Record Store Day offers a sign of hope for businesses working on their pandemic rebound

Of all the aspects of normality Americans missed throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, physical touch has been a common theme.

Vinyl may not be the first thing that comes to mind when thinking about the impacts of the pandemic, but for some business owners, it’s everything.

The first Record Store Day was on April 19, 2008, and has since been a single day devoted to exclusive vinyl releases only available at participating record stores.

Because of the pandemic, celebrations looked a lot different last year.

This year, celebrations will have fewer restrictions, but will still look a little different from those that were held pre-pandemic.

Vinyl sales grew by 46% to 27.5 million copies sold in 2020, MRC Data told CNN.

Jon Lambert, the owner of Princeton Record Exchange in Princeton, New Jersey, told CNN he has been celebrating every day since his store was able to reopen in June 2020.

For California’s Amoeba Music, it’s not business as usual either.

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