Vinyl record stores across the Pacific Northwest are preparing for Record Store Day, their biggest day of the year. Hundreds of brand-new exclusive and limited releases will be available starting Saturday morning at a variety of locations, in an effort to boost interest in vinyl as a medium.

More than 40 stores across Oregon and Southwest Washington are participating in the festivities. Many will have long lines of eager customers waiting for hours.

The following is an incomplete list of some of the shops participating in Record Store Day by city — a complete list can be found on the official Record Store Day website.

Ashland

John Brenes has worked in record stores since 1961. The 82-year-old owner of The Music Coop said Record Store Day has shown how durable demand is for the medium, even after it waned in previous decades.

“What I’ve always known is there will always be a place for a good record store,” Brenes said. “No matter how much people try to write off record stores, I never believed it and I just stuck to my guns.”

Brenes said it’s a huge day financially for his store, and people have been excited for weeks. The Music Coop will open up at 10 a.m., but Brenes said people will likely line up hours beforehand.

“I’ve been getting phone calls, four or five phone calls all day long, for the last three or four weeks, people wanting to know, ‘Do you have this?’” he said.

The Music Coop - 268 East Main St. Ashland, OR

Astoria

The Lonely Crab is a small, intimate shop in downtown Astoria. Owner Chris Lamb opened the shop three years ago after moving to Clatsop County from Bellingham, Wash. Despite it being a smaller area, he said the Northwest Oregon Coast actually contains amazing private collections.

“The volume and the variety of used collections that roll through here is kind of mind-boggling,” Lamb said.

In addition to the official Record Store Day releases, Lamb said he’s putting out dozens of used records he hasn’t made available before. He said he doesn’t see the large lines outside more urban shops, but his store does attract customers from Portland looking to avoid the crowds.

He said he feels privileged to own a record store in a time dominated by streaming and digital music.

“The fact that a physical brick-and-mortar record store exists in this day and age is ridiculous,” he said. “It is only through the direct support of the people that live in your community that makes this work.”

The Lonely Crab Records — 905 Commercial St, Astoria, OR 97103

Bend

Smith Rock Records, one of Central Oregon’s only vinyl stores, plans to open early at 8 a.m. to mark the occasion. They also plan to have different DJs spinning records throughout the day, including one who plays exclusively 45s, according to shop owner Patrick Smith.

The store has existed under various names since the 1970s. Smith said Record Store Day provides a much needed boost in business during a dry time of year.

“Especially during this kind of economy, it kind of reenergizes our industry,” Smith said. “Downtown Bend is a little slow right now. All of our small business owners are feeling a pinch.”

Smith Rock Records is also planning to move soon, to a different downtown Bend location.

Smith Rock Records — 117 NW Oregon Ave, Bend, OR 97703

Corvallis

Preatomic Records in downtown Corvallis will open at 8 a.m. on Saturday.

Owner Joshua Lucas said his shop typically carries used vinyl, CDs and tapes. But Record Store Day sees the shop offer many of hundreds of new, exclusive records for sale. The store will have a DJ on site and will be offering pop-tarts made by Odd Bird Cafe.

Lucas said that while streaming services can be good for discovering music, owning a physical album provides an entirely different experience. He said Record Store Day often brings in younger people who are unfamiliar with records.

“I think owning physical media is the best way to get in touch with the artist who created it,” Lucas said.

Nearby, Happy Trails Records announced on its Facebook page that it will open at 10:30 a.m. for Record Store Day.

Preatomic Records — 211 SW 2nd St, Corvallis, OR 97333

Happy Trails Records — 100 SW 3rd St, Corvallis, OR 97333

Enterprise

A small shop in a renovated two-car garage, Ruby Peak Music opened its doors more than four years ago, and remains one of the only record stores in northeast Oregon. Owner Greg Mitchell said the store has a wide selection of jazz, country, soundtracks and rock records.

Unlike many other stores, Ruby Peak does not sell official Record Store Day releases. Instead, Mitchell said, he has saved “dozens and dozens of new and used records” for the day.

“We just do our own thing,” he said.

The shop typically offers a 10% discount to local residents, which includes the areas around northeast Oregon and Southeast Washington. Mitchell said it’s likely that discount will increase on Saturday.

He also said record stores offer an intimate shopping experience that can’t be replicated online.

“Anybody can buy things off of Amazon or Walmart, but here you get to see what you’re buying,” Mitchell said. “You get to interact with other people in the store.”

Ruby Peak Music — 501 S River St, Enterprise, OR 97828

Eugene

Eugene’s House of Records has been around since 1973, located in a 108-year-old house.

Owner Greg Sutherland has worked at the shop for around 40 years and said Record Store Day is a huge time of year for his business.

“We make four-to-five times more than what we normally do on a regular Saturday,” Sutherland said. “It’s busier than any of the days around Christmas.”

He said they will have donuts available for those lining up before the store’s 9 a.m. opening time.

House of Records — 258 E 13th Ave, Eugene, OR 97401

Lincoln City

Corrie Richardson and her husband opened Output Records six years ago, and it’s the couple’s second time owning a music store. She said they have collected vinyl for years; owning the shop allowed her to quit her other, part-time job.

Richardson said the shop contains a wide variety of surf and ska records, catering to their beach-loving customers. She has seen lines of up to 80 people outside the shop during previous Record Store Days.

They plan to open at their regular hours at 11 a.m.

Output Records — 1747 NW U.S. 101, Lincoln City, OR 97367

Newport

Northwest Grooves will open at 8 a.m. on Saturday. Owner Brandon Rorye said they typically see a few dozen customers line up in anticipation each year.

Rorye said it’s important to shop at local record stores, because they offer a different kind of discovery in finding new music to love.

“You never know what you’re going to see when you walk into a record store,” Rorye said. “People are bringing in things every day.”

Northwest Grooves — 414 SW Coast Hwy, Newport, OR 97365

Portland

Unsurprisingly, Portland has dozens of shops participating in Record Store Day.

The oldest and perhaps the most well-known is Music Millennium. Owner Terry Currier said he expects 300 people by the time doors open at 8 a.m. Some will start lining up 24 hours in advance.

The first 350 customers there will receive gift bags and commemorative posters, in addition to first access to the sought after releases.

Currier was part of one of the original coalition of stores that started Record Store Day in 2008. At that time, few distributors offered any music on vinyl and many stores had transitioned to selling CDs. Nearly 20 years, that has completely flipped, with vinyl becoming the dominant physical music format.

“Had it not been for the Vinyl Renaissance, there probably wouldn’t be that many record stores today at all,” Currier said. “So it’s super important.”

Currier recently announced he plans to sell the store he’s owned for more than 40 years. He told OPB on Friday he has not settled on a buyer.

Related: Portland record store helped launch a vinyl renaissance

Too Many Records in North Portland has taken a different approach. Manager Alex Hill said her shop does not sell official Record Store Day releases, as they tend to be pricey with no guarantee of sale.

“We see it as a blight on small businesses,” Hill said. “We end up paying kind of crazy prices for it … and no one ends up buying them.”

Too Many Records is completely refreshing its wall of rare records, called “grails.” They’re also putting out 50 additional Brazilian albums and soundtrack records for sale.

KMHD took a deep dive into some of Portland’s other record stores in the Record Store Rundown

Vancouver

Across the Columbia River, Ronald Records in Vancouver will be open nearly all day, from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Owner Kelsey Jennings said local punk band Chaotic Neutral will be performing outside the shop at 6 p.m. A local tattoo artist will also be giving out flash tattoos from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Jennings said she sees her shop as an archive of sorts, preserving music history in a time where things are more digital. She also said it serves as a community space for the wider southwest Washington arts scene.

“We feel a responsibility to maintain and clean these older records for the new generation,” Jennings said. “Anything can be deleted off of digital platforms.”

Vancouver’s other vinyl store, 1709 Records, will have a DJ and 50 exclusive shop posters available for purchase. Owner Miki Rodgers said people had already started lining up Friday morning.

Ronald Records — 1005 Main St, Vancouver, WA 98660

1709 Records — 1709 Broadway St, Vancouver, WA 98663

Related: Record Store Day goes from essential support to celebration of music

Related: From phonographs to Wurlitzers, this Portland collector spins a life around vintage sound

News Source : https://www.opb.org/article/2026/04/17/pacific-northwest-vinyl-stores-shoppers-prepare-for-record-store-day/