‘Amazing’ Record Store Day for family-run Boston shop – with queue beginning at 3am

The first customer began queuing outside Boston’s Nevermind The Music Store at 3am when Record Store Day returned this year.
By The Newsroom
Published 24th Apr 2019, 16:00 BST
Craig Skinner, sales assistant, and Millie Skinner, volunteer, with one of the day's limited addtion Madness albums.Craig Skinner, sales assistant, and Millie Skinner, volunteer, with one of the day's limited addtion Madness albums.
Craig Skinner, sales assistant, and Millie Skinner, volunteer, with one of the day's limited addtion Madness albums.

At five hours before the shop was due to open (at the earlier-than-normal time of 8am), this represented exceptional demand.

“6am is when the majority of people start queuing,” said Natalie Skinner, part of the family who run the Church Street business. “But the queue quickly builds up from then.”

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Record Store Day is an annual event which sees special vinyl album and singles released for independent record stores to sell exclusively, with the aim being to recognise their special role in music culture. More than 200 retailers in the UK take part in the celebration with thousands more joining in around the world.

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Nevermind The Music Store enjoyed strong support when the event returned last Saturday.

“Record Store Day was amazing,” said Natalie. “So many smiling faces. Everyone was amazing, as usual, and it’s such a special day for Nevermind The Music Store and many other independent record stores across the world. We had lots of returning loyal customers from all over the country, including Leeds, Cambridge, and London.”

To say the range of music released on Record Store Day is wide, would be an understatement.

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Exclusives for 2019 included a test pressing of Bob Dylan’s 1975 album Blood on the Tracks and a picture disc of Baby Shark.

Natalie said the store had its orders cut ‘significantly’, but the majority of people were ‘over the moon with what they got’.

When asked for 2019’s most popular releases in Boston, she said:

* The Prodigy – Fight Fire with Fire

* Queen – Bohemian Rhapsody

* Lost in Translation Soundtrack

* The Mighty Boosh – The Complete Radio Series

* Brian May – New Horizons

* The Police – Message in a Bottle.

“We would like to thank everyone that came on the day, but also everyone after,” she added. “We still have many titles in stock, so people are still in with a shot to get what they want.”

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For many, there is likely to have been a touch of poignancy to this year’s Record Store Day at Nevermind The Music Store, as it was the first since the sudden death of its owner, Gareth Skinner, in October. (A tribute piece from his family can be read here).

Following his death, Gareth’s family took on the running of the business; wife Lillian and son Craig work in the shop during the week, and Millie, one of Gareth’s daughters (along with Natalie, Lily, and Emily), help out on Saturdays and during holidays. There is also now a puppy called Hope in the shop most mornings.

Natalie said a number of customers thanked the family for carrying on with Record Store Day, and in terms of the future of the business said: “The shop will remain open as long as we are supported by our amazing community!”

For more information, find the business on Facebook.