Monarchists may hope this weekend’s royal visit will break records, but one thing is certain – it will break record lovers’ hearts.
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The Title record store will have to close its doors on Saturday when the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge visit Brisbane.
Title, on Grey Street at South Bank, is at the ground level of the expanded Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre, which will host a reception for the royals on Saturday.
Saturday also marks the global Record Store Day, which Title co-manager Jamie Mumford described as “bigger than Christmas” for record shops.
“We’ve been planning all year for this day and we were only given three weeks’ notice that we had to close,” she said.
Ms Mumford said the Queensland Police Service had informed them they had to close while William and Kate were in the neighbourhood.
“Apparently we pose too much of a security risk for the royals,” she said.
“It’s disappointing – we were hoping William would come in and buy a record or something.”
A Queensland police spokeswoman said Title was the only business affected by the royal visit, due to “pedestrian access being closed between 1pm and 4pm on Saturday”.
Ms Mumford said Title would have to close its doors between 1pm and 5pm on what was expected to be its busiest day of the year.
“But there is a potential for (financial) losses, because we’re going to be closed for a big chunk of our busiest day,” she said.
The first Record Store Day was held in the United States in 2008 and has been held on the third Saturday of April every year since, spreading beyond American borders to become a world-wide movement.
“A band might release a limited edition vinyl with just 200 copies throughout the world and Australia might get 40,” Ms Mumford said.
“Then they’re divided among the record stores in Australia, so people come out really early to get something they heard about and really want.
“It’s basically a celebration of vinyl and independent music retailers and the fans who buy vinyl and love it.”
Ms Mumford said she still expected dedicated music fans to line up first thing Saturday morning.
“I guess we were quite lucky the (royal) event is in the afternoon, so at least we’ll be able to open in the morning,” she said.
