then collect their records from the shop at a later date or have them posted to their door.
“We’ll focus on being able to organise another exciting event next year when things can hopefully return a little more to normal.”