Geert compares Record Store Day to Library Boekenweek. “They had the same sales volume that week as in the whole year. It’s the same with us, but in one day,” says the store manager, who doesn’t want to share exact numbers. Bart Haselbekke of Vinylparadijs in Geesteren also sees a “significant increase in record store day” each year; Dick van Dyck of Concerto in Amsterdam and various branches of Plato also agree that sales are going “very well” every year.
Dick estimates that thousands of people come to the concerto each year for releases and specials and that Plato, for example, Deventer and Apeldoorn, there are hundreds. Driessen bets his company’s Venlo visitors are close to 1,000. Bart expects to hit hundreds on Saturday.
Over the past two years, the event has been broken up into bits to allow retailers to adapt to coronavirus protocols. So guys expect Saturday to be busier than ever. “People missed it,” Bart thinks. “Regular customers are really looking forward to it again and I can imagine many new visitors coming in as well.”
Dick shares that expectation. As far as it is concerned, the “music highlights” are performances by, among others, British jazz pianist Jules Holland (concert) and Lucky Fons III (concerto). Driessen keeps his pick close to home. “Arno Adams is such a great local name that we’d be glad to meet him.”
Record Store Day originated in America fourteen years ago. After the United Kingdom, the Netherlands was the third country to host this day. Music fans in about 25 countries can now purchase special editions on Record Store Day and attend mini concerts at record stores.
