Traverse City Record-Eagle

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  • Douglas Tesner

    Sound It Out Records

  • Douglas Tesner

    Sound It Out Records
April 16, 2010

Record Store Day is a holiday for some

Store will celebrate, then move to new spot

By JODEE TAYLOR

TRAVERSE CITY -- Vinyl is cool again.

Records, LPs, albums, whatever you call them, have seen an uptick in sales over the last couple years -- and sales of CDs have dropped.

And record stores, including Traverse City's Sound It Out Records, are back in action.

"It's a different experience shopping at a record store than buying something on iTunes," said Aaron Gooch, owner/manager of the store. Her store, and others around the country, will celebrate the third annual Record Store Day Saturday. The day was created to celebrate independent record stores as well as the records themselves. The store will open at 11 a.m.

"It's more tangible, more physical," said Nick Smith, 22, of Traverse City, a regular at the record store. "With digital, it's there and gone with the click of a mouse."

Sound It Out will have more than 150 special releases created just for Record Store Day. Some that Gooch thinks will be hot sellers include "Zebra" by Beach House, a 12-inch record with two new tracks; a new John Lennon 7-inch box set that includes postcards, a poster and more; and a previously unreleased Jimi Hendrix 12-inch colored vinyl, recorded live at Clark University.

Nathan Kainst, 25, of Traverse City, will be at a comic book convention in Chicago Saturday but has "agents" who are going to Sound It Out Records for him.

"I could go to a record store in Chicago but I'd feel like a traitor," he said.

Kainst, who owns more than 1,000 vinyl records, said the selection at Sound It Out is "impressive" for a town this size and Record Store Day is a bonanza even for people who don't buy vinyl. "There's lots of CDs," he said.

There will also be giveaways, cupcakes and discounts throughout the store. In fact, the more that sells, the better, Gooch said, because it's less she'll have to pack. The store is opening in a new location, 418 S. Union (the old Moeggenberg's) at the beginning of May.

"We're really excited about the new space," said Gooch, who co-owns the store with her boyfriend, Kyle Weeks. "We're excited to be in Old Town. There's the new parking garage and we're in between two film festival venues."

The new location will mean the store can stay open later, until 8 or 9 p.m., and will have windows, something the current location on the second floor of the Front Street Commons is missing.

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