Record Store Day hits Eagle Valley Music and Comics, one of only a few participating shops on Colorado’s Western Slope | CPT PPP Coverage

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Tom Robbins has been receiving boxloads of new records at his Minturn shop in recent weeks in preparation of Record Store Day on Saturday.

The once-per-year event has reached holiday status for record collectors in recent years, and Eagle Valley Music and Comics has participated in every Record Store Day since the very first event in 2008.

Known as “the global celebration of the culture of the record store,” Record Store Day is an annual event in which independent record stores around the country are given access to limited-edition records for sale in their shops.

“This is a day for the people who make up the world of the record store — the staff, the customers and the artists — to come together and celebrate the unique culture of a record store and the special role they play in their communities,” according to RecordStoreDay.com.

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There are not many Record Store Day shops on Colorado’s Western Slope — besides Eagle Valley Music and Comics (located at 211 Main Street in Minturn), there’s a shop in Grand Junction, a shop in Salida, a shop in Steamboat and two Summit County shops participating in 2023.

Some of the records will be available later this year in other outlets — bigger corporate shops and online retailers — but some will only be available to independent shops on Record Store Day.

And some will completely sell out on that day, Robbins said. He expects the limited edition Grateful Dead “Boston Garden Live 5/7/77” five-LP set to be among those that is here for Record Store Day and gone a day later.

“They only made 11,000 copies,” Robbins said. “And it’s a Record Store Day exclusive, meaning it won’t be available in other stores later.”

About 300 titles were made available for Record Store Day this year, and Robbins said he ordered them all.

“We’ll probably have about 285 to 290 of them,” he said. “I ordered everything, but some things just don’t show up … And for over 100 titles we only have one piece. Some of the more obscure pieces, like ‘Surf music for the Great Lakes.’”

Another Record Store Day exclusive is Taylor Swift, “Folklore: the long pond studio sessions,” a two-LP pressing from Republic Records. Robbins said he ordered as many copies as the distributor would provide and expects them all to sell.

Eagle Valley Music and Comics will open its doors at 11 a.m. and will allow four people in the store at a time. All patrons must wear a mask and must use the shop’s hand sanitizer station before entering. Masks will be provided for those who don’t have them.

Customers are only permitted to purchase one copy of each title, and shops are not allowed — per Record Store Day rules — to place titles on hold. Robbins said a line often forms outside the shop on Record Store Day for those waiting to enter. The shop will remain open until 6 p.m.

“And then on Sunday, if anything doesn’t sell, customers are allowed to call in and see what’s left, and I can place titles on hold for them until they arrive,” Robbins said. “But we won’t hold them long.”