Classified Records in Dundalk are stocking their shelves up to the brim for Drop 1 of Record Store Day this Saturday, June 12.

“Everyone can find something for themselves on Record Store Day,” says store owner Neil Waters. “There’s a couple of Steely Dan reissues that are hard to get. When a record gets brought back out for the day that’s exciting. There’s so much, and there’s big interest in the Keith Richards record."

Classified Records will have a set of decks in the shop on the day with “good tunes blaring,” to entice customers to buy the records Neil has hunted down for his customers.

There will be no live performers due to Covid and “limited space” in the shop, so Neil is solely focused on the records: “We just fill the shop up full of cool records and that’s all we can do.”

Although he's looking forward to the day, he acknowledges that Covid-19 has had an impact on the festivities.

“Of course we’re excited, but the landscape has changed so dramatically in the last twelve months that we’re excited to go to work every day at this rate!" he says.

He fondly remembers previous years where people would swarm the shop.

“I remember one year, there was a queue of forty or fifty people trying to get in at 9 o’clock in the morning, which is unheard of, watching people pile in," he recalls. "There was genuine palpable excitement. That to me was the best, over selling anything. Just being here behind the counter on the day was very, very exciting. I call it the vinyl cup final!"

Keep an eye on hotpress.com for more Record Store Day 2021 content.