Vinyl Tap: Pittsburgh Prepares To Mark Record Store Day

PITTSBURGH, PA — For vinyl lovers, it's like awakening on Christmas morning to see the presents under the tree. National Record Store Day arrives June 12 after being delayed nearly two months beyond its usual date because of the Coronavirus outbreak.

National Record Day is marked by many festivities, including the distribution of vinyl and CD releases manufactured just for the day. Dozens of titles are being released exclusively at participating stores, though not all of them will have every title.

Conceived in 2007 at a gathering of independent record store owners and employees as a way to celebrate and spread the word about the unique culture surrounding nearly 1,400 independently owned record stores in the United States and thousands of stores internationally.

The first Record Store Day took place on April 19, 2008. Today there are Record Store Day participating stores on every continent except Antarctica, where few penguins have turntables.

Several area record stores likely to be packed on Record Store Day, including:

• Jerry's Records, Squirrel Hill
  

Rolling Stone once named this magnificent place one of America's finest record stores - because it is. Longtime owner Jerry Weber retired sold the store in 2017 to an employee but little has changed. The cavernous store boasts 500,000 LPS, 12-inch singles, 45s and EPs. Record lovers easily could walk in the store and spend the next month or so browsing.

• Vinyl Man Records, Swissvale
  

Weber's love of records interrupted his retirement. Weber has about 250,000 albums stored in an old auto dealership, and has about 50,000 for sale at any given time. Most sell for $5. The shop is open Fridays and Saturdays only from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

• The Attic, Millvale

In business for more than 40 years, The Attic offers a selection nearly as large as Jerry's and sells both new and used records.

• Eide's Entertainment, Downtown
  

The store soldiers on despite the recent death of owner Greg Eide from coronavirus complications. Expect to find a large selection of independent music, including underground metal, industrial, punk, indie and classic rock.

• Vinyl Remains, Mt. Lebanon

This place is not gargantuan like the others listed above. But lining the walls are just a sampling of the over 3,000 painstakingly curated records housed in the shop. You can find anything from jazz to horror movie soundtracks as well as classics like AC/DC and even some local sounds.

See a list of all local Record Store Day participants here. (Please note that several have gone out of business since the list last was updated.)