With a lineup of at least 10 vendors, the Record Sale and Swap attracts fans of all genres of music and vinyl collectors from all stages of life.
What originally started as a gathering of record enthusiasts has evolved into a sale and swap event hosted in a historic Nelsonville theater.
Stuart’s Opera House will host a Record Sale and Swap event where at least 10 vendors will attend with their record stashes in tow. Record collectors, from the fresh beginner to the seasoned pro, can be found at the event, and attendees can bring their own records to trade and barter with.
Brian Koscho, the marketing director at Stuart’s, said fans of most genres will come across a vendor with something they may enjoy.
“You’ll find everything and anything,” Koscho said. “Rock, jazz, folk, hip-hop, R&B, soul — and then really specific and rare stuff.”
The crowd is just as diverse as the records, Koscho said, with a “wide spectrum” of people attending: young and old, newcomers and vinyl veterans.
“I feel like at each one of these there’s somebody who might be buying their first record,” he said. “And then there’s other people who come in and they know exactly what they’re looking for.”
Koscho said some vendors typically have records for sale categorized by price, such as $4 and $2 bins, and more committed vendors have records alphabetically organized.
In addition to vinyl, vendors offer CDs, cassettes and record equipment.
Although the crowd may be diverse, it has a love of music in common.
“It’s a room full of music geeks and vinyl collectors so it’s not a bad way to spend an afternoon,” Koscho said. “There’s a lot of good stories and there’s trading amongst all of the vendors too.”
Record collectors who are strapped for cash but still need to fulfill the urge to discover new records need not worry. Vendors will barter and trade records — within reason.
“Vendors that set up at this kind of thing are the kind of folks that are always interested in people’s stuff and things they might want to trade for or buy,” Koscho said.
He encourages attendees to bring a stack of records with them in case a possible trade can be made.
Koscho said he participated in a record swap event when he began working at Stuart’s in 2007. Upon discovering his boss at Stuart’s collected records as well, he moved the swap from Athens to the opera house in order to draw a bigger crowd. The swap generally is held once a year in the winter and has gained momentum since its conception about nine years ago.
“It’s definitely a consistent crowd and it seems to have gotten a little more popular,” Koscho said, attributing the success to marketing and word of mouth between vinyl enthusiasts.
Andrew Lampela, the owner of Haffa’s Records, said even though claims have been made about a vinyl resurgence, it “never really went away,” particularly in the punk and indie scenes.
“I still buy books because I like to have something tangible,” Lampela said. “At that level it’s almost a little bit more of a piece of art than just an album.”
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Even when applications such as Spotify make music streaming quick and cheap, Lampela said the willingness of record buyers to spend higher-than-usual amounts of money on a physical album, can be attributed partially to a desire to support the artists they enjoy. He said while he has enjoyed looking through the records of out-of-town vendors in the past, he probably won’t be attending the swap this year.
“Usually the last thing I want to do when I get off work is look at more records,” he said.
@seanthomaswolfe
