PHILADELPHIA — Hundreds of copies of a highly coveted Taylor Swift vinyl release have been inconspicuously hanging out on the shelves of one Berks County record shop for the last seven months. When superfans found out, they went into a frenzy, descending on Kutztown, Pa., for a chance to own the record.
Some drove for more than a dozen hours, flew hundreds of miles, and even messaged strangers and offered bribes for the chance to own a copy of the rare LP.
Now, the shop — Young Ones Records — has one final copy left for a lucky Swiftie.
Swift released “Folklore: The Long Pond Studio Sessions,” a live version of her Disney+ documentary, in April. The double LP was a Record Store Day exclusive that retailed for about $50, with 75,000 albums pressed and sold exclusively at independent record shops throughout the country and 40,000 more internationally, marking Record Store Day’s largest pressing.
When the record first hit shelves, shops saw fans line up in the early hours to snag a copy. Most of the records sold out instantly and fans either accepted they’d have a hole in their collection or succumbed to resellers who marked up the album to desperate fans.
Brian Walmer, 37, lives in Chicago but is originally from Lancaster. He and his husband, Ryan Crisp, are record collectors and recent, yet dedicated Swiftie converts — seeing The Eras Tour film twice and buying every album of Swift’s on vinyl — except one: “The Long Pond Studio Sessions.” The Record Store Day release became his white whale.
He’d check eBay and record-collecting site Discogs for listings, but they were more expensive than he was willing to pay. While doing a periodic Facebook search for mentions of “Long Pond” still in stock, he stumbled upon a post from Young Ones Records in Berks County. He called the shop and they confirmed they had the record, but wouldn’t ship it.
Naturally, when Walmer in Chicago heard about the remaining copies, he did what anyone would do — he asked his mom for help.
“I called my mom, Doris Witmer, who lives in Lancaster still, and asked if she’d be able to go to Young Ones and pick me up a copy and ship it to me,” Walmer said. “She drove the hour-ish drive and was able to buy one. I had it within the week of my search.”
Young Ones, a 33-year-old mom-and-pop shop, is owned by Chris Holt, who knows how important Swift is to residents of her home county. Previously, he’s ordered and sold out of other indie store releases from Swift, including hundreds of autographed “Folklore” CDs.
So when the opportunity came to place orders for April’s Record Store Day releases, Holt requested 1,000 copies of “The Long Pond Studio Sessions” thinking he probably wouldn’t get them all — until he did.
“Other stores either just couldn’t afford to order as many copies or didn’t understand the power of Taylor Swift,” Holt said. “Any other store could have ordered as many as I did. They just chose not to.”
Holt said his goal was to make sure he ordered enough copies to ensure everyone in Berks County who cared about Swift was guaranteed the ability to purchase one.
But Holt said fans were so used to other shops being sold out, they’d automatically assume Young Ones was also out of stock, a problem he’s never encountered before.
“We tried to make it as obvious as possible we had the record,” Holt said. “We kept copies in the front of the row. We had a sign on the door in the front window saying we had the record. We mentioned it in our newsletter.”
Still, for seven months, Holt sold an average of 10 to 12 copies of the record per week.
“In 33 years, I’ve never dealt with anything like that before,” he said.
A fateful Facebook post changed that, attracting the right fans, who posted about the remaining records on Taylor Swift message boards, social media pages, and subreddits. Then, the Swifties came flocking.
Save for a few, Young Ones stood firm on only selling the record locally. They also limited sales to one copy per person, to benefit local fans, not greedy resellers. For a past Swift release, the shop went as far as selling half its stock to anyone and the other half only to locals who presented ID proving they lived close by.
This time was different: One buyer flew from Colorado to snag a copy. Another drove from Mississippi. Another from Indiana.
Holt said some Swifties in other states went as far as messaging random Kutztown residents and offering them money to buy and ship them a copy from Young Ones.
Angie Fry, 40, made the 15-hour trip from Northeast Ohio to score her copy — it should’ve taken less time but she got a flat tire on her way home.
She and her 6-year-old daughter, Eva, made a day out of the trip. They got coffee and hot cocoa and also snagged a signed Ed Sheeran CD from the shop.
“I was stressing (on the drive home), but (Eva) was in the back singing and working on her math homework,” Fry said. “My brothers and I grew up making family memories listening to music, and I want my kids to have that, too.”
As of early December, 999 of the Kutztown shop’s coveted records had been sold, with Young Ones saving the final copy for an in-person-only giveaway. Customers can enter by visiting the store. A random winner will be drawn on Christmas Eve.
And no, they can’t get the record shipped to them.
Holt said the recent social media attention has been a double-edged sword. He’s glad to have recouped the money the shop put out to secure such a large number of records, but hates the circus it caused.
“I had little girls crying because we didn’t have more copies, and it sucks because that’s why I bought so many,” he said. “I wanted local people getting it, not these entitled people across the country that thought they’d get it no matter what.”
Still, some Berks County residents say they’ve benefited from Young Ones’ supply.
