THE first customer to queue at Holme Grange Craft Village for this year’s Record Store Day arrived at 11.30pm the night before.
On Saturday, hundreds of people queued up outside vinyl lovers’ paradise Beyond The Download to get their hands on limited edition records released exclusively for the day.
And the man who arrived from Crawley wasn’t the only early bird determined to get their hands on the rare releases.
Ian Biles, who runs the popular store in the Heathlands Road shopping village, said: “We had people queuing from 3.15am. We weren’t allowed to open before 8am.
“The queue didn’t disappear until the end of the day; it was a very successful day.”
And the records sold: “We’ve only got a fraction left of what we had in stock,” Mr Biles said.
The event is an important day in the music scene.
Mr Biles said: “Every independent record store in the country was rammed on Saturday.”
BBC Radio Berkshire made the store its first destination for its Saturday morning on-air treasure hunt. Anoushka Williams dropped in to find out more about Record Store Day after being sent there by a team from The Sainsbury Singers in the BBC studios in Caversham.
The clues were read out by hugely popular and talented radio presenter Tony Blackburn.
Beyond The Download doesn’t just sell the latest vinyl releases, it also offers a range of secondhand records.
The store also has a selection of record players, turntables, amplifiers, speakers and other accessories that will make the most of any vinyl records.
It also aims to support local artists by stocking their albums.
