Nowadays, with the ever-growing presence of streaming services, physical media is becoming less and less common. Despite this, there has been a recent rise in record collecting among teens and young adults. One tradition for collectors is Record Store Day, which this year will be on Apr. 20, 2024.

The first ever Record Store Day was on Apr. 19th, 2008, and was founded by Michael Kurtz, Eric Leven, Amy Dorfman, Carrie Colliton, Brian Poehner, and Don Van Cleave.

The official website states, “This is a day for the people who make up the world of the record store—the staff, the customers, and the artists—to come together and celebrate the unique culture of a record store and the special role they play in their communities.” 

Our local record store, Off the Record, has been participating since 2015. This year, they are offering free food all day from Carvers. Customers can also enjoy the cafe, which opened in January. The store will open at 8 a.m., and the cafe will open at 5 a.m. 

“This is our way of thanking the community and the people that keep shopping here,” said Benji Stone, owner of Off the Record. “Hooking people up with music that’s why we  do Record Store Day.” 

Copy numbers for these exclusive records can range from 500 copies to 15,000, and most of these vinyls are either new pressings or special releases. These limited numbers make each record a prized possession in collections.

“It’ll be a pretty epic moment for people because Grand Haven doesn’t have anything like what we’re gonna have,” said Stone.