20 Record Stores Weigh In on Vinyl's Return

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11. Carl Mello, Newbury Comics
Vinyl customers are positioning themselves against the mainstreamer ubiquity of mp3s. In other words, “Oh, you have thousands of files on your laptop? So does everybody! But do you have this awesome stuff… ON VINYL? Here, check it out!” The “cool” element also ties in nicely with the social, communal act of listening to the record. Rather than sending files to somebody, you all gather around the turntable and hang out!

12. Rick Wojcik, Dusty Groove America
There’s a huge amount of music that was once issued on vinyl, and which still hasn’t been issued on CD.  Since we’re so concerned about the past, the only way to get a full musical picture is to dig into second hand vinyl. …Vinyl has a “life” — it’s usually circulated on this planet for decades, which means you can pick up a lot about the way folks lived and listened to their music. 

13. Dearborn Music
A huge part of vinyl’s comeback has been the exposure to the younger generations. Teens and twentysomethings nowadays discover their parents’ old vinyl collection and are really fascinated by the different sound that vinyl has in comparison to compact discs.

14. Michael White, Sound Warehouse
Digital music is a snack. We’ve been snacking for so long that for some kids it is the only thing they have eaten their whole lives. While it is possible to survive on snacks, it’s no way to live your life. Sometimes you have to sit down at a real table with real people and eat a real meal. No music reproduction technology—from the boombox to the Mp3 player—offers the satisfying nourishment of a factory sealed 180-gram chunk of wax fresh from your local store’s shelf.

15. Dave W., Wax Tracks
I have noticed that at least two or three times a week some father or mother comes in saying that their kid asked for a turntable for their birthday or Christmas present. So it’s not a case of the older generation just giving their turntables to their kids and saying “Here’s what we used to play music on,” but rather the kids saying “This is what’s cool and happening right now and I want in on it.” So that’s a pretty swell notion.