The doors to your favorite record stores may closed, reopened, and shuttered again, depending on where you live. As the COVID-19 pandemic swept the globe, countries and regions adopted varying lockdown measures that have deeply affected local businesses, including the vinyl community. Even heading in the winter of 2020-2021, some areas have reintroduced stricter (but necessary) measures to uphold public health initiatives.
This is why selling and buying online have become essential this year. Shops are still open for business on Discogs.
You can support your fave vinyl shops, put money in business owners’ pockets, and get your dose of fresh wax by placing an order with one of the record stores listed below. We’ve grouped stores with Discogs accounts them location so you can keep it local or explore the rest of the world.
The situation may seem grim due to the coronavirus pandemic, but we took a closer look at how the COVID-19 pandemic affected stores during our mid-year report, which was released this summer. The numbers prove that music fans are resilient, active, and enthusiastic and that Discogs has become an online haven for sellers and buyers across the consumer music economy. Growth in global physical sales in the Marketplace is up 29.69% compared to the first half of 2019. With a 33.72% increase, vinyl sales have once again crossed a landmark milestone. To put that in perspective, this means that over 5.8 million records were sold between January and June, the height of the pandemic for many countries.
Record Store Day 2020, which was divided into three separate drops this fall, was also huge for shops. Orders (177,794 orders, a 314% increase from 2019) and vinyl purchases (227,473 records, up 325%) on Discogs were much higher in 2020 over the past year.
Why throw these statistics your way? It’s all to say that that the vinyl community is going strong. However, we can always do more.
Below are some resources that will help you ensure the longevity of your favorite shops, stay healthy, and keep your turntable spinning. If you’re a shop owner or Discogs seller looking for more information on how to bring your business online, check out our support for sellers and some of the additional resources on this page.
You can easily support record stores by placing orders online. Below, we’ve listed all of the record shops that sell stock through Discogs accounts. If you are a record shop and want to appear on this list, please submit your details here.
You can also check out VinylHub, our online database of record stores around the world, to find the closest spot to you. It’s a great resource for collectors and shop owners alike.