'A shot in the arm for business': Music lovers queue around the Northern Quarter for Record Store Day

Music enthusiasts descended on the Northern Quarter in their droves this morning to celebrate the 15th anniversary of Record Store Day. People queued from the early hours to purchase limited edition vinyl records on the celebration of independent retailers.

Manchester's Northern Quarter has a rich selection of stores to choose from for vinyl records and CDs, with Oldham Street's Vinyl Exchange and Piccadilly Records, as well as Hilton Street's Vinyl Revival all taking part in Record Store Day. Piccadilly Records was the first to throw open its doors to the queue stretching around to Tib Street at 8am, with marshals James and Kev there to answer everyone's questions.

The most popular artists, including Taylor Swift and Sam Fender, saw their albums fly off the shelf, while classics from David Bowie and Simple Minds also gained much attention. The long queues quickly faded as fans who knew what they were looking for were left with their successful hauls while many waited for the lines to disappear before turning up for a more relaxed browse.

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"Today is definitely a shot in the arm for business," Vinyl Exchange manager Rae Donaldson tells me. "It definitely means a lot to all record shops. It gives us a chance to do a lot more business and to get some new people too.

"It's the first time in two years we've been able to do it without any restrictions in place too which is positive, people can be more relaxed about it. Some people who come have never been to a record shop either so it's a good way of encouraging people to shop independently.

"You see a lot of young people come on days like today too. It still definitely generates sales for a lot