Record Exchange - Boise, ID
How nice it was to have a party again – and set a couple of records in the process.
First in line for the first April Record Store Day at The Record Exchange in three years was 11:44pm Friday. The customer went to the Soft Kill show next door at Neurolux, then walked about 100 feet to our entrance and unfolded a canvas chair in the chilly night air (Boise dipped into the 30s overnight). The same customer set our previous record of 2am on Black Friday 2021. He was one of 200+ customers who filtered through the store by 9am on RSD Saturday, helping us on the way to a new one-day sales record, eclipsing the previous record we set on RSD 2019 by 10%. New vinyl accounted for a whopping 83% of our overall sales on Saturday (compared to 74% in 2019).
The Swifties were among those who showed up in full force on Saturday to enter our drawing to win a chance to purchase the coveted Taylor Swift exclusive. We messaged the drawing – in-store only on RSD, free to enter, one entry per customer – about a week before Record Store Day and only had two vocal complaints on socials. The fans we interacted with on Saturday were friendly and understanding, and it appears that most of our winners were true fans and not flippers. All of which was a relief.
Overall, the vibe was fun and festive, a return to the RSD energy that filled the store in the Before Times. A big part of this was the live music. We hosted two in-stores – a Thursday RSD weekend kickoff with a Boise band (Distant Family) celebrating a vinyl release, and an intimate Sunday after-hours performance by Curtis Stigers, whose new album “This Life” was released earlier this year during the winter Covid surge. We packed the store with 200 masked Stigers fans, all of whom purchased the album to receive a wristband to the show. Out on the sidewalk Saturday, we put up our canopy tent and welcomed back Boise musicians to entertain customers throughout the sunny, 60-degree day. Radio Boise, a nonprofit community FM station, had a table outside as part of its spring fund drive. Our local craft beer partner Woodland Empire Ale Craft once again offered $1 off pints with RSD receipt.
Taylor aside, there was a lot of excitement for both familiar RSD faces (the Cure, the Doors, the Stones, Grateful Dead, Alice in Chains, etc.) and new ones (Childish Gambino, Rex Orange County, Wallows). We noticed a lot more younger fans this year and it was nice to see so many releases geared toward their tastes. Sell-through was 65%, with 125 sellouts among the 266 titles we had in stock at the start of the day.
Allocations we really felt were Glass Animals (we got 2), Red Hot Chili Peppers, Bell Biv Devoe, Kittie, The Damned, Opeth, Charles Mingus, Bill Evans, Wipers, Rick Astley and the Lumineers. The only big swing and miss on our end was under-ordering the Ramones box set.
Below you will find our Top 50 exclusive sellers and some photos from the day. Thank you to all of our reps, partners, CIMS staff and RSD crew for getting behind Record Store Day’s big return and providing months of support leading up to our stores’ key annual event. We’re already looking forward to June.
Thank you,
Chad Dryden
Co-owner / Marketing Director
Cactus Music - Houston, TX
Hello all,
Here's our wrap-up for RSD 2022 which we consider a great success for many reasons. Most noteworthy is that, with this year's RSD we feel that we have taken a great step in restoring our RSD celebration to a pre-pandemic level. We genuinely hope that other shops experienced the same.
We decided to continue our tickets for line reservations which began with the first drop of 2020. Customers have grown accustomed to this method and it keeps anxiety to a minimum as record fans have a sense of when to arrive, what their place in line will be and tempered expectations for opportunities to purchase coveted items. Safety is a concern and our system doesn't allow for camping overnight. We opened at our usual time which is 10am and had an enthusiastic crowd of 500 or so lined up and escorted to the RSD product table in 25 person segments. Many enjoyed the Black Vinyl Blend coffee provided by our sponsor, Katz Coffee. We feel that it is important to keep our store shoppable for the many customers and new visitors who want to have an experience on RSD. Our orderly and manageable line in the store lets us create the best possible experience and to set the hook for new visitors. Once again, we saw strong afternoon traffic and sales that almost equal the morning hours as customers who visited other stores searched for items that they missed.
With the metrics for Covid 19 plummeting to unprecedented levels in our county, we were able to host our first in-store performance in over two years. Strolling Bones recording artist, Tody Castillo, performed a full set with his band to the delight of our customers. With his two previous self-released titles, Tody is one of our best selling local / regional artists ever and his superb new album, Old Rodriguez is on track to continue that trend. With 120 ish in attendance, it felt like old times.
Our raffle for the Taylor Swift 7"s raised $2750 for The Way Home Adoption which serves children in Houston who are aging out of the foster system. They are an amazing charity that helps children 11-17 with what could be their last chance to find a family and it is a cause that is close to our hearts. We picked names live at 8pm and the winners were positively over-the-moon about their prize. Presenting an opportunity for Swifties to do a good deed was effective in helping to diffuse the panic/anxiety bomb that had been ticking for weeks and we all relieved and pleased at how it turned out.
Some important details:
- Sales were up 2% from 2019 and it was our highest volume day ever. It is important to note that, while this is a remarkable benchmark, it is not in line with our steady growth that we are currently seeing.
- We experienced painful and severe allocations on many RSD products. With an unprecedented number of sellouts, including many before noon, we were unable to meet the demand for music lovers in Houston. As Houston's flagship RSD store, we are stocking these titles for RSD followers throughout Houston and not just our customers. We only order what we think we can sell at our store during RSD. We feel that the numbers produced on these products need to increase to meet market demand which has surged dramatically in the last three years.
- Our overall sell through for the weekend was 70% of the pieces that we purchased.
Thanks to everyone who helped us schedule in-stores, provided us with marketing funds, giveaways, enter-to-win prizes and other cool stuff. Your support is and was greatly appreciated. We look forward to another RSD in June.
Best only, Q
Streetlight Records - San Jose and Santa Cruz, CA
Greetings, Everyone--
We’re finally coming up for air after one heck of a great RSD! Both Streetlight locations had great sales and lots of happy customers, including some ecstatic Swifties. We had a lot of positive feedback from the customers and staff alike. The energy in the stores was electric and this one goes down in the books as a big win!
Our San Jose store had its best day ever in Streetlight’s 45-year history, up more than 10% over RSD 2019, which was the previous record holder. San Jose’s first day sell-through on the exclusives was 82%. We kept our appointment system in place from the Covid years, at the request of the customers. Over 200 confirmed appointments this year, with a very low no-show rate, plus about 60 more waiting in line for the completion of the appointments. We did a drawing for the opportunity to purchase the Taylor Swift 7”, which ended up working out well.
Our Santa Cruz location also had a stellar sales day. We went back to the old overnight line-up system and the dedicated Swifties were out in numbers! First day sell-through on exclusives was 60%.
Many, many thanks to all our partners for making this happen. A lot of people all over the country worked hard to make this happen and your efforts really paid off!
--Paige
The Long Ear - Coeur d'Alene, ID
Here's our recap against RSD #1 2021
Total Sales +49%
Vinyl +50&
CD sales +42%
Plus profit +29%
Customers +43%
Sell through (titles only, not pieces) 61%
Slow sellers:
Coolio
Alice Cooper
Golden Smog
Handsome Boy Modeling
Lil' Wayne
Rolling Stones-Hot Rocks#2
Top Sellers
Taylor Swift
Alice In Chains
Wallows
Childish Gambino
Offspring
Mariah Carey
Willie Nelson
Kirk Hammet
Foo Fighters
Lou Reed
Pixies
Rex Orange County
Cranberries
Joni Mitchell
Devo
Replacements
Stevie Nicks
Kacey Musgraves
Voivod
Everlast
Art Pepper
Thanks for your continuing efforts for our success,
Terry
Waterloo Records - Austin, TX
Greetings!
Record Store Day 2022 at Waterloo Records was great! We had ~200 folks
lined up around the block for our 3hr early opening at 7am. Then by
8am when we were able to get everyone inside the store, our first
hour's total was 305 music lovers, with yet another 100 folks inside
by 9am! The first 2 guys in line showed up at 12;30am and 1:30am. The
skies were clear and the weather was moderate, with just a touch of
humidity.
The first 50 shoppers got free Waterloo drawstring backpacks, while
the first 8 folks topping a $200 purchase, scored 1 of our 8 RSD22
cloth bags. All of the other RSD swag + free Rambler sparkling waters
were available as folks exited the store, with the exception of the
Taylor Swift buttons, which myself and 2 others here selectively
handed one out to obvious 'Swiftys'. On the subject of Taylor, we held
a free raffle entry from 7am-7pm to win the opportunity to purchase
the ambassador's Lakes 7'. Nearly 700 folks entered the TS drawing,
and the winners were all ecstatic.
Our RSD sales this year were 2.5% higher than our pre-Covid 2019 RSD
sales, which made it the 2nd best sales volume day of our store's 40
yr history! RSD 2018 still holds the #1 slot, but there were ~200 more
titles that year, and when we add in the expected sales from the
upcoming June 18th drop, we expect 2022 to take the top sales volume
event Hrown.
On Sunday we listed most remaining titles for purchase online through
our Broadtime website,and made 60+ RSD sales to our customers far and
wide.
Big thanks go out to everyone again that made this day happen: the
artists, managers, labels, distributors, one-stops, sponsors, 1400
indie record stores, Carrie, Andrea, Michael, Eric and of
course the very talented crew here at Waterloo Records!
Plan 9 - Richmond, VA
Wow, it really felt like we'd gone back in time a little for this RSD. The vibe was more like years past- early arrivers, long line, really good vibe, plus the addition of some enthusiastic first timers!
Gave away a pile of concert tickets to many of those in line thanks to our local venues. With a few exceptions, we felt pretty good about our fill. Sell through about 70% as of Monday.
And finally, it was our best single RSD $ ever!
Top sellers include Grateful Dead, Childish Gambino, Joni Mitchell, Lou Reed, Replacements, Stevie Nicks, Taylor Swift.
Thanks to all the movers and shakers who made this possible!!
Jim
Electric Fetus - Minneapolis, MN
Electric Fetus April RSD Recap
RSD 2022 was the third biggest day ever for our music department! Our biggest was RSD 2018 when there were multiple Prince titles/events that made the store insanely busy.
Something new we offered for this year’s RSD were over 600 signed records from: (Huge credit to JIm Novak for this idea and planning it)
I cannot overstate how hugely successful this was—500 signed records sold in two days--AMAZING!
For this one we organized this more similar to pre-COVID RSD:
Food truck in front of the store for the lunch hours
DJs and bands from 10:30-5
Goodie bags to first customers in line
“Special” used records in the used/collectables sections
We did have a separate line for RSD titles in the back of the store, and kept all RSD in our garage to help with traffic flow—I think it helped a bunch and we’ll probably keep RSD separate going forward.
#1 in the RSD line arrived around 2pm on Friday, and we had some pretty gnarly weather overnight—thunderstorms and high winds—yuck. When I got to the store a little after 7am we had two lines—roughly 100 in the RSD line around the back of the store and almost that many in front to get a crack at the aforementioned signed records and special used ones. By 4:00pm we handed out 750 numbers for people in line for the RSD titles in our garage. Customers could ring out at a till we set up in the garage or continue through the back door to enter the main store and ring out there.
We got the word out on our social media earlier in the week that the Taylor Swift 7” single would not be for sale on Saturday. Instead, anyone who wanted to buy one could enter a drawing in person at the store and we would draw names on Monday. Winners could then buy one copy.
Overall fill on our RSD orders was right around 90%--pretty normal. Everything arrived on time with only a few damages—pleased with logistics this time around.
Sell-through was also pretty in-line with historical at around 75%.
Huge thank you to AMPED who made enough Childish Gambino to cover demand for this title. We are noticing younger and younger customers joining the RSD fray. Lots of “kids” buying Childish and Wallows, then grumbling that we were out of Rex OC, Glass Animals and Future. Even with the grumbling I love to see new people coming to the store! Please keep offering up titles for younger customers—it’s not all old white dudes anymore—really!
Wish we ordered more:
Cranberries
Alice in Chains
Joni Mitchell
Wallows
Future
Really wish we weren’t cut on: (these sold out in less than an hour)
Art Pepper
Blue Velvet
Glass Animals
Kittie
Rex Orange County
Really didn’t need all we ordered/got on:
The Doors
Kirk Hammett
Echo & the Bunnymen
It’ll be really interesting to see how June does for us—we are definitely excited for Prince!
Please let us know if you have any questions, and thank you for helping support our biggest day of the year (and third biggest EVER)!
Aaron Meyering
Homers - Omaha, NE
Homers RSD 2022 recap
Our 2nd best day ever. 2nd to RSD 2019
weekend was just slightly down from RSD 2019 weekend
It took almost 3 hours to get everyone into the store
yet all customers were pleasant and patient
Our biggest and earliest line ever. We served donuts, coffee and breakfast burritos
to those waiting in line. We created a line just for Taylor Swift
and we think we accomplished getting those pieces into the hands of
fans and not flippers.
Sell-through was very high compared to the last couple years. About 65% on
Saturday and 75% as off Tuesday a.m.. Sold amazing numbers on
Childish and Wallows. Jazz and hip hop continue to out-perform. Some heritage
artists that always have a piece each year should consider taking a break
to re-ignite demand
Placed substantial reorders with One Stops on Monday
-Mike Fratt/Homers
