my local record store

For the past 30 years, Hogwild records has been San Antonio’s only independent record store. They have survived by offering a wide selection of Metal, Punk, Hardcore, and Texas Music. They also offer a wide selection of T-Shirts and DVD’s and every now and then sell tickets to an upcoming show.

During the nineties, it helped promote punk and metal shows at Randy’s Rodeo Ballroom as well as Tacoland. Some of the bands that were featured were The Beastie Boys, Loudness as well as Nirvana.

Nirvana played at Taco-land before they broke out world -wide with “Nevermind”

Owner Dave Riser and assistant manager Steve Alejandro oversee the daily operations of the store.

With the age of the internet and downloading tunes, mom and pop independentrecord stores have gone out of business but Hogwild has managed to survive.

“Our success is stocking the business model of stocking music, CD’s, T-Shirts, and making a wider selection available to buy”, said, Steve Alejandro.

Vinyl is making a comeback. Soundscan reported around four million pieces of vinyl in 2011-a gain of 39 percent 2010. And 67 percent of vinyl sold in 2010. And 67 percent of vinyl sales last year went through the independent stores that Record Store Day Promotes. “Vinyl is catching up both new and used,” said, Steve Alejandro.

Record Store Day which happens every year on the third Saturday of April. Record Store Day promotes the independent record store. Every independent record store in the U.S., Canada, and Europe takes part in it.

Record Store Day has become a crash courses on how you draw customers to your business. Three hundred in store performances, one-day-only deals and special releases bring music aficionados out to support independent stores.

“Record Store Day is one of our busiest days. It brings in a lot of people into the store,” said, Steve Alejandro.