MILWAUKEE — Milwaukee record shops were abuzz with activity like exclusive vinyl releases, limited editions and special promotions, planned for National Record Store Day.
Among the highlights was the release of Taylor Swift’s latest album, “The Tortured Poets Department,” drawing fans to the stores.
“It’s like Christmas, New Years, Halloween, New Year’s Eve, all rolled into one,” said Terry Hackbarth, owner of Irving Place Records, formerly called Bullseye Records, on Milwaukee’s East Side.
Regular customers like Charles Arpin and Greg Rowan are all about supporting their favorite local city record shop.
“We come pretty frequently,” said Rowan. “For some people, it might just be a once a year type a thing and encouraging people to come out, even if it’s just for the one day, and helping support the community, it can only be a good thing.”
Rowan said his girlfriend is planning to buy the new Taylor Swift album that many have been waiting patiently for.
“I know all the ‘lore’ [Referring to Swift’s album ‘Folklore’] and stuff,” said Rowan. “They’ve been texting me all day about it, sending me clips, telling me about all the secrets and hints that may have been dropped. I guess there’s two records. There was going to be one and now there’s a secret second one.”
The secret double album, announced at 2 a.m. by Taylor Swift on “X” comes with fifteen extra songs, a total of 31 songs and over two hours of playing time.
“I mean they listened to it already,” said Rowan. “On the clock, of course, but they do that all the time. They said they liked it better than ‘Midnights’ on first listen.”
Across town at Lilliput Records, manager Richard Crittenden prepared for that secret double album shipment.
“There’s also going to be three additional versions of it that are each on their own, colored vinyl,” said Crittenden. “They each have a bonus track in addition to all these tracks as well.”
Crittenden said some people camp out the night before for the big day, and he has received a lot of calls from ‘Swifties.’
“She’s definitely notorious for putting little Easter eggs out there on her social media an stuff, so anytime somebody has an idea of something coming out on vinyl, were almost always immediately getting some kind of call about it,” he said.
It will be a fan-filled day, which will bring a boost to the local record stores that continue to thrive.
“Anything, you know, that gets people excited about records and music, I’m all for,” said Hackbarth.
CORRECTION: A previous version of this story misstated the name of Taylor Swift's new album, "The Tortured Poets Department." This has been corrected. (April 19, 2024)