At noon on Friday, April 11, vinyl record fans of all ages gathered outside of Curious Collections in Bryan to participate in a highly anticipated event.
Record Store Day is a global event held every year on the third Saturday of April. Independent record stores receive limited editions of vinyls, and music enthusiasts line up outside of stores in hopes to get their hands on their favorite albums.
Some of the most sought-after vinyls this year were from artists including Taylor Swift, Gracie Abrams, Wallows and Lil Uzi Vert, owner of Curious Collections Mary Jean said. She opened the store in 2016 and quickly began hosting the event after being approved by Record Store Day.
“My dad had a bunch of records, and I basically took my inheritance and turned it into a record store,” Jean said. “I thought it was going to be an antique and collectables store, but when people started coming in, they were mostly just interested in the records.”
The line outside of Curious Collections was scheduled to begin at 12 p.m. on Friday, April 11, and the doors were set to open the next morning on Saturday at 7 a.m. However, the first people in line claimed their spot on Friday at 10 a.m. after hearing from Jean on a livestream that others had planned to come earlier as well.
“There’s people who like movies, there’s people who like books, and I like music,” allied health senior Janae Cavazos said. “If you’re not a record collector, you won’t really understand the excitement of actually having it in a physical format.”
After getting in the line that wrapped around the building on Saturday at 6:15 a.m., Vince Keatts, a junior at Bryan High School, finally made it into Curious Collections approximately two hours later. Keatts secured the albums he was looking for including “More” by Wallows and “It’s the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown” by Vince Guaraldi.
“This is my first time ever going,” Keatts said. “It’s just fun to see other people enjoying the records that are coming out and getting to talk to people in line.”
Because most participating record stores across the nation only received one copy of each album, Curious Collections hosted a raffle to purchase the “Wicked” release and “Oasis” release on Sunday. People interested could come in any time of the day and drop their name into the raffle bucket for the albums. Everyone who entered the raffle was required to return to the store that day to see who won.
“It ensures that local people are getting the albums, and they are not going into the hands of flippers,” Jean said. “The ‘Wicked’ release, the ‘Oasis’ release, those are super limited and highly wanted, and we figured the most fair way to assess the situation is to let it be a random draw for people that want to purchase.”
The best part of Record Store Day is gathering the community of music lovers together, Jean said. On Friday night, she hosted a preview party outside of the store, so participants could see the albums before the event began. Jean enjoys interacting with her customers in line each year.
“It’s really just a way to connect with the community, and being the only record store in the area, it’s just great to see them supporting us,” Jean said. “Without them, we don’t exist.”
