Only the police can sell records now

Reports show that a shop called Boombox Records that was recently established in Edmonton was in fact an undercover police operation designed to catch drug dealers.

The fully-operating shop sold records for twelve months, despite being entirely a ruse. The shop was staffed by undercover officers, and even had special recording booths built into the back room, in which drug dealers were encouraged to carry out their trade. 34 people were eventually arrested, with a total custodial sentence handed down of over 100 years.

In related news, it has emerged that Criminal Records , the high-profile Atlanta record store run by Record Store Day co-founder Eric Levin, has been forced to close down.

Going against the aim of Record Store Day with tragic irony, the sum of these stories seems to suggest that the only way to keep a record shop afloat in the current digital age is to use it as a undercover law enforcement operation.