The South Bend Record Show took place this Sunday at the Gillespie Conference Center at the South Bend Hilton Garden Inn. Organizer Jeremy Bonfiglio said he has been planning the shows for five years.
“We hold the show actually six times a year,” Bonfiglio said. “Every other month — and so we bring in dealers, record vendors from all over the Midwest.”
The show has been going on for more than 30 years, Bonfiglio added.
“So it’s been over 30 years that the show has been granted, and I think I’m the third or fourth owner now of the show," Bonfiglio said. “It’s been going on for a long time. And so it’s great to kind of be able to carry on that tradition and to grow it as much as we have.”
Greg Stuart, a vendor from Indiana, said he thinks it’s good to own records.
“I think a lot of the new releases — the things [released] now — aren’t the same sound because it's digitally recorded and then printed onto the record,” Stuart said. “It used to be all analog and a lot of people like their background noise in older records.”
Another vender Bob Frazier said valuable records have to be in good condition, early in a movement and rare.
“It has to be in good condition,” Frazier said. “It has to be relatively early in a movement. And it has to be rare because I’d say the Beatles sold millions [of records] though they’re still desirable. They’re not the top of the line unless you get the rare variation of it.”
Frazier said his main source for finding the value of records is Ebay of the music marketplace Discogs.
“Your main source is going to be Discogs or Ebay. You look them up on there,” Frazier said. “And a lot of knowledgeable record buyers out there tell you that these are really nice. So you’re not charging enough for this and those are what they usually buy.”
The record industry has changed because of artists such as Taylor Swift who release variations of the same records, Frazier explained.
“There are multiple variations when they come out,” Frazier said. ”You know Taylor Swift has 10 different variations of the same record.”
Bonfiglio said the show is a large attraction because of its vendors, who come from all over the Midwest.
“It makes it the biggest one-day record store in the area, so it’s an opportunity for people to come in and shop for stuff that they can’t find locally,” Bonfiglio said.
Bonfiglio added that the sale has grown since a location change — with an increase from 56 tables to 90.
“Now we’re up to over 90 tables, and we have really expanded with dealers,” Bonfiglio said. “The audience has grown obviously over the last several years with the resurgence of vinyl.”
According to Bonfiglio, the record sale has much more diverse people coming out recently.
“We see a lot more diverse people coming out,” Bonfiglio said. “So we see people from campus coming over which is great and we see high school students … So it’s become a real mix which has been a lot of fun.”
Bonfiglio said the sale is a gathering of like-minded people.
“I think it's really just a gathering of like-minded people who just love music,” Bonfiglio said. “So people get together and they tell stories about their favorite bands and musicians — there’s a lot of camaraderie there.”
The next record show will take place Feb. 4.
‘The biggest one-day record store’: South Bend hosts record show
People shop at the South Bend Record Show on Sunday, Dec. 3, 2023.
