My collection has gotten to a size that most of my “vintage vinyl” is bought on Discogs or record shows. However, I recently found myself on Toronto’s “hippest” street one Saturday before Christmas and popped into a small but well-known record store for a quick crate flip. Two pleasant young women my daughter’s age were behind the cash, chatting about music with a couple of equally young customers who had just bought a stack of $5-$10 records. Where was the bearded old grump with the nicotine-stained fingers I usually encounter? I watched, as other customers cashed out their finds, with nary a new record to be seen.
I didn’t have a lot of time but I figured if the store had something I was after, it would be the Stones, which I’ve come to appreciate only recently, after rejecting them for decades because they are too mainstream (yes I know, very silly). The store was well-stocked with old vinyl of varying quality as well as reissues. I had four albums I was on the hunt for, one of which was a vintage copy of Let it Bleed. Lo and behold, I found an early Canadian reissue, snagged it, and headed to the cash. Unlike the old grumps (who usually say nothing except what you owe them), the young woman had a close look at it and congratulated me on finding such a nice copy. I shouldn’t have been, but I was genuinely taken aback by how pleasant and enthusiastic she was.
What’s the point of this story? Young people aren’t just buying shiny new copies of Midnights to stick on their bedroom shelves. They are attracted to vinyl for the same reasons we are. They know their music! But, in addition, buying used records goes hand-in-hand with the thrifting aesthetic that is so popular with youths these days. They love to peruse Facebook Marketplace, and go to flea markets, antique markets, and charity shops as a way to scratch their retail itch in a sustainable manner. So I’m less worried about bottlenecks in new record production, and, selfishly, more worried about the availability and prices of used vinyl.
Quoting new vinyl sales figures only scratches the surface of how big the overall record market is.