For 15 years, independent record stores have been celebrating the vinyl record format with reissues and first pressings of many beloved records. On Saturday, two local shops look to keep the fun going.
Shake It Records has been providing music to the Queen City since 1978, when it started life as an indie record label. Since 1999, the label has operated a two-story storefront in Northside and has become a spot frequented by vinyl junkies and touring musicians looking to snag a few things.
Jim Blase is the co-owner of Shake It. The store took part in the first Record Store Day event, and he says it seems to grow every year.
"The first couple of Record Store Days were pretty small, maybe 50 releases, 80 releases, and then the third year is when it just exploded," Blase said.
Many first-time record buyers could be making their way through the door this Saturday, considering the special event. Blase says while there are cool new releases out, new collectors should see what's available in the used section as well.
"I would say just start simple and just explore slowly and then all kinds of things will open up to you," Blase said.
Morrow Records is preparing for the big day as well. In 2017, the shop opened in Florence as a spinoff from Morrow Audio, which sells high-end cables for audio equipment. Mark Utley manages the record side of things. He says if anyone told him he'd be managing a record store 10 years ago, he wouldn't have believed them. He is happy to see vinyl become valued by the masses again.
"It's really cool seeing people, especially young people, embrace that and seeing the boomers and the older people coming back to it and looking for the stuff that they dug when they were younger," Utley said.
Hundreds of releases will be available this Saturday including a special edition 7-inch of The Lakes by Taylor Swift, this year's Record Store Day ambassador. Shake It Records will be raffling those records with proceeds going to benefit the CAIN food pantry in Northside.
For the full list of Record Store Day releases, click here. To see which stores in Greater Cincinnati are participating in the event, click here.
