What to do, if the malls and stores hold little appeal for you on Black Friday, but hiding from the holiday juggernaut in your house holds even less? Vinylheads, at least, might consider a trip to Candy & Records at Central and Hatcher for a holiday-adjacent Record Store Day.
The emporium, a 2024 PHOENIX magazine “Best of the Valley” honoree generously stocked with old records as well as new vinyl releases and re-issues – not to mention T-shirts, posters, books and other cool and giftable odds and ends – will feature two DJs on Friday, November 29, starting around 10:30 a.m. and continuing into Friday evening. Record Store Day is normally observed on the third Saturday in April, but a Black Friday edition of the day has been added in recent years.
The place is known as a fun hangout for aficionados of old-school groovy sounds, and should provide both a respite from holiday hustle and bustle and also festivity among a community of the like-minded. Visitors may be perplexed, however, at one gap in the stock: Half of the shop’s name refers, after all, to vintage sweet treats like candy necklaces and caramel creams. But these days, except for a box of fake sugar cigarettes on the counter, there’s no candy for sale.
“My blood sugar went up,” Candy & Records co-owner Joshua Golembiewski explains sheepishly. “I’d eat the candy all day. My wife [co-owner Monika Golembiewski] got mad and made me take it out.”
9402 N. Central Ave., 602-312-4805, @candyandrecords
