Guildford indie music shops boom on Record Store Day

Music lovers across Guildford were in

heaven on Saturday when the town joined the nationwide celebrations

for Record Store Day – an event that celebrates the value of

independent music shops in an increasingly digital world.

Dance 2 Records and People Independent

Music flew the flag for Guildford and the latter store was busy from

the off. Shoppers were queueing as early as 8 o'clock – an hour

before opening time – to get their hands on any of the exclusive

releases on offer.

Such releases included a new single by

worldwide-renowned experimental rockers Radiohead, a Nirvana EP that

has never been released in the UK and singles from newer artists such

as Wild Beasts and Fleet Foxes.

Some vinyl sold out in only 10 minutes.

The Radiohead single (limited to 6 copies in the store) and the

Nirvana EP (limited to around 4 copies) all went very quickly.

Howard Smith, owner of People, tweeted

on Saturday evening: “Thank you everyone who came to People Music

today. It was our best day ever and all of it due to the fantastic

people of Guildford.

“Our shop had best ever trading

today. Thank you @spencerhickman [Spencer Hickman, organiser of

Record Store Day UK]; man you deserve all the praise for making record

shops busy again.”

How was Record Store Day for you? Is

there still a place for independent music shops in Guildford? Let us

know with a comment.