MINTURN — Eagle Valley Music & Comics owner Tom Robbins ordered so much stuff for Record Store Day, his store may be one of the only places in our spiral arm of the universe that has more vinyl than Pamela Anderson or Cher.

Saturday is the official intergalactic Record Store Day, which means that all intelligent life will be heading to a local, mom-and-pop record store. Around here, that means Eagle Valley Music & Comics in Minturn, across the street from Sticky Fingers Cafe and up the street from the Turntable, which is good to know because, along with vinyl recordings, you’ll also need sustenance.

The door opens at 10 a.m. Saturday. You can show up early, but please don’t press your nose up against the glass. Sticky Fingers and the Turntable really are right there, if you need to kill some time.

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“We always have a line when we open the doors on Record Store Day. Last year, it was down to the corner,” Robbins said.

Eagle Valley Music & Comics has been in business 32 years. Robbins worked there through high school before he bought the store. They started carrying comics in 2006, hence the name expansion to Eagle Valley Music & Comics.

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Records are real

If you go back far enough, then you remember blowing a significant portion of your paycheck on impulse buys in your local record store.

And that, Robbins said, is the idea behind Record Store Day.

Vinyl is rolling again, as younger people discover it. It never really went away, but in our “click here” culture, it suffered some hard times.

“People are enjoying music in more traditional ways,” Robbins said. “The sound is better, and it’s great to be able hold something while you’re listening to music.”

Yeah, CDs are small and convenient, but they’re tough to look at. Digital downloads are simple and you can stuff zillions onto a player smaller than the pack of non-filtered Lucky Strikes your grandfather used to keep rolled up in his T-shirt sleeve in the 1950s.

But true audiophiles know that vinyl provides the best sound reproduction.

“And the newer recordings are better than they used to be,” Robbins said.

Record Store SWAG

Along with the zillions of recordings he already stocks, Robbins ordered more than 300 pieces for Record Store Day.

There’s Phish’s fifth album, another Grateful Dead live album, reusable bags, CD samplers … the list is long and listenable.

You have red records, splattered records, all kinds of designs. There’s even a 45 rpm shaped like a guitar with a Monkees logo. Ask your parents who the Monkees are.

The list is available on Eagle Valley Music & Comics’ Facebook page, or go to recordstoreday.com/specialreleases.

Record Store Day was conceived in 2007 at a gathering of independent record store owners. It now includes nearly 1,400 independently owned record stores in the United States and thousands of similar stores internationally. There are Record Store Day participating stores on every continent except Antarctica.

Staff Writer Randy Wyrick can be reached at 970-748-2935 and rwyrick@vaildaily.com.