Welcome to the penultimate installment of our local 2016 Record Store Day trifecta. (We covered Armageddon, and next up will be the granddaddy event of them all at What Cheer.)
But of course Olympic Records should be on your RSD map. Seen here is store owner Kevin posing with his stock in trade — the 45 rpm 7″ single. It is miraculous to me that any of these records survive, but Olympic has major binnage devoted to singles. It’s got to be in the thousands. The shop also has plenty of new-and-old LP’s and other ancillary record gear (see below). And they have many different 45-record carrying cases . . . for bringing your faves to sleepovers.
However, Kevin did indicate that he will not be ordering from the list of special RSD releases this year.* RSD can involve a huge upfront investment and the owners are essentially buying a pig-in-a-poke. It may not be good business for a small independent store to lay out big money for what is often some pretty offbeat inventory — Alanis Morissette should write a song — because what a store orders for RSD and what they get delivered are not one-and-the-same. It’s an unusual retail relationship that is not without its critics.
*Just go anyway . . . it’s a record store and it’s record store day. And Kevin is fun to talk to.
RSD, Friday, November 25, Olympic Records, 580 Wickenden Street, (directions), 401. 301.9266
