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Love Record Stores announces second annual record storing loving event

By Andy Malt | Published on Thursday 11 March 2021

The Love Record Stores initiative has announced a second big event that will take place in record stores around the UK in September this year, following the success of its first event last year. Not to be confused with Record Store Day, Love Record Stores 2021 will see independent artists and record labels support record shops with exclusive releases and in-store performances.

Originally a social media campaign to support music retailers amid the initial COVID-19 shutdown, the first physical Love Record Stores event took place last June. The 2021 edition will take place on 4 Sep – the hope being that by then people will actually be allowed to go into shops. The ambassador for this year’s event will be Domino-signed artist Georgia.

One of the founders of the original campaign, UK MD of [PIAS] Jason Rackham, says: “Our campaign was only ever meant to be a one-off response to the immediate crisis facing record stores during the pandemic. However, the #loverecordstores campaign itself and the Love Records Stores event we organised last year was so well received by independent record stores, the wider music industry and music fans we’ve decided to replicate the initiative this year”.

“Fingers crossed we will see more and more restrictions lifted as the year goes on and by September we hope that people will actually be able to go into and support their local stores rather than shopping online with them, which would be amazing”, he goes on. “We would also like to thank Georgia for agreeing to be the Love Record Stores 2021 Ambassador. She is a passionate supporter of independent record stores and will bring amazing energy and creativity to our planned activities”.

Georgia herself adds: “I’m not just a fan of records; I’ve bought them, sold them, swapped them and collected them. Records and record shops have always been such a significant part of my life. I was five or six when my dad took me to a record shop for the first time – it was a shop tucked away in Soho that mostly sold techno and rave records, and I remember the atmosphere so well: the sense of excitement, the cave-like smell, the characters I’d see. My love really started there”.

“As a teenager, I’d head down to Beggars Banquet on my lunch breaks and became so intrigued and obsessed by records: ‘How do they get made? How do they get sold? Why do they feel and sound so much better than anything else?!'”, she continues. “Then, when I got a job at Rough Trade West off Portobello Road, records just became my whole world. Working there totally broadened my mind and shaped the person I am”.

“I became fascinated by the culture that surrounded record shops, because no matter your taste or your background, they were their own cultural microcosm and community. And I truly believe that they still are”, she concludes. “I couldn’t be more excited to be an ambassador for Love Record Stores 2021 – I can’t wait to celebrate and honour the history of record shops and get the next generation into buying records”.

So, yeah, that’s some pretty good ambassadoring she’s done already there. Details of this year’s exclusive releases and the labels involved are set to be announced in the coming weeks. Find out more here.