I (heart) Record Stores

Saturday is Record Store Day across this great land of ours. I plan on celebrating by spending some cash at Plan 9 Music in Williamsburg -- and possibly some at Fantasy in Newport News and some more at Skinnies in Norfolk. I realize that these are businesses and that they don't need charity. We live in a capitalist society and it's survival of the fittest. But recent events -- including the demise of Relative Theory in Norfolk and the shocking death of Schoolkids Records in Chapel Hill, N.C. -- have made me more deeply appreciate the record store -- particularly the mom-and-pop variety.
I've learned about music in record stores. I can remember Steve Aiken, singer for a punk band called A Number of Things, recommending "Let It Be" the Replacements record, to me in Schoolkids 20-some years ago. That LP has brought me endless joy. More recently, I stumbled on a Handsome Family CD in Relative Theory and picked it up partly based on a sassy Post-It note attached to the disc. Now, the Handsome Family are one of my favorite bands -- right along with The Replacements.
But I've also made friends in record stores. One afternoon about 10 years ago, my pal and fellow Ramones fanatic Johnny Coe and I cemented our friendship with a conversation at The Band Box in Williamsburg -- another shop that's gone.
I guess the world won't stop turning if record stores go the way of the wooly mammoth. But a piece of community will be gone and I'm not sure that 10,000 MP3 blogs will be able to fill the void.
So ... Let's go shopping!