Stroud’s two bricks-and-mortar record stores celebrated a successful Record Store Day (RSD) on Saturday.
Sound Records, run by Tom Berry, was one of only two record stores in the county (along with Badlands in Cheltenham) to be part of the event, whilst Sean Roe’s Klang Tone Records in Lansdown staged special events to mark the day whilst not officially being part of it.
Record Store Day first started in 2007 when a gathering of record shop owners came together in the USA to celebrate and spread the word about the unique culture of record stores.
The first official event took place on April 19th, 2008, and today it is celebrated by thousands of record shops all over the globe in what’s become the biggest new music event of the past decade.
Record Store Day is a day for people to come together and honour the special role they place in their communities. In the UK, almost 300 shops participate across the country.
This year saw more than 450 limited edition vinyl releases, with artists ranging from Marc Bolan, Adam Ant, The Charlatans and Vince Guaraldi.
Sean told Stroud Times: “We had a great day on Saturday – a steady flow of customers throughout the day. We opened 30 minutes earlier than normal and a few people drifted over from Sound Records before the deluge after 10am.
“The Tezeta LP sold incredibly well – both to customers who had purposefully come in to collect a copy and we also sold copies to people hearing it being played in the shop (it was on the turntable most of the day).
“I have my difficulties with Record Store Day – primarily the fact that it’s not as inclusive as I’d like it to be (we can’t participate because we don’t open often enough) but it is a fantastic celebratory day – Sound Records had a great roster of DJs playing in the shop and Tom and I both visited each other’s stores – I got a copy of Don Cherry’s Orient – the one record on the RSD list I wanted! We will continue to celebrate RSD in the future – who knows we may even be able to join the festivities officially some time.”
Sound Records, in George Street, saw eager shoppers queuing from 7am ahead of the opening an hour later. Throughout the day DJs played sets in the shop.
“We were overwhelmed by the terrific response to RSD this year and it was particularly heartening to see how many young people were getting involved,” said Tom.
“Both ourselves and Klang Tone had a really good day and we can’t wait to do it all over again in 2026! Thanks so much to everyone who made the effort to come out and experience vinyl culture.”
