Record Store Day is a hit for city's independent store

Die-hard fans spent Friday evening queuing up outside independent record store Pie & Vinyl, in Castle Road, to be the first to get their hands on valuable vinyls and rare records.

More than 500 people passed through the doors of the store – the most to have ever visited the site for the event.

Retail manager Robert ‘Radd’ Addison at Pie & Vinyl said the store’s staff had been planning the occasion for several months and that the weekend had been ‘emotional’.

They opened their doors at 8am on Saturday – with a queue of almost 100 customers waiting to get in.

‘There isn’t a bigger event in the entire record shop calendar,’ he said.

‘It’s something that we look forward to each year. Each year we’ve been involved in it, it just get bigger and better.

‘So days like this are massive. It’s a celebration of independent trading.’

Castle Road was a hive of activity to mark the national celebration.

The street was packed full of stalls with plenty on offer for visitors.

Musicians and bands from across the south coast also had a chance to take to the stage.

Among those performing included cult 1980s Portsmouth group Emptifish, and Band of Skulls – who recently sold out Southampton’s Guildhall.

‘This has just been a brilliant way to celebrate independent music and traders,’ said Robert.

‘We have some pretty big-name bands here today which has been brilliant.’

Among the hundreds of music-lovers to visit Castle Road included Karen Hade. The 31-year-old of Chichester was one of those eager to get into Pie & Vinyl. She said: ‘I love Record Store Day. It’s a brilliant chance to get some really rare vinyls.’

Record Store Day was launched in 2008. It was designed to reverse the plummeting sale of records by enticing customers back into their local shops with the lure of potentially getting their hands on limited-edition records.

In particular, it has helped revive sales of vinyl records

Robert added: ‘Vinyl is popular because people still want something tangible and real.’