Hear Again Music and Movies normally retains a quiet atmosphere — until the third Saturday of April.
The typically soft background music gets cranked up. The regular flow of customers turns to lines forming outside, and casually sifting for records evolves into a frantic search.
More than 1,000 record stores across the world prepare their shops for the hordes of vinyl-hungry consumers on Record Store Day.
Gainesville’s independent record shops, Hear Again and Arrow’s Aim Records, will be participating Saturday. Doors open at 9 a.m. and noon, respectively.
Andrew Schaer, the owner of Hear Again, 39, said this day brings in the most business all year. The store never fails to come out ahead financially.
“I think it’s just literally impossible given the sheer amount of people that show up,” he said.
The day commemorates the “unique culture” record stores bring to the community, according to the Record Store Day website.
Vinyl and CD releases and rereleases are created only for the holiday and are distributed among participating stores.
The holiday gained quick popularity since it began in 2008. Hear Again has participated since 2010, and Arrow’s Aim has participated for four years.
“At the very beginning, it had legs,” he said. “It just got more and more popular through the years.”
Hear Again’s first Record Store Day didn’t receive a lot of foot traffic — but the following years were dramatically different.
“It was just like, ‘hello!’” Schaer shouted with a smile.
People flooded the record shop, which is about the size of a tennis court. As the years went by, it got even busier.
Hundreds come from all around Florida and some parts of Georgia. Vacationers away from their local record stores have been known to come in as well.
The line to get inside stretched farther back each year. It eventually wrapped around the whole building, and people would wait for hours. Last year it didn’t dissipate until the end of the day, and the store’s door never had a chance to close.
Adam Mickler, 22, said he waited about two hours.
“I got there pretty late and didn’t get my pick of the litter,” he said. “I got the main one I wanted though. It was OutKast’s ‘Player’s Ball.’”
Some people even camped out for the event. Schaer said people began to wait in line 12 hours before the event.
He described the event as a “madhouse,” but he said the crowd is generally positive. Customers are kind and respect each other.
“People share the titles as the quantities get lower,” he said. “They try to make sure that they and the people around them come out with something they want. They’re all in it together, and we’re in it with them.”
This year’s Record Store Day has about 350 titles that are submitted from various music labels, distributors and artists. Record stores contact providers to stock their stores.
Arrow’s Aim will be getting around 50 titles, according to owner Daniel Halal, 31. Schaer said he’ll be ordering a majority of the list.
One of the oldest and strangest Record Store Day titles Schaer ordered was from 2013. It was a rerelease of The Flaming Lips album “Zaireeka.” It needed four record players to start at specific times to hear the songs properly.
Because record players tend to have different start times, he said listening to the album was probably always a different experience.
When asked why anyone would have four record players, he responded with a confused look.
“I know, right?” he said. “I imagine most people don’t. I have two. A third that I wouldn’t speak of.”
