Penn Yan, NY | Owner of new Penn Yan business says ‘everyone deserves music in their life.’ A new store on Main Street offers a delightful antidote to our increasingly digitized, virtual world. It delivers on the commitment that “everyone deserves music in their life.” WaxPax Records, which opened March 14, offers new and used vinyl records, vintage media, playful merchandise, and a store full of surprises. Owner and creator Mark Collier is crazy about music, art, and monster movies. Patrons can’t mistake that passion the minute they enter his shop. …“I will never, ever shame anybody for coming in and looking for music they love,” he exclaimed. “This should be open to anybody. So, anyone who walks through that door looking for the Grateful Dead, I got you. Slayer, I got you. Stray Cats, I got you.”
Philadelphia, PA | Doorfront to Storefront: SOOK Vinyl & Vintage: For Rashied Amon, owner of SOOK Vinyl & Vintage, Mt. Airy is the perfect location to have a business. “I love having a business in this neighborhood,” Amon said. “The people here are very personable, it’s very walkable, and there’s a lot of synergy among the businesses.” In 2026, Amon and other small business owners in Mt. Airy will try to use this synergy to their advantage. With the semiquincentennial (America’s 250th birthday), the FIFA World Cup, and the MLB All-Star Game all set to bring plenty of people to Philadelphia this year, there are countless opportunities for businesses to benefit from this influx of tourism. However, with many of these events happening downtown, businesses in the Northwest neighborhoods are faced with a unique opportunity: drawing tourists. Amon is up for the challenge.
Mahoning Valley, OH | The Vindys, Poobah in Free Concerts on Record Store Day: Free concerts by The Vindys, Poobah and other regional rock bands will take place on Record Store Day—Saturday, April 18—at two local shops. Two Mahoning Valley record stores are planning free concerts and a festival atmosphere at their celebrations. Hundreds of limited-edition vinyl album releases by major artists will be made available at the event. The Vindys, Demos Papadimas and his band and Radio Lark will perform outdoors at the Record Connection, in Pine Tree Place shopping center, McKinley Heights. Doors will open at 10 a.m., and music will start at 10:15 a.m. Vendors at the Record Connection will include Avo-Ritto, Modern Methods Brewing, Global Awakening Roasters and Radio Hoop. Poobah will play at 3 p.m. at Fat Hippy Records, 7188 Warren Sharon Road, Brookfield. Doors open at 10 a.m.
IA | How many vinyl record stores are there in Eastern Iowa? With Record Store Day on the way April 18th, we’re taking a look at some of the record stores that are thriving here in Eastern Iowa! 2025 was a HUGE year for vinyl. Deadline recently reported that, for the first time since 1983, the Recording Industry Association of America says it surpassed the $1 billion sales mark! In a world of streaming, it’s shocking to see how many people are still turning to physical forms of music. As a bit of a collector myself, I think that many people enjoy the nostalgia of it, as well as the warm, crackly sound of the record. Wondering where you can get new and used records here in Eastern Iowa? There are plenty of options!
New York, NY | Incendiary, Say She She, Hotline TNT, Momma, Friko, more playing Rough Trade’s free NYC fest Indieplaza: Rough Trade and Rockefeller Center are once again celebrating Record Store Day with a free mini-festival. It happens on Saturday, April 18 at 30 Rockefeller Plaza, running from 12-9 PM. Say She She, Incendiary, Hotline TNT, Momma (duo set), Winter, Friko, Nuovo Testamento, and Weird Nightmare all perform, with DJ sets from Avalon Emerson, Soul in the Horn, and Saint Virgil in between. It’s free and open to the public.
Jacksonville Beach, FL | Crate Diggers & Salt Air: Inside Soul Waves Vinyl at Jacksonville Beach. There’s something rebellious about walking into a record store in 2026. It’s not loud. It’s not algorithm-fed. It doesn’t push notifications. It just waits. Quietly. Confidently. Like it knows it was here before streaming and will still be here after your Wi-Fi goes down. Tucked into the beach grid a few blocks from the Atlantic Ocean sits Soul Waves Vinyl Records, a small but soulful record shop that feels less like retail and more like ritual. The kind of place where you don’t “shop,” you dig. Where you don’t scroll, you flip. Where time slows down to 33⅓ revolutions per minute. My first time visiting and shopping this vinyl paradise back in December, I was literally smitten with the unique selections they offer. I ended up leaving with more than 30 records.
Edinburgh, UK | Much-loved Scots record store to close after 20 years: A Beloved Edinburgh record shop is set to close its doors after 20 years. Elvis Shakespeare has been a go-to spot for music fans on Leith Walk since opening in May 2005. Its eye-catching sign—featuring the heads of Elvis Presley and William Shakespeare—has made it a well-known landmark for punters over the past two decades. Owned by David Griffin, the store specialises in punk, alternative and indie vinyl, “as well as dance music from the late 1980s onwards.” But the shop was put up for sale in December 2024. Last month, bosses revealed it will shut for good on Sunday, March 29.
Richmond, VA | Thrifting and hardcore to collide for Salad Days Market: Vintage clothing, old school records and collections from local Richmond hardcore bands will be for sale this upcoming Sunday, March 29, at Salad Days Market. A collaboration between Cut and Run Vintage—a pre-loved clothing store featuring items from the 90s and early 2000s, and Vinyl Conflict—a record store on Grace Street. The market will be held at Studio Two Three, a nonprofit community arts space in Manchester. The hosting vendors will be joined by Alchemy Coffee and 1115 Mobile Kitchen. “With United Blood coming back, it felt like the right time to finally make it happen,” said Cody Denzler, one of the owners of Cut and Run Vintage. “One day I was at Vinyl Conflict talking with [Bobby Egger, owner of Vinyl Conflict] about other markets I’d been hosting, and it just clicked that we could team up and do this together.”
Cleveland, OH | Sy Smith Cleveland concert: Free acoustic show at Vinyl Groove. Fans of contemporary underground soul will want to save their Saturday afternoon for a rare and Cleveland appearance by singer-songwriter-producer Sy Smith. The acoustic show and conversation begin at 4 p.m. on Saturday, March 28 at Vinyl Groove Records, 5100 Pearl Rd, Suite 208 in Cleveland. The show is free and first-come, first-served, standing room only. Smith, who grew up in Washington DC, has been a stalwart on the indie R&B/nu soul scene since the turn of the century, when she released her debut album “Psykosoul,” which included her cover of Edie Brickell & New Bohemians’ hit “What I Am,” used in the Eddie Murphy sitcom “The PJs.”
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