Live music, free pizza and 70-degree weather — three of life’s greatest gifts to humanity — all came together this Saturday for one of the best times to be downtown as a music lover: [Record Store Day](http://www.recordstoreday.com/Home).
The day began in 2008 as a celebration of independent record stores; now, record stores from every continent (besides Antarctica, because penguins prefer iTunes) participate each April. Festivities include exclusive releases, live performances, free food, sales and gatherings of music lovers at their favorite shops. A few of my friends and I decided to discover all Record Store Day had to offer in Columbia, which included hitting all three of the participating shops: [Hitt Records](http://www.recordstoreday.com/Store/14374), [Slackers](http://www.recordstoreday.com/Store/5068) and [Vinyl Renaissance](http://www.recordstoreday.com/Store/14859). Check out a summary of the day in Snapchats below.
The day began when some friends from my residence hall and I made our way downtown.Photos by Katherine White
Our first stop: Hitt Records.
It wasn’t a typical Record Store Day for Hitt Records. [9th St. Video](http://www.9thstvideo.com/), which occupied the bottom floor of the building Hitt Records is in, recently closed down, allowing the record store to expand into their former space. This was the first Record Store Day for the expanded Hitt Records.
Pizza Tree was clearly a great choice for free food, especially considering most of it was already gone when we arrived. Yum!
Bands performed live on the roof of Hitt Records throughout the day.
Regina Anderson, a.k.a the Fashionably Late columnist, purchased “Ella Fitzgerald Sings The Gershwin Song Book” for herself and “ABBA’s Greatest Hits Volume 2” for her friend at Hitt Records.
Nat Kaemmerer spread the peace in the expanded portion of Hitt Records.
Nothing like creative sign art to add a finishing touch.
We made our way to our second stop: Slackers!
The original motion picture soundtrack for “Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No!” was a Record Store Day release for Black Friday 2015. Oh hell yes.
This alt-J record, one of this year’s exclusive releases, contained the vinyl, CD and DVD of the band’s live show at Red Rocks. It was also $65.
Slackers knows that Record Store Day is serious business.
Regina was on the search for this Record Store Day exclusive: “You Are Not Alone: Live At The Greek” by Walk The Moon. She might be a little obsessed with that band.
Our third stop: Vinyl Renaissance.
Shoppers gathered around the Record Store Day exclusives shelf in Vinyl Renaissance to see if the ones they were searching for were available.
All three of the stores we visited had areas sectioned off for live musicians to perform throughout Record Store Day.
_Edited by Katie Rosso | krosso@themaneater.com_
