Austin Record Convention returns to Palmer Events Center
AUSTIN, Texas - The largest sale of recorded music in the country is underway at the Palmer Events Center in south Austin.
It's the Austin Record Convention, where millions of records and music-related memorabilia are up for sale. The event is a one-stop shop for music merchandise, with more than 3,000 vendors.
Many visitors traveled to Austin just to take advantage of the deals.
"I'm actually from Houston, and I come here every year twice a year to pick up vinyl," said visiting shopper Dru Green.
Hundreds of vendors flood the Palmer Events Center with tables full of collectors items for the three-day event, which has been held in the spring and fall since the 1980s.
"I can be slightly overwhelming because there is vendors from all over the United States that come here, and you can find a lot of great deals," Green said.
"This facility is like 44,000 square feet, and it's basically full of tables of records, CDs, T-shirts, posters, a lot of vinyl," said Nathan Hanners, Austin Record Convention promoter. "It's the Austin Record Convention because most of it's vinyl, but there is something for everyone."
Green said he was able to add a few rare finds to his collection after visiting vendors and browsing through the deals.
"I got a lot of CDs and a lot of different records, some of them I have been looking for, some of them I just picked up because they were here," he said.
"If you like music, you have to really pace yourself, because you will come in here, and you will spend way more than what you thought you want to," said shopper Ron Johnson.
"Some people come, and they shop for two or three hours today, then they go do the rest of their weekend, they come back tomorrow and look one more time and find some more stuff," Hanners said.
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Nathan Hanners says the sales vary throughout the three days of the convention, and a single admission grants re-entry for the entire weekend. But the best day to score big has always been Sunday.
"I always recommend people stick around Sunday after lunch," Hanners said. "That’s when you hear a lot of deals getting made and people start selling boxes of records, for some bulk discount and things like that."
The final day to shop at the Austin Record Convention is Sunday. Doors open at 10 a.m. and close at 5 p.m.