Record Store Day goes from essential support to celebration of music

When the first Record Store Day took place in 2008, it came at a time when some of the independent shops it was championing were also struggling to stay open. The message to music lovers was: Celebrate your local shops, they really need it!

Bruce LaVerne, who has been in the record store business since 1991, has owned The Vortex in downtown McMinnville since 2003. Back then there was a lot of competition for consumers’ music spending.

“Best Buy was at its peak. You had Fry’s, you had all these major retailers, the usual, with Amazon coming up,” LaVerne said. “Everyone was our competitor.”

He says Record Store Day helped remind people that shopping for music at an independent store is a more personal experience.

“It refocused attention that there are stores out there that want to work with you as a customer one-on-one,” he said, “and provide you with the kind of music you’re really after.”

This year’s Record Store Day, which is Saturday, April 22, will reflect vinyl’s continued resurgence among music fans.