AUSTIN, Texas — The largest record convention in the United States begins this weekend as the Palmer Events Center hosts the Austin Record Convention. Early bird shoppers began to fill the 40,000 square foot hall lined with over a million vinyl records, CDs, cassettes, posters, t-shirts and 8-tracks.

The bi-annual weekend event fosters over 300 vendors selling anything they can fit on their table, ranging from 1930s classical orchestrations to this year’s latest releases. In May, the convention saw more shoppers than ever before and expects the same result this weekend.  

“Starting last year, the show got back on trend and the spring show we had this year was the biggest show we ever had in 40 years,” said owner and organizer, Nathan Hanners. “We had to put vendors upstairs, which I’ve never had to do before.”

Hanners inherited the record convention from his father, a professional record collector who inaugurated the event in 1981 at the Zilker Clubhouse.

“Vinyl is so big now, you go to the store and they’re repressing everything,” founder Doug Hanners said. “The pressing plants dumped a lot of their stampers when the CD thing came in.  Now, I think it takes a year to get in line and get an album done because there’s such a demand.”

With the rise of streaming platforms, only the hardcore collectors frequented the convention in the early 2000s. Now, the event attracts a younger audience to participate in crate digging for lost gems and new rarities.

“There’s this phenomenon of new rare records because of limited edition releases for record store days,” Nathan Hanners said. “Taylor Swift, John Legend or Harry Styles will have a limited edition release and they’re wanting that, so there’s a different group of people searching for that different kind of rare record.”

This record renaissance fared well for the Austin Record Convention as it went to promote the show through their Instagram with comedic memes appealing to a new generation of collectors.

“Everything has to adapt as times change,” Nathan Hanners said. “The ways we’ve done that are moving to this facility, creating a text-to-search system and how we market on social media.”

The Austin Record Convention will run from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday. General admission entry costs $5 and can be purchased on their website. Garage parking at the Palmer Events Center costs $10.