The constant flow of people through local record shops on Saturday was a rare sight, a throwback to a time when the record store was the only place to buy music. The crowds turned out for the second annual Record Store Day, an unofficial holiday started last year as a celebration of the over 700 independently owned record stores in the United States.

Many of Seattle’s record shops participated in the event, including Sonic Boom Records, Easy Street Records and Everyday Music. Festivities included exclusive Record Store Day releases from world-renowned bands like Sonic Youth and the Flaming Lips, in-store performances from local bands, T-shirt silk-screening and discounts on records and CDs.
“There’s tons of exclusive releases, some of which were sold out in 10 minutes,” said Jason Hughes, owner of Sonic Boom Records. “We’re having big sales; we’re donating money to Seattle city schools … We’re trying to give back to the Seattle music community.”

The small Capitol Hill Sonic Boom store was crowded, full of people browsing the racks of records and CDs-some of which were on sale for less than $2. Some were also cutting through the crowd trying to get a spot next to the makeshift stage for the in-store performance of indie rock band Telekinesis. Sonic Boom also had the help of Cheryl Waters, a KEXP DJ who was keeping the shoppers happy with fresh tunes to browse through music to.

“I think it’s really cool that there’s a day when everybody comes out and supports great music,” Waters said. “I love community record stores because they have a real relationship with our listeners … [the stores] will recommend things, and you can just have a real one-on-one relationship with the music.”

Record store owners and artists have said Record Store Day is meant to promote awareness of independent record stores in a time when they are often thrown to the wayside in favor of easier and cheaper digital distribution or big-box retailers like Wal-Mart.