Pat Brown walks the line -> https://www.instagram.com/reel/CrVpWIvrYou/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
Em Beihold video -> https://www.instagram.com/reel/CrXPVCkRBde/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
Twist & Shout’s RSD 2023 Recap
Spring weather in Colorado is a fickle thing – 80 degrees one day and snow the next is not at all unheard of. So when after a very pleasant early week the predictions for RSD turned toward snow, we braced for the worst. Turned out to not be too bad – but then I didn’t have to sleep outside in it! Regardless, our customers showed up hardcore, with a regular customer arriving first in line about 4:30 PM Friday (he wanted the lone Lennon box set we received – and got it), followed not too long out by a group of four women there for the T. Swift release. There were about a dozen people there when I checked back in the blowing snow at 10:30 PM and when I got to work around 6AM – snow still falling from the night before – the line was halfway around the building, about 150 people deep, all bundled for the weather. And after we opened at 8AM they kept on coming for the remainder of the day – it didn’t let up until we closed after I split, twelve hours after arriving, in what turned out to be our best Record Store Day in the history of the store.
The big sales story of the day was obviously Taylor Swift. We played a little conservative with our numbers – though we doubled the initial order in the weeks leading up to RSD and thought we’d be able to sell our remaining copies in the weeks to come. Turned out we probably could’ve had three times as many as we did and still sold out on Saturday – every copy was gone just over two hours after we opened the doors. We had sold out of five titles 15 minutes after the doors opened, about a third of the titles we’d brought in by 11AM, and nearly half by 3PM. Top sellers outside of T. Swift were Grateful Dead, Beach House, Pearl Jam, Jerry Garcia, Jason Isbell/Amanda Shires, Medeski Martin & Wood, Allman Brothers, Rolling Stones, Black Keys, Miles Davis, Dolly Parton, and the Nuggets box set – most of which were also completely sold out by midday. And though we sold at least some of almost everything, a handful of titles didn’t move as we’d hoped – we ordered decent numbers on Blitz Vega, Jerry Harrison, Hawkwind, the Miles Davis tribute band M.E.B., and Rich Kids, but their fans seem to have stayed away in droves.
This year we had a pair of special guests who helped sales for us as well. Debora Iyall, lead singer of Romeo Void, happened to be in town so she stopped by the store to say hello, meet a few fans, and sign all our copies of Live From The Mabuhay Gardens: November 14,1980(both the RSD LPs and the CDs that had come out the day before), while up-and-comer Em Beihold, whose debut vinyl EP Egg In The Backseat came out on RSD, dropped by to make a quick video for her fans about the record being out, which in turn boosted people looking for it from us both in store and online once we put
them up for sale there. But if there’s one overarching story to this year’s RSD, it’s that we sold through more, and more quickly, than any year in memory – and we sold at least some copies of nearly everything; even most of the “stiffs” above moved a couple copies.
Ultimately, it was our best single-day RSD event ever, up about 5 ¼% from the previous high-water mark in 2019, and second only to the combined totals of last year’s RSD and June Drops date. The weekend overall was also our best-ever, beating 2019’s weekend by 5 2/3%.
If I had one complaint – hard to do in our best-ever year, but here it is anyway – it would be the level of allocations. This year we were allocated on more titles and more deeply than any year in memory. It definitely hurt us on a few – the two Sparks titles, Wilco, and (no joke) Macho Man Randy Savage (0 copies!) come to mind – and overall we ran out of stuff. Obviously there’s an upside to a great sell-through percentage, but when a third of our RSD stock is gone only three hours in, I just wonder what we would’ve been able to do had we not been allocated on things (and if we’d quadrupled instead of doubling our T. Swift order)! It would be interesting just for our edification to know the reasoning behind these – were more stores participating so the allocations had to be spread over a larger group; were smaller titles pushed aside at pressing plants to ensure that everyone got the Swift they needed; or were other factors at play? I don’t know what it would change, but I’m curious how things came down regardless.
Lastly special thanks need to be given to my incredible staff – everyone worked extra hard in the weeks leading up to RSD, as well as the day itself, and it went off without a hitch. Thanks also to AEG for bringing bagels to the hungry crowd, Blue Pan Pizza and Santiago’s and Greg & Terry Burns for feeding our hungry crew, and to former Twister Frankie Brack for his fantastic Colfax poster art! And another nod goes to Debora Iyall and Em Beihold for taking the time to come down to the store (and to their people for making it happen)! And one more – thanks also to our industry partners at the one-stops for getting us all our product in a timely fashion and in good condition!
Patrick Brown
Cactus - Houston, TX
Hello,
Here's our wrap-up for RSD 2023 which was tremendous fun.
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 distributed 500 tickets to customers and began serving up the RSD goodness at 10am. We escorted vinyl fans to the RSD product table in 25 person segments which kept the store accessible to customers and new visitors who simply wanted to shop or just visit a store on our unofficial holiday. We heard nothing but positive feedback regarding our system and were delighted to have a customer tell us that it is as efficient as the drive through at Chick Fil A. We felt that, with the diminished health concerns, that we would see many people who had not participated in RSD in a few years and that proved true. In an effort to create a great experience for our reconnected RSDers and all of the Taylor Swift fans, many who had not been to our store, we decided that it was best not to present in-store events and avoid overcrowding. 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.
Taylor Swift was our most newsworthy RSD release again this year. We felt good about our order of 400 units, but quickly realized that it was not nearly sufficient. We sold out around 4pm, but could have sold that many more before close. It was amazing to see hundreds of passionate music fans visit our store for the first time and I expect that many are already making plans to visit our store again.
Our sponsors, Katz Coffee served our Black Vinyl Blend to the early birds who waited in line. Our partner, The Saint Arnold Brewery provided delicious beverages to shoppers including their new music-themed Banger IPA. Refreshing Topo Chico was available throughout the entire day. We were able to offer great prizes including turntables, gift packages from Warner Records, and many, many concert tickets from Live Nation, House of Blues and 713 Music Hall including coveted tickets to Beck, The Red Hot Chili Peppers, Madonna and more. Fans were especially excited to enter to win passes to a screening of Hi Fidelity with John Cusack. We greatly value the support of these brands and their appreciation of RSD.
As a special gift to our customers on RSD, we created a high quality art print which features a record store themed drawing commissioned from our dear, departed friend, Gerard Baldwin. Gerard was an artist at Jay Ward Studios and the director of Hannah Barbera during the studio's prime where he created The Flintstones, Captain Crunch and The Smurfs. The image is also featured on this year's commemorative RSD shirt, is visible on our socials and will soon be available for sale on our site. Fans were delighted to receive this unique piece which is framed with ease and we're certain that it will find a spot on their wall.
Some important details:
- RSD 2023 set a record of our highest volume day ever which is remarkable. When compared with the combined sales from the RSD Drops of 2022, sales are flat. That is not remarkable. It was somewhat disappointing considering the expected impact of this year's Taylor Swift sales. This is the second year with minimal or no growth and it would appear that the event has reached a plateau of sales at our store. This sales trend is out of step with our steady growth that we continue to see.
- We experienced severe allocations on many RSD products, more so than last year which was impactful. We saw a greater percentage of sellouts than last year, including many more before noon and we often felt that 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 feel that the numbers produced on these products need to continue to increase to meet market demand which continues to surge dramatically as well as the added participating stores.
- Our overall sell through for the weekend was 80% of the stock that we purchased with the entirety of the remainder being underperforming titles.
RSD 2023 at our store was truly a celebration of record store culture and a wonderful time was had by all.
We look forward to RSD2024, Best only, Q