Record Store Day is a day for vinyl lovers in Oshawa

Record Store Day – a day to recognize independent record stores and the everlast appeal of vinyl around the globe – returns to Oshawa Saturday, with three local retailers joining in the fun this year.

Andre Lessard, who owns Another Spin Records on Bond Street in the city’s downtown, has been an active participant in what has become a massively popular event.

Last year’s event had vinyl fans lined up around the block before 5 a.m. to be first in the store for the 10 a.m. opening, with a couple of dedicated record lovers “camping out at 8 at night.”

Vinyl is back in a big way and if the annual turnouts for Record Store Day are any indication, so is the love for the independent record stores.

First in line at Another Spin Records on Bond Street

First held in 2008 to “celebrate the culture of the independently owned record store” and bring together fans, artists, and thousands of independent record stores from around the world, Record Store Day is both a fun day for record collectors and the world’s largest music event, with popular bands releasing full LPs from their past, with many of the albums offered with a new features and a higher quality vinyl that mirrors the type on the original releases.

Additionally, a number of records are pressed specifically for the event and distributed only to shops participating in it.

Some of those special pressings include The Singles by Honeymoon Suite, Can We Hang Out Sometime (Marble Green Vinyl) by Good Kid, Cemetery by Deja Voodoo, Disco Darling by Carly Rae Jepson, For the Roses (Colour Vinyl) by Joni Mitchell, Hung Up On You by Tate McRae, Not a Greatest Hits Vol. II (Sea Blue Vinyl) by Donevan Woods, Odyssey, the Remix Collection (25th Anniversary Edition) by Delerium, Open Your Heart or Die Trying by Arcade Fire and Tough Town by Bryan Adams.

A Special Kiss Album, a four-song EP originally released as a promo for the smash 1976 Destroyer tour and now being made commercially available on black and white splatter vinyl, will also be a popular release this year.

Which ones are going to attract the most attention?

“Too many to mention,” Lessard said. “It’s going to be crazy, based on the calls.”

Kops Records on King Street in downtown Oshawa and Now and Then in the Oshawa Centre are also participating in Record Store Day.

Kops Records on King Street