Stinkweeds, a record store in Phoenix, is partnering with various other local businesses for this year’s Record Store Day on Saturday.
Downtown businesses contributing to Stinkweeds’ Record Store Day include Short Leash Hotdogs, Practical Art and Crescent Ballroom.
Other Valley businesses, which include Changing Hands Bookstore, Halo Piercing and Jewelry, Urban Cookies and All About Books and Comics will be contributing to a goodie bag that will be handed out to the first 100 people in line at Stinkweeds. While Record Store Day focuses heavily on music, small businesses and Record Store Day also have a history.
“It was first started to promote small record stores around the country that still existed, contrary to what most people were hearing, which was that a lot of record stores were closing down,” said Dario Miranda, a Stinkweeds employee.
Record Store Day officially started in 2008, and the event, which takes place on the third Saturday of April, has grown since then. Record stores across the world (except Antarctica — as the official website notes) take part in the holiday.
Kimber Lanning, owner of Stinkweeds and founder and executive director of Local First Arizona, said Stinkweeds has been working with local businesses since Record Store Day’s inception.
“Record Store Day is a huge success story for independent businesses,” Lanning said. “Retailers have an opportunity to drive new customers in, leveraging new releases from well-known artists that are sort of rare and underground.”
“(There are) things that are only available on that day until they sell out,” Miranda said of the limited edition merchandise. “It’s a way to get people out to the record stores, maybe people who wouldn’t go to record stores normally.”
Miranda said Record Store Day is one of the busiest for Stinkweeds. With a lot of people showing up, there are opportunities for them to shop local.
Record Store Day’s focus on the local is apparent in activities surrounding the event. Local bands Fat Gray Cat, Twin Ponies, Snake! Snake! Snakes!, Sonoran Chorus, and a DJ set from Slow Moses members will be playing the event.
“I think anytime you go local and you support local businesses, it goes a long way towards your local economy and creating jobs,” said Brad Moore, owner of Short Leash Hot Dogs. Moore will have a food truck stationed at the event.
Whether one is coming for a rare David Bowie release or a hot dog, the event provides opportunities to support local businesses of all sorts.
“I think that what we’re doing here is supporting one another,” Lanning said. “And that’s really introducing all of our regular customers to other local businesses right there in the area.”
Related: On the Record: Operation Record Store Day 2015
Lanning also noted that local businesses support each other when holding events, bringing about a sense of community.
“This is our community, and we try to support all of the smaller local shops around here as much as possible, so we want to get them involved in this day where we’re seeing a lot of new faces,” Miranda said. “We really just want to focus on getting the word out for the bands, the music and the local businesses.”
Contact the author at Alexandra.Watts@asu.edu
Contact the columnist at Emily.Liu@asu.edu
