Hi Everyone,

I hope you all had a Happy Thanksgiving. I know for many of us it was the first chance to have been able to gather with family and loved ones in a minute, so I hope it was a joyful time for everyone. I am also happy to report another successful Black Friday/Small Business Saturday weekend for our stores. I always look forward to reading these recaps from our stores and so I have compiled some of the CIMS accounts of the weekend for you here. If this is just not enough reading material for you, Ken Glaser from Alliance has also compiled a two-volume deluxe edition as well.

I have included some of the individual store bestseller charts where provided, and the CIMS Chart below represents our collective hits for Black Friday sales.

Thanks to everyone reading this for being a part of this event. Whether you are making records, distributing records, selling records, or buying records- you all play a role in the success of our stores.

And if you don’t believe me…. Just read on!

Andrea

RECORD ARCHIVE - ROCHESTER, NY
Another fabulous RSD Black Friday entered into the books!
Honestly this was strange in the sense that we were a little light in the morning (bitter cold, damp , gray) so I was a tad bit concerned...

We handed out time slots, but this time not only did I let people into the store early to escape the cold ( they could not enter the Backroom Lounge until 9 am official start) but then we moved them through so quickly with our streamlined and very organized process.
Then we got slammed!! From 1 pm until closing time- we were BUSY!

We had tables of $1 vintage records, 2 food trucks, 2 bands as well as a high profile local DJ on site promoting our " Finally Friday Fickle Happy Hours" giving away a ton of concert tickets.

The releases were solid but folks were really just happy to Christmas shop and enjoy the live music and food with their friends & families. We have fully established ourselves as the ' place to go on Black Friday!" Where else could you go with both young & old to share some live music, shop and enjoy a great craft beer or glass of wine!

Here are the details:

2021 Black Friday up 38% over 2020 and up 10% over 2019!!
For the entire weekend; sales were up 26% over 2020 and up 21% over the 2019 weekend.
Best sellers: Lana Del Ray, Miles Davis, Blackberry Smoke ( defects and all!) Jimi Hendrix, Little Feat , U2 and Life Aquatic Soundtrack
Love em but slow movers: John Legend, KD Lang, Maxwell, Smith & Kotzen & Grant Lee Phillips

Thank you so much! I have been working on this little wrap up since 9 am this morning and am finally finishing up now! Sorry and THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO MADE THIS DAY POSSIBLE!!!

Much love & respect,
Alayna

RECORD EXCHANGE - BOISE, ID

What a difference a year makes.

After running our two biggest holiday kickoff days in 2020 with limited capacity and morning appointments, which naturally resulted in decreased sales, for 2021 The Record Exchange kept the masks on but returned to a “normal” shopping experience and crushed our previous Black Friday and Small Business Saturday sales records.

For Black Friday, we were up 25% over 2020 and up 20% over 2019. For Small Business Saturday, we were up a whopping 58% over 2020 and up 28% over 2019. For the three-day weekend, we were up 28% over 2020 and up 31% over 2019.

The morning was interesting. We had our shortest pre-opening line in years – only 60 people despite mild(ish) temperatures in the mid-30s – yet the first person in line was there at 2am, beating our previous record by two hours. He might have been cold, but it warmed our hearts to hear that he and the second person in line watched “Empire Records” together to kill time. Once we opened at 8am, the rush lasted a mere 30 minutes; we are used to a rush of an hour or two. The excitement was there among those who attended, but the rush came and went before we had even wiped the sleep from our eyes, which lent some credence to the online chatter that this year’s list wasn’t the best (even if we thought it was better than some people made it out to be). Fortunately, the typical lull only lasted an hour, as by 9:30am the store filled up again and it just kept getting busier until the afternoon peak. We stayed open until 8pm, and business didn’t subside until the final hour.

The only negative about the day was the number of allocations. We all probably sound like a broken record at this point, but we’re gonna mention the product shortages regardless because they’re still a big deal for the stores and our customers. We received ones, twos and threes on several titles for which we ordered significant quantities, including Dusty Springfield (1), Screamin’ Jay Hawkins (2), Nelson/Haggard/Price (2) and Beleza Tropical (3). In many cases we received half to a third of what we ordered. First-hour sellouts included Crobots, Charlie Parker, Bee Gees, Screamin’ Jay, Hall & Oates, Dusty, Oscar Peterson and A Place to Bury Strangers. The heavy sellers early on were the Life Aquatic, Billie Eilish, Fleetwood Mac, Jason Isbell, Jimi Hendrix, Lana Del Rey and U2. Sell-through was 48%.

As for the rest of our weekend, our impressive growth with Small Business Saturday continued, thanks in no small part to pre-event coverage on two of Boise’s four network TV affiliates; several people said they saw us on the news and decided to come check out the store for the first time. The huge increase in sales leads us to believe that, true to the chatter leading into this holiday season, many consumers are choosing to keep their money in their communities, and that eases the blow of seeing all those Amazon delivery trucks zip around town on a regular basis.

Below you will find our Top 50 exclusive sellers and some photos from the day. A huge thanks goes out to everyone who helped make these exclusives happen as these strange times continue – we never thought we’d be players in A Covid Christmas II, and the fact we even had a Black Friday, despite all the delays and cancelations, feels like a minor (or even a major) holiday miracle.

Wherever you are and however you celebrate, we wish you a happy holiday season and look forward to working with you in the new year.

Thank you,
Chad Dryden
Co-owner / Marketing Director
The Record Exchange
chad@therecordexchange.com
mobile: 208.284.0355

THE RECORD EXCHANGE BLACK FRIDAY TOP 50 SELLERS
1. Various Artists - The Life Aquatic Soundtrack
2. Aerosmith - 1971: The Road Starts Hear (vinyl and cassette combined)
3. Billie Eilish - No Time to Die
4. Jimi Hendrix - Paris ’67
5. Jason Isbell - Georgia Blue
6. The Avett Brothers - Emotionalism
7. Miles Davis - Live-Evil
8. Dio - Holy Diver
9. Lana Del Rey - Chemtrails Over the Country Club
10. U2 - Gloria
11. Little Feat - Electrif Lycanthrope (vinyl and CD combined)
12. Fleetwood Mac - Alternate Live
13. Carole King - In Concert at the BBC
14. Joan Jett - I Love Rock ’n’ Roll / Bad Reputation
15. Leonard Cohen - Songs of Love and Hate
16. Blackberry Smoke - Stoned
17. Iron Maiden - Iron Maiden
18. John Legend - Once Again
19. Thundercat - The Golden Age of Apocalypse
20. Big Brother and the Holding Company - Combination of the Two
21. Brian Rich - Amen
22. All Them Witches - Live on the Internet
23. Judas Priest - The Best Of
24. Canned Heat / Memphis Slim - Memphis Heat
25. Dio - Last in Line
26. Chris Travis - Pizza and Codeine
27. Joe Strummer - Johnny Appleseed
28. Maxwell - Now
29. John Powell - How to Train Your Dragon Soundtrack
30. Jorma Kaukonen - Christmas Candy Cane (both versions combined)
31. Ray Charles - Live in Stockholm
32. The Wonderful World of Louis Armstrong - Original Grooves
33. The Munsters - At Home with the Munsters
34. Crobot - Rat Child
35. Trippie Redd - A Love Letter to You 1 / A Love Letter to You 2
36. Chris Isaak - Beyond the Sun
37. Saigon Kick - Lizard
38. Jackson Conti - Sujinho
39. “Weird Al” Yankovic and Osaka Superstar - Beat on the Brat
40. Modern English - After the Snow Live
41. John Carpenter - The Ghosts of Mars Soundtrack
42. Non Phixion - The Green LP
43. Norah Jones - Christmas Don’t Be Late
44. Smith/Kotzen - Better Days
45. The Wrens - Secaucus
46. Ozzy Osbourne - No More Tears
47. Nancy Wilson - You and Me
48. Sam Cooke - The First Mile of the Way
49. Chet Baker - Albert’s House
50. RZA as Bobby Digital - Digital Bullet

LOONEY TUNES - WEST BABYLON, NY
This weekend was a tremendous success. We are exhausted lol!

If you add Friday, Saturday and Sunday together, both instore sales and online sales….

Sales up 24% over 2020
Sales up 14% over 2019

When I got to the store at 7am we had about 100 people on line. A lot less than years past, so I was a little worried. But it was raining and VERY cold. We did our regular handing out free bagels and coffee to everyone in line. Customers were all in good moods and happy to be there.

We handed out coupons for our big 50th anniversary celebration which will be 12/18. We are still looking for nice prizes to give away and help from the labels.
info here - https://www.looneytuneslongisland.com/post/looney-tunes-is-celebrating-50-years-on-saturday-dec-18th-2021

It was not the same without our long time manager John who passed away last week. So we spent a lot of time talking to customers who were asking WHERE'S JOHN?

We have decided to do a music scholarship in his name to keep is memory alive. We miss ya buddy…
info here - https://www.looneytuneslongisland.com/post/john-sadowski-tribute

Overall sales were just great. CONSTANT…… Usually there is a MAD rush and then it dies down…This year as usual 8am - 9am was the best hour but it was really busy the whole day. Sales were really spread out through the whole weekend. Which was really nice. Online sales started the following Saturday and were strong!

Thank you to everyone that was a part of this wonderful event. Especially Andrea, Carrie and Michael…..I know you guys work so hard on this event for our benefit….we owe you a lot.

Best sellers
Aerosmith
Dio
Iron Maiden
Joan Jett
Jason Isbell
Hendrix
Ozzy

Wish we had more could have sold a TON more
Judas Priest
Saigon Kick

All the best
Karl

PLAN 9 - RICHMOND, VA
We were lacking in stuff to giveaway, including concert tickets this year.

After a brief interlude mask-free, we've been requiring masks since delta reared its head.

We had the shortest line outside that I think we have ever had. Weather was not a factor, although some of our regulars showed up later, even near the end of day saying they had to work.
So RSD shopping carried on through the day when usually we’ve slammed out most of it in the first three hours. That said, shoppers came on strong all day long, and we ended up 23% over last year.

Top sellers:
Jason Isbell
Miles Davis
Lana Del Ray
Little Feat
Hendrix
Carol King
Slow: U2, Maxwell, Dire Straits, Mobb Deep

Thanks to Carrie, Andrea, and all involved in RSD BF!

HOMERS - OMAHA, NE
Hello everyone,

Homers had a line of about 75 at our 10am opening.
We offered coffee and donuts to our crowd.

We had a successful Black Friday event with BF sales
up 20% from 2020 and the weekend up 24% from 2020

Sales for BF were down 7% compared to 2019. However, the
weekend sales were flat vs 2019.
For the year we are up 26% over 2020 and 20% over 2019

As has been the case for us for the last couple years
RSD product represents under 50% of day's/weekend's
total sales. So, we are lucky and thankful customers
shop us for more than just RSD products

Sell through so far is about 40%

top sellers
Eilish, Isbell, Hendrix, Aerosmith, Life Aquatic,
Cohen, U2, Del Rey, Miles, Wrens, Thundercat

no sales on 24 titles; Labrie, Legend, Cooke, Lang,
Strummer, Beleza are the most glaring

I would suggest RSD pull back on titles going forward with
250 on RSD, another 100 on a Drops day and
100 on Black Friday

-- Mike Fratt

WATERLOO RECORDS - AUSTIN, TX
Waterloo Records enjoyed a strong 2021 Black Friday and Small Business Saturday weekend! Once folks could get fully vaccinated this past spring, we had decided to do all of our year to year sales comps back to 2019, Vs 2020, because that year was so out of the ordinary. Our sales were down 2% on Black Friday, up 3% on Small Business Saturday, and down again on Sunday, but it all worked out to a 1% increase for the full 3 day weekend, when you factor out missing our historical bestseller release of the year. This year, again like 2020, there
wasn't a KGSR ACL Radio Broadcasts CD & LP, because many bands weren't touring, much less doing radio in-studio performances. This charity benefit release is historically our bestseller of the year. In fact, it had accounted for over 4% of our BF19 weekend.

When we opened Black Friday at 7am (3 hrs early), there were 60 folks waiting in line, versus 100 back in 2019 when we didn't open until 9am. Like other stores, we had done a really good job of messaging folks about the plethora of Black Friday title bumps, so there weren't many folks surprised or disappointed to find out their desired BF title now had a Dec21 or RSD22 release date. We're obviously still in a Covid world, (OmyGod - Omicron!) so I'm not even gonna try to shame any label or distributor for all those BF bumps. As our wise, local sage, Ray Wylie Hubbard often deadpans, "Every day that I keep my
gratitude higher than my expectations, that is a really good day!" Myself & everyone here has very high gratitude for all of the great music that was released for BF21. Thank you all!

On Friday the BF21 exclusives comprised 34% of our sales, compared with 41% in BF19, which we attribute to less titles and more bumps. We had a 42% sell through for the BF21 exclusives on Black Friday, (Vs 33% in 2019) and a 50% sell through overall for the 3 day weekend (Vs 42% in 2019), so our BF21 purchasing was tighter this year, as we had planned.

These BF indie exclusive releases are an appreciated and needed strong driver, that has given customers a reason to shop independent record stores on Black Friday, and after. Here's a big 'Thanks' again to every artist, manager. label, distributor., and manufacturer that helped make all of these Black Friday releases happen!

Overall traffic drivers this weekend in addition to the BF21 releases were:
- CIMS' GTGOM $9.99 CDs & $5 off LPs
- UMG's Black Friday week rebated CDs
- Amex Small Business Sat
- Austin Chronicle full pg RSD/BF ad, shared with all Austin RSD
pledge stores and others
- Waterloo's BF early opening underwriting announcements on KUTX and Sun Radio
- Social Media posts on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook

Waterloo's Top Black Friday sellers:
(All Formats combined)
1. Little Feat 31 (LPs + CDs)
2. Jason Isbell 29
3. Miles Davis 26
4. Jimi Hendrix 26
5. Lana Del Ray 22
6. Aerosmith 20
7. Life Aquatic 19
8. Fleetwood Mac 19
9. Billie Eilish 19
10. Carole King 11
11. Chet Baker 10 (SO)
12. Leonard Cohen 10
13. Iron Maiden 10
14. Blackberry Smoke 10 (SO)
15. Nelson/Haggard/Price 9
16. John Legend 8
17. Big Brother 7
18. Munsters 7
19. Dio Holy Diver 7
20. Chris Issak 7 (SO)
21. Shangri-Las 7 (SO)
22. Dusty Springfield 7

EASY STREET RECORDS - SEATTLE, WA
Well, we’ve all come a long way from a year ago. We doubled where we were from last years RSDBF. That one sucked so hard I didn’t bother with a wrap up. We were about 20% down from 2019. I can’t say we were too surprised. We weren’t getting the calls and questions we normally get about titles. We just didn’t have any drivers that were registering for us like previous years. At the same time, I think we fell short of rallying behind some of the releases at the store level. We didn’t do a lot to pre-promote the titles like we normally do. We did still do a few things and we overall had a good day and overall, a pretty good weekend. We are hopeful that this might carry into a nice holiday stretch.

Our operating costs are back to (and in some cases higher) than pre-Covid levels…there is definitely a motivation to find areas within the store to utilize better. We’ve continued to expand our product lines as well. We are back to selling posters. We’ve improved our t-shirt, book, and Hi-Fi business, but still…we aren’t back to pre-Covid sales figures just yet. So, things are still pretty challenging.

We partnered with Sub Pop reissuing the ’93 power pop classic The Fastbacks-Zucker. Been out of print for years. They performed on BF as well. We were able to sell 250 copies in November. Made for a great night https://www.instagram.com/reel/CWv193ilBPw/?utm_medium=copy_link

Here’s a small biz video we participated in https://www.instagram.com/p/CWlsugqNuKZ/?utm_medium=copy_link

A few newer releases that performed well all weekend…. Adele, Taylor, U2, Nirvana, Kiss, Coltrane, Brandi, Mogwai, Snail Mail…
A few surprise sellers we could’ve used more of…Strat Cats, Aerosmith, Little Feat, Fleetwood Mac
A few we thought more of than sales would indicate…Charlie Parker, Mr. Big, Dio, Maxwell, John Legend, Joe Strummer, Lana Del Rey… (let us know if u need any of these)

STREETLIGHT RECORDS - SAN JOSE & SANTA CRUZ, CA
Well, another successful Black Friday and Small Business Saturday are in the books! It was full of happy customers, busy employees and buzzing cash registers. Customer after customer told us how happy they are that we’re still here and thriving. Our San Jose store kept the appointment system we’ve been using since the onset of the pandemic and it went well. The Santa Cruz location used a numbering system for the people in line and called them up in groups, also proving to be a solid system.

As always, many thanks to everyone who participated in making Black Friday happen, with an ultra big thanks to Carrie Colliton, Michael Kurtz, Andrea Paschal, Eric Levin and Luann Myers! We had a couple last-minute product arrivals, but otherwise it was pretty smooth sailing. Below are a few stats for each store. Many thanks, and have a wonderful holiday season!

--Paige

San Jose
--Black Friday was up 8% over last year and up 21% over 2019.
--Small Business Saturday was up 26% over last year and 27% over 2019.

Santa Cruz
--Black Friday was up 22% over last year and up 14% over 2019.
--Small Business Saturday was up 16% over last year and down 14% from 2019.

PARK AVE CDS - ORLANDO, FL
event: RSD Black Friday & Small Business Saturday 2021
dates: Friday, November 26th & Saturday, November 27th
location: Park Ave CDs, 2916 Corrine Dr, Orlando, Fl, 32803
sales reporting: MRC
event marketing: social media, pacd newsletter, local media, app
facebook event page: https://www.facebook.com/events/279952734006307
instagram: https://www.instagram.com/parkavecds
twitter: https://twitter.com/ParkAveCDs
pacd newsletter/guide: https://conta.cc/30SHtzl
charitable contributions: Second Harvest Food Bank of CFL

overall sales:
- RSD Black Friday: up 35% over 2020
- Sell through: 42%
- Small Business Saturday: up over 100% over 2020
- Sunday: up 40% over 2020

thumbs up and thumbs down:
up: Our crew!
up: The RSD crew for the coordination and execution.
up: Our customers and supporters.
up: The allocation deities smiled upon PACDs this RSD event.
up: The best Black Friday weekend in the history of the shop, surpassing the previous best of 2019.
down: Last minute shipping from the one-stops.
down: Larger list of bumped titles resulted in smaller turnout for “RSD Black Friday shoppers"

titles we wish we had more of: Norah Jones, Iron Maiden, Pink Lincolns, Art Pepper, Bee Gees, Nancy Wilson, Broken Social Scene, Dusty Springfield, Tammi Terrell, Chris Travis, Stypes P

titles we thought would have done better: Jason Isbell, Lana Del Rey, Weird Al, Billie Eilish

summary:
Hello again!

Hope everyone had a nice and relaxing holiday weekend :)

PACDs is happy to announce that we’ve had another successful RSD Black Friday and Small Business Saturday! Overall both days as well as Sunday were consistently busy, and we’ve continued to stay busy with online RSD Black Friday orders since we went live at 8am on Saturday. We utilized the same raffle/appointment system for early access time slots like we have for past RSD Drops, but this time we adjusted the number of time slots so we could open the doors to the general public a bit earlier in the day. This worked well for us as we had a good amount of walk-up shoppers before noon and we were able to easily slot them in without much of a wait. Once again the time slots proved to be very efficient and the store never felt too crowded or congested.

As always, there were several surprises as far as which titles sold out early and which titles were hardly touched — all of which have been included in our wrap-up below. Norah Jones, Iron Maiden, Broken Social Scene, Nancy Wilson, Dusty Springfield, Rich Brian, Bee Gees and Chris Travis were the some of the hottest titles of the day and some of the first titles we ran out of on Friday. The Life Aquatic, Lana Del Rey, Billie Eilish, Aerosmith, Jimi Hendrix, Jason Isbelll, Black Berrysmoke, Thundercat and Miles Davis also did really well for us and have continued to sell both in-store and online throughout the weekend. We didn’t have as high of a sell through in comparison to last year’s RSD Black Friday but we were very happy with the turnout and our overall numbers for the entire weekend beat last year.

Our RSD Black Friday shopping time slot reservations were booked from 8am-11am for over 180+ people, and then at 11am we opened the doors to the general public and began taking walk-up RSD Black Friday shoppers. We had a good turnout but we also had a good number of no-shows and last minute cancelations. This was mostly expected with it being Thanksgiving weekend and the fact that a good number of RSD Black Friday titles were bumped or removed from the list. We decided to add the list of bumped titles to our ‘"RSD Black Friday Menu” which helped us out a ton with relaying all the information to our customers. Once we hit 11am and started allowing walk-ups we maintained a pretty busy atmosphere in-store but we hardly ever had a line outside. A bit later in the day we even had a visit from Orlando own/PACDs’ alum, Tierney Tough! We were super proud of her to have her first RSD Exclusive release for her debut solo EP! She came by to visit and help us do a giveaway for a special test pressing of the release. Photo attached below of Tierney and her pup, Arrow! This RSD Black Friday we also held our annual food drive for our local food bank Second Harvest of CFL!

Overall it was fun day for everyone involved! We hardly had anyone that couldn’t find the record/CD they were looking for on their list and we’ve continued to sell through titles steadily online and in-store. The big surprise for us was how quickly we sold out of the Norah Jones 3” and how many people added it to their wishlist! The more you know! Also, sales overall for this Black Friday weekend bested our previous record set in 2019!

Lastly, thank you so much for everything you’ve done to help us and all of indie retail throughout the year! We know this was a weird RSD Black Friday for most but we couldn’t be happier with how things have panned out and we look forward to another busy holiday season!

Stay safe, stay warm, listen to some new tunes, and have a great rest of the year!

Cheers!
- Josiah, Sandy & the entire PACDs crew!

top selling titles:

1. The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou - Soundtrack
1. Lana Del Rey - Chemtrails Over The Country Club
2. Billie Eilish - No Time To Die
3. Aerosmith - 1971: The Road Starts Hear
4. Iron Maiden - Iron Maiden (PD)
5. The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Paris 1967
6. Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit - Georgia Blue
7. Blackberry Smoke - STONED
8. Thundercat - The Golden Age Of Apocalypse (10th Anniversary Ed.)
9. Miles Davis - Live-Evi
10. The Munsters - At Home With The Munsters
10. Mr. Big - Lean Into It
11. Fleetwood Mac - Alternate Live
12. Saigon Kick - The Lizard
12. RZA as Bobby Digital - Digital Bullet
12. Little Feat - Electrif Lycanthrope
12. Rich Brian - Amen
13. How To Train Your Dragon - Soundtrack
14. Hall & Oates - Fall In Philadelphia: The Definitive Demos
15. Motorhead - Lost Tapes Vol.1 (Live in Madrid 1995)
15. The Avett Brothers - Emotionalism (Cassette)
16. U2 - Gloria (40th Anniversary)
16. Dio - Holy Diver (PD)
16. All Them Witches - LIVE ON THE INTERNET
16. Bee Gees - Three Kisses Of Love
16. Dusty Springfield - The Complete Atlantic Singles 1968-1971
17. Stray Cats - Live At Rockpalast
17. Broken Social Scene - Feel Good Lost (20th Anniversary Ed.)
17. Puscifer - Billy D and the Hall of Feathered Serpents, Puscifer Live at the...
17. Dire Straits - Encores (Live)
17. Carole King - BBC Live Performance (1971)
17. Leonard Cohen - Songs Of Love & Hate (50th Anniversary)
17. Ozzy Osbourne - No More Tears
17. Big Brother & The Holding Company - Combination of the Two: Live at the Monterey...
18. Ray Charles - Live In Stockhol 1972
18. Smith/Kotzen - Better Days
18. Tickets For Doomsday: Heavy - Various Artists
18. Screamin’ Jay Hawkins - My Little Shop Of Horrors
19. Dio - The Last In Line (PD)
19. Judas Priest - Best Of
19. The Shangri-Las - The Best of the Red Bird & Mercury Recordings
19. Jackson Conti - Sujinho
19. Chris Isaak - Beyond The Sun
20. Charlie Parker - Bird In LA
20. Chief Keef - Thot Breaker
20. "Weird Al” Yankovic / Osaka Popstar - Beat On The Brat (Maxi Single)
20. Joan Jett & The Blackhearts - Joan Jett & The Blackhearts - 40x40: Book & Record Set
20. Chet Baker - Albert’s House
20. Tierney Tough - A Farce To Reckon With (7”)

MUSIC MILLENNIUM - PORTLAND, OR
Hello All -

Black Friday this year felt like the world was back to normal….except everyone was wearing masks. We had about 40 people in line when I arrived at 5:30. The weather had drizzled over the night but it had stopped for the time being. The temperature was hovering close to 50, making it quite tolerable.

We had no time assignments this year and everyone lined up with social distancing in mine. We handed out granola bars and coffee to those in line along with Kill Rock Star CD samplers and an incredible poster that our store artist made. We also had local radio station KINK-FM out at 7 AM, giving everyone a chance to win a turntable along with giving out buttons and stickers.

By the time we opened at 8am, we had a crowd of about 100, the smallest BF crowd we have had since RSD BF began. Each of the first two customers exceeded $1000 in purchases. Both are regulars on RSD event and built up find collections from being regulars at our store. Hendrix seemed to be the big title that most people wanted but everyone was all over the map on what they wanted.

By 9:30 we went from regulating a single file line into the store to keep social distancing, with everyone walking by all the RSD releases, to just conducting regular business. There was a lot of non-RSD business done in the day. We also had door buster deals we had in place on 25 titles on vinyl at $10 off, that had not performed up to potential. Those were well shopped and at the end of the day we had moved quite a few. CDs had a solid day as well, a format I hope the industry re-embraces. With the vinyl shortage, we have seen a substantial pick up in catalog CDs and I believe it’s a sign of the future as 10 month pressing time on vinyl is too long a wait to get a title. And the younger generation is more and more embracing the CD as a secondary format of physical music to own.

Our business was up almost 62% over last year and equal to our business on BF 2019. And that’s with a lot less titles. Our sell though on BF titles was only 50%, much like last year which
had been a low for us. however, like last year, we are hoping to have a super strong weekend and that number being closer to a 70 to 75% sell through. The surprise titles that did not sell well were the Ozzy Osbourne picture disc, Lana Del Rey, Maxwell, Todd Rundgren and Mobb Deep.

The day accomplished what we wanted to see….happy customers who really enjoy buying physical music and being able to celebrate their temple of worship…..Music Millennium and record stores in general. To some, this was their first RSD event they decided to attend. Being double and triple vaxxed is giving many more confidence in wandering indoors….and in a crowd. I believe the retail holiday season will be quite strong because of that.

Thanks to all of you that made this day possible with all these wonderful releases. Thank you Michael, Carrie, Andrea and Erik for your work all year long to make this day happen. And the label and distribution people who are juggling to make these releases happen. Physical goods just keep growing. I hope each of your companies take a good look at the immediate future and provide you with the tools and staff to keep the arc going forward.

Now for the sales results:

Full Length Vinyl
1- Jimi Hendrix -Paris 67 48 (sold out)
2- Miles Davis - Live-Evil 38
3- Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou 30 ( sold out)
4- Jason Isbell - Georgia Blue 27
5- Tundercat - Alternative Live 25
6- Fleetwood Mac - Alternative Live 22
7- Little Feat - Electrif Lycanthrope 22
8- Leonard Cohen - Songs of Love & Hate 20 (shipping company lost 10, sold out)
9- Carole King - Carole King In Concert 20
10- Aerosmith -1971:Road Starts Here 20
11- Big Brother & The Holding Company - Combination Of The Times 17
12- Lana Del Rey - Chemtrails Over The Country Club 14
13- Dire Straits - Encores 14
14- V/A -Tickets For DoomsDay 14
15- All Them Witches - Live On The Internet 14
16- Dusty Springfield - Complete Atlantic Singles 14 (sold out, allocated)
17- Iron Maiden - Iron Maiden 12
18- Blackberry Smoke - Stoned (sold out) 10
19- Shyangri-las - Best Of The Redbird and Mercury Recordings 10
20 - RZA - Digital Bullet 9
21- Canned Heat/Memphis Slim - Memphis Heat 10
22 - Munters - At Home With The Munsters 10
23 - Ray Charles - Live In Stockholm 1972 9 (sold out, allocated)
24- Jackson Conti - Sujinho 8
25 - Charlie Parker - Bird In L.A. 8 (sold out, allocated)

12” and 7” Singles
1- Billie Eilish - A Time To Die 16
2- U2 - Gloria 16
3- Joan Jett - 40 X 40
4- Sons of Kemet - African Cosmology 6
5 - Joe Strummer - Johnny Appleseed 6

Cassettes
1- Aerosmith - 1971: The Road Starts Now 5
2- Local Natives - Music From The Pen Gala 1983

CDs
1- Little Feat - Electrif Lycanthrope 6
2- Charlie Parker - Bird In LA 4