This is the third year I’ve been along to Record Store Day, and personally I think it’s a great idea and I’m a big fan of it. This year I thought I’d put down a few thoughts about the event and what I think could be better for next year.
I started off the day at Rough Trade East. I expected to queue up there and that is exactly what I had to do. Queuing from 8 am until gone 10 am is rough though, and it was cold and windy. But, finally I got in and was able to have a look for the Record Store Day exclusives I wanted to buy. Sadly only 2 of them were available. Rough Trade was a bun fight to be honest. It’s the same as it has been in previous years, but I just don’t think it’s very well organised, and I don’t like it.
After that disappointment I headed over to Berwick Street. It was approaching midday and they had a lot going on over there, so I thought I’d try out Sister Ray and see if there was any chance of getting any of the other items I’d hoped for.
Of course, the queue there was pretty long too. Not as long, but long enough. However, this was a much better managed queue. Sister Ray staff came out and handed out stock lists so people could see what the store had. They were also available to people in the queue to tell them if a given item had gone out of stock or not, which was very useful. As you got closer to the store itself we were asked to write down the items we wanted and given a ticket number. These were collected so that the items you wanted could be prepared for you by the time you got into the store.
Overall my experience at Sister Ray was far more positive than Rough Trade. Sister Ray were organised and prepared and helpful. I really appreciated that. I think that next year I’ll start there and not at Rough Trade.
I am Ashley Elsdon 