Hundreds of shoppers help Bury St Edmunds store Vinyl Hunter, in St John’s Street, celebrate Record Store Day

More than 100 vinyl lovers queued down the street eager to celebrate Record Store Day at a Bury St Edmunds shop.

Vinyl Hunter, in St John’s Street, has held events to mark the occasion for the past nine years.

Will Hunter, who owns the store, said Record Store Day began as a way to encourage people to go out and support music shops.

He said it still remains one of the busiest days of the year – with more than 100 people queuing outside waiting for it to open, with some even camping out.

To celebrate the day, the store obtained a selection of new and rare records and has acts performing, including Dave Ashby from Sleaze and Visit Me.

Will said: “It has been really good, we are always super busy, weather depending and we’ll be running through the whole day until late. We’re the last store in Suffolk to still mark the occasion.

“The initial rush took us nearly three hours to get through but I appreciate all the people coming down to support us.

“Record stores are important as music is something that should be preserved. The idea of streaming platforms is all well and good but something gets lost along the way.

“Think about music from the 1970s and there’ll be thousands you’ll never have heard of, and even more from across the world, and that’s what we can offer.”

One vinyl hunter who popped into the store was Darren Hatch, from Brightlingsea, Essex, who stopped in Bury on his way to Cambridge.

An avid collector, he estimates he has between 9,000 and 10,000 records to his name.

However, he tries to avoid visiting vinyl stores on Record Store Day as they often get busy.

Mr Hatch said: “I tend to go shopping every two to three weeks and I’m that person who goes on holiday and browses for records.

“I tend to pop into Vinyl Hunter to have a look when I’m in town. It’s a lovely store.

“I’m a dance music man, I love a bit of techno, house, garage and more. Today I’ve taken a risk on some Scandinavian bands.”

Another shopper was Jack North, of Cambridge.

He told SuffolkNews he wasn’t a regular shopper at vinyl stores but popped in from time to time.

He said: “I’m not a massive collector, my first record was Queen.

“I’m here to look around and see what I can find, something I like, maybe older.

“I love Radiohead, Nirvana, Queen – a bit of a mix.”

Aaron Seligman was one of those to queue up to get into Vinyl Hunter this morning.

Later in the day, he brought his daughter Kaitlyn to buy a record.

He brought an A Tribe Called Quest record. Kaitlyn recently got her first record player for Christmas and was growing her collection.

Mr Seligman said he was into hip-hop, jazz and ska while Kaitlyn’s tastes were eclectic, ranging from 80s rock to a Soviet instrumental record she picked up.

Mr Seligman said: “Everyone was really calm. We live nearby, so we come here a lot, although it’s our first time for Record Store Day. I think it’s neat.

“The problem with record collecting is it can get addictive.”