By DAVID DUPONT
BG Independent News
National Record Store Day has turned into a record-setting day for sales at Finders Records in downtown Bowling Green.
“The last three or four years for Record Store Day have been record-setting days for us in the history of Finders,” said the shop’s founder and owner Greg Halamay.
He was standing inside the door greeting people as he let them in. With 200-300 people waiting outside the downtown Bowling Green shop for the 10 a.m., opening he was controlling how many people were in so the store didn’t become too crowded. The most popular area was the crates of vinyl records.
Daniel Williams peruses the selection at Finders on Record Store Day.
In its 10th year, Record Store Day was founded to celebrate the resilience of the local record store.
Getting ready for the day is a lot of work, Halamay said. “But it’s a celebration of what we are, who we are, and where we’ve been down the path.”
The beginning of Record Store Day coincided with the rediscovery of vinyl records, the music format of choice when Finders first opened its doors in 1971.
“Vinyl is back,” Halamay said. “Vinyl has been embraced at Record Store Day with all the special editions that’ve come out and created a lot of enthusiasm for the record collectors.”
Some of the earliest arrivals were from Columbus and Cincinnati, Halamay said. And collectors travel from Michigan to shop.
Zachary Weymer drove up from Sidney with his best friend from childhood for Record Store Day. They’d previously gone to a store in Lima, but decided the extra miles were worth a trip to Bowling Green. “These guys have a way better selection.”
They got in line at 9:30 a.m., and 50 minutes later he was in the store.
Tyler Turner shows Megan Dunlap one of his discoveries.
He carried his purchases in a special issue Record Store Day cloth bag, the perfect size for LPs. One of his finds was a special issue by the band Bullet for My Valentine. These songs will only be released on this format, he said.
The record is pressed in a clear, crimson vinyl.
Ordering online is also an option, but Weymer said he wants to handle a record before buying. “You can really check it out.”
For Weymer, as with other collectors on hand, vinyl delivers a better sound. “I just love it sitting around the house listening.”
Larry Walker, of Findlay, will be listening to some classics – Neil Young, The Doors, and Grateful Dead, not to mention a Beatles single. The sound of vinyl, he said, is “crisper.”
He said tries to make it the Finders a couple times a year. Now retired, this is the first time he’s been able to get to the shop on Record Store Day, though he’s always come up later to get special issues that were still available.
There’s no place closer to his home here he can find the selection.
Tyler Turner was surprised to find such a “great store” with such a good selection when he moved to Bowling Green from Florida this year.
“It has lots of different choices in music types.” He and Megan Dunlap were stocking up on old punk and had found a Leonard Cohen tribute.
He said he’s gone to stores in Colorado and Florida for Record Store Day, but none had the collection that Finders offers.
Turner, 29, started listening to vinyl about 12 years ago when he got an LP of Warren Zevon’s “Excitable Boy.” He got a turntable and has been plugged in since.
The vinyl records, he said, have a permanence that music is digital formats lacks. “The art work is great,” he said.
Daniel Williams, 30, of Sandusky has been collecting for about four years, but his memories of vinyl go further back.
His parents were fans of the Truthettes and other traditional gospel quartets. “It was an event watching my mother put that record on and start cleaning the house. I have my own little ritual of dropping that needle.”
Williams added: “I love the size of the art work. I love the ability to slow the pitch down speed it up.”
Williams said his love of vinyl was fostered by visits to Finders when he was a student at Bowling Green State University, where he studied journalism and then received his master’s degree in American Culture Studies.
“When it comes to record stores, this is my standard.”
