The tartan tarp in the Alaskan Brewing Co. tasting room might as well have been a matador’s cape.<\/p>\n
Once it was lifted, a stampede started toward the boxes of records present for KXLL’s Pop-Up Record Shop Thursday evening.<\/p>\n
“When we started, we’d have eight boxes, and there’d be people throwing elbows,” said Annie Bartholomew, program director for KXLL.<\/p>\n
For the most recent shop, Thursday, Dec. 6, there were multiple rows of boxes and plenty of space in the new tasting room, although vinyl vultures made their passes through the wares in tight clusters.<\/p>\n
McLean Steadman was one of the collectors on hand before the shop opened.<\/p>\n
He’s been collecting records for about 20 years, he said. Most recently he came into record-playing equipment when a friend upgraded what they had and old gear found its way to Steadman.<\/p>\n
Steadman said he relished the opportunity to peruse boxes of records because oftentimes there aren’t many local options, and no store dedicated solely to records.<\/p>\n
In addition to making it hard to add to his collection, the dearth of record stores in Juneau means finding replacement parts for turntables is difficult. A stylus, or needle, generally needs to replaced after about 1,000 hours of playing time. Occasionally, cartridges or belts may need to be replaced, too.<\/p>\n
“Trying to find needles and stuff is impossible,” Steadman said.<\/p>\n
The reality that demand for records outpaces supply was communicated by many in the crowd Thursday night.<\/p>\n
“In town it’s definitely hard to find records, so I’ll order online, or I’ll check out record stores when I’m traveling,” said Alex Tadda.<\/p>\n
Similarly, Kim Valverde said when she travels to the Lower 48, she usually stops by “a secret spot” to add to her fairly new but growing vinyl collection.<\/p>\n
“I’m somewhat new at collecting and also looking for gifts for friends and family,” said Valverde, who let out shouts of excitement when she found a “The Sound of Music” soundtrack on vinyl.<\/p>\n
Valverde said she also found some classic rock albums at the shop, but she was mostly happy to have a copy of Julie Andrews and company singing on wax.<\/p>\n
“I’ll drive my partner and daughter nuts with this,” Valverde said.<\/p>\n
Bucking the trend<\/strong><\/p>\n Opportunistic shopping habits are required for Juneauites despite vinyl’s coronation last year as a billion-dollar industry<\/a>.<\/p>\n Mid-year statistics from the Recording Industry Association of America show in other parts of the country, records remain a growing business with more than 12-percent increase in sales from the first half of 2017. <\/a><\/p>\n The growing RIAA numbers only capture a fraction of sales during the ongoing record renaissance.<\/p>\n Many records are sold through online retailers such as eBay and Discogs. Those sites allow users to buy and sell used records that don’t add to the official totals, and secondhand markets like Thursday’s pop-up shop consisting of records donated to the radio station also factored into the uncounted date.<\/p>\n