Record Store Day falls on 4/20 this year; see which shops are participating

Laurie K. Blandford, Treasure Coast Newspapers
·4 min read

Karen Kron, 65, grew up with vinyl records and thought they were a thing of the past.

When Kron started a business in 2018 to sell her art and vintage items she had accumulated over time, her old records were the biggest hit.

By the time she opened a brick-and-mortar shop in downtown Stuart called Vintage Vibes 420 at 420 Colorado Ave. on April 20, 2020, the vinyl record scene had exploded during the coronavirus pandemic.

“We became a record store by accident,” Kron said. “People just want records. I was oblivious.”

Looking back: Vinyl record store sales spike, surpass CDs for first time

Nadine Walker, of Port St. Lucie, browses the collection of records for sale at Vintage Vibe 420, a record and art store at 420 Colorado Ave. on Saturday, April 13, 2024, in downtown Stuart. “I like that I could pick up the needle and move it. It just brings me back to being young and a child and having that in my house,” Walker said. “I guess it’s just the aesthetic of it, just being able to pick up and move that needle to where I want it to go instead of pressing a button and skipping to the next song. I sort of like the sounds it makes too, as it plays. That air sound as it goes over on the record. Those are my favorite thing about records.”

Once she officially switched from vintage shop to record store, she started participating in the annual international event for Record Store Day.

All the numbers align for Kron at this year’s event, which happens to fall on April 20 — the same as her shop’s anniversary, address and name.

Two other record stores on the Treasure Coast are participating this year: Sounds Good Music in Port St. Lucie and Wax Records in Vero Beach. The Roasted Record in Stuart isn’t participating because it’s more of a coffee shop with a small vinyl record collection.

Karon Kron (left) works with her customer Eckart Bühler, of Jupiter Farms, while he searches for Captain Beefheart records inside her store, Vintage Vibes 420, at 420 Colorado Ave. on Saturday, April 13, 2024, in downtown Stuart. Kron is preparing for Record Store Day, a national event for independent record stores that started in 2007. The event is April 20. “I think the 70s have come back and I really believe that it’s not only just the audio, but it’s the aesthetic of the vinyl, and going through the motions of putting it on a record player, getting the record player going and listening to music from the 70s,” Kron said. “I think everything’s coming back around from that era, and I think records are here to stay, and they’re making a huge comeback.”

Record Store Day features special releases that can’t be found anywhere other than independent record stores participating in the international event. Those stores can’t accept any holds, can’t overprice special releases and can’t sell them online until the next day.

Even Walking Tree Brewery in Vero Beach is getting in on the 4/20 celebration with a “Vinyl Revival” event to spin, swap or sell records.

Record Store Day was conceived in 2007 at a gathering of independent record store owners and employees as a way to celebrate and spread the word about the unique culture surrounding nearly 1,400 independently owned record stores in the U.S. and thousands of similar stores internationally, according to its website. The first Record Store Day was celebrated April 19, 2008.

It’s first-come, first-served on Record Store Day — and only about five people can fit inside Kron’s small store at a time. Customers are allowed to buy one record of each title. If they want more, they have to get back in line.

“It’s a day where people can get together and go to independent record stores, help their community out by going to mom-and-pop shops,” Kron said, “and get records.”

TREASURE COAST RECORD STORES

Vintage Vibes 420

Karen Kron opened her record store in Stuart in 2020, near Confusion Corner and across from Kiwanis Youth Park. She started selling her art and vintage items at a booth in Okeechobee for two years before she opened what she intended to be a vintage shop but turned into a record store. She offers new vinyl records but specializes in vintage vinyl records.

Customers browse through the stock at Vintage Vibe 420, a record and art store at 420 Colorado Avenue on Saturday, April 13, 2024, in downtown Stuart.
Customers browse through the stock at Vintage Vibe 420, a record and art store at 420 Colorado Avenue on Saturday, April 13, 2024, in downtown Stuart.

Sounds Good Music in Port St. Lucie

The late Andrew Royo opened his record store in Port St. Lucie in 2003 but moved to a larger location on U.S. 1 near the Savanna Club in 2015. He fell in love with vinyl while working in a record store from high school to college. In his 40s, he was inspired to open Sounds Good Music by one of his friends who owns the longtime Radio-Active Records in Fort Lauderdale. After Royo passed away in 2022, Frank Corrado took over the business.

Used vinyl record albums make up most of the stock available at Sounds Good Music on Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2020, in Port St. Lucie. Vinyl records outsold CDs for the first time in decades in the first half of 2020, according to the Recording Industry Association of America mid-year report.
Used vinyl record albums make up most of the stock available at Sounds Good Music on Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2020, in Port St. Lucie. Vinyl records outsold CDs for the first time in decades in the first half of 2020, according to the Recording Industry Association of America mid-year report.

Wax Records

Saxon Julin and his dad, Jason, opened their record store in 2014 in the Majestic Plaza. He said he always was fascinated with how a vinyl record works. They would always shop for records whenever they went to New York City and wanted to bring something cool to Vero Beach. They opened Wax Records with their own collection of about 2,000 records.

While foot traffic was down due to the coronavirus pandemic, online sales increased according to Saxon Julin, co-owner of Wax Records in Vero Beach.
While foot traffic was down due to the coronavirus pandemic, online sales increased according to Saxon Julin, co-owner of Wax Records in Vero Beach.

The Roasted Record

Mike Mann, a PGA golf professional, began roasting coffee as a hobby and started selling it in 2014 before he opened a brick-and-mortar shop in 2017 in Stuart. He just needed a place to roast coffee, but the shop grew into a coffeehouse and vinyl record store. In 2020, it moved about 500 feet up the block on Colorado Avenue to attract more foot traffic.

Laurie K. Blandford is TCPalm's entertainment reporter dedicated to finding the best things to do on the Treasure Coast. Email her at laurie.blandford@tcpalm.com. Sign up for her What To Do in 772 weekly newsletter at profile.tcpalm.com/newsletters/manage.

This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: Record Store Day falls on 4/20 this year; see which shops participate