Great job, hipsters.
The largest seller of vinyl albums in the world is now Urban Outfitters, according to a claim by the company’s Chief Administration Officer Calvin Hollinger Thursday morning.
According to Vox, Hollinger made the claim on a public earnings call with investors, saying music is “very, very” important to an Urban Outfitters consumer.
In 2013, 6.1 million albums were sold in the United States overall, the largest number since 1991, according to Nielsen SoundScan.
But local shops aren’t necessarily buying the claim. Matt Jencik, a manager at Wicker Park’s Reckless Records, which is across the street from the area’s Urban Outfitters, said he’s skeptical.
“I just kind of assumed they were talking out of their ass,” he said. “I don’t know how they could know that.”
Jenick said he’s sure Urban Outfitters as a whole–there are more than 1,000 stores nationwide–sells more than the three locations of Reckless. But he said local shops offer much more variety, and often sell for much cheaper than Urban Outfitters.
“I’ve been in there before, they usually don’t have very much,” he said. “They’ll only have 10 actual titles sometimes. They just put that story in there as an afterthought to make their store look cool.”
Take Interpol’s LP “El Pintor” for example. At Urban Outfitters, it’s priced at $21.98. Across the street at Reckless, the same new LP is $15.99.
In 2012, according to Forbes, independent record stores accounted for 64 percent of vinyl sales.
In March, Urban told BuzzFeed that it’s been trying to recapture young adult customers, aged 18-28, instead of the teenage crowd its been drawing as of late.
Could younger buyers be driving a vinyl resurgence?
More Top Picks Best Label Makers For Classrooms
Jenick did say that he’s noticed younger shoppers at Reckless, and that at least at his location, the vinyl trend is continuing to climb.
“Everyday I feel like there’s people coming in here that are buying records for the first time,” he said. “None of us will ever complain about getting kids in here.”
Want more? Discuss this article and others on RedEye’s Facebook page.