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Stores Sun Apr 17 2011
Record Store Day 2011 (Part 2)
My Record Store Days always begin with a little planning and strategy. Popular shops are visited early in the morning to maximize the chances of buying some of the day's special (limited) releases out from under the capitalists who flip them on eBay by noon. It's just a matter of knowing who'll be carrying what, or at least having a good idea of who might stock what you want. (Even shops typically don't know what a distributor will deem them worthy of until they open the shipments.) With that in mind, Permanent is usually my first stop. Unlike last year, it wasn't completely slammed, but certainly busy and all indications from the staff were that their midnight sale went very well. Aside from a handful of predictably popular special releases (Laura Marling's split with a band whose fame baffles me and Ty Segall's T. Rex covers, notably), Permanent seemed to still be well-stocked by 11. With a good haul secured, it was off to the next spot.
By late morning, Reckless on Milwaukee had a line snaking through the store and outside past LensCrafters. The Numero Group's pop-up store was being thoroughly picked over, too. My companion and I decided to hightail it to a shop with less foot traffic: the relatively deserted Reckless on Madison, to see what of our special release lists could be acquired. I scored Ty Rex, but she came up empty. Then we headed to Hyde Park Records. Now, I live rather far from Hyde Park and only visit the shop once or twice a year, but I always find something that amazes me. On this trip, it was a sealed copy of the Stone Roses' seminal "Fools Gold" 12" single and a waterlogged copy of Iggy Pop's The Idiot. (It plays fine.) On a day when many people simply hand a list of wants to a clerk, it was nice to get some satisfaction among a thousand Whipped Cream and Other Delightses and Tubular Bellses.
A roundabout route to Beverly took up precious time and the selection was a little spotty, but my companion did excitedly find an album that she'd be too embarrassed for me to mention. So the trek wasn't a complete waste. Mad traffic on the Dan Ryan got us to Saki just in time for the 1900s. Even though it's a large store, there were a lot of bodies taking up space. The used section was impenetrable, so I browsed through the new stuff and came away with a few nice finds. Where Saki separated themselves from other stores in regard to customer service was the board of all releases that they received and what their availability was. It undoubtedly kept employees from being asked the same questions a hundred times and put into perspective how varied the special releases are. Neither rain nor snow could hamper the day and another Record Store Day came to a close with numerous new records and a lot of rewards points.
