Sioux Falls record stores prep for nationwide Record Store Day

Dan and Liz Nissen ordered nine dozen donuts for Saturday.

There’ll likely be a line of folks outside their downtown record store when they arrive to work, wrapped around the building and even stretching into the Sunshine Foods parking lot.

Some will show up as early as 2 or 3 a.m., giddy with their blankets, camping chairs and snacks so they can be the first inside Total Drag, one of Sioux Falls’ most beloved music stores.

And it’s not for the donuts.

Saturday is Record Store Day, an annual holiday for vinyl collectors nationwide.

“It will be a madhouse in there for hours,” says Cain Rotert, a local musician and regular at Total Drag. “But a special day.”

Record Store Day is known nationwide for its first-come, first-served limited-edition releases.

This year, nearly 400 titles have been announced, the most sought-after including Charli XCX’s silver vinyl edition for “Number 1 Angel,” The Cure’s 40th anniversary picture disc, Taylor Swift’s 7-inch “Fortnight” single, Post Malone’s Nirvana cover, MJ Lenderman’s “And the Wind (Live and Loose!)” double-LP, Kendrick Lamar’s “GMX” and Chappell Roan’s “The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess.”

There’s buzz over Olivia Rodrigo, Chvrches, three LPs from Wilco and a turntable from The Beatles. And each of these exclusives will only have a few thousand copies nationwide, so how early can you make it in line?

'The inventory is all in his head'

The frenzy is no surprise. Despite streaming and downloads, physical media is doing just fine, as is secondhand and vintage. And a lot of that is a testament to the shopping experience.

Inside a record store are owners like the Nissens serving as borderline-obsessive, savvy encyclopedias of artists and genres, down to curation per customer. You walk into Total Drag and Dan is either excited to help you discover new music or share with you what he already knows you’re looking for, the way a barista knows your order.

“Dan is better than any Spotify algorithm I’ve ever encountered as far as recommendations and showing me a crazy underground world of bands I never would have heard of otherwise,” says Rotert, who’s most excited to nab a live album from rock band Frankie and the Witch Fingers on Saturday morning. “I learned all about music through him.”

Liz Nissen says her husband is most often a one-man show behind the counter, tracking indie or underground releases always with his customers in mind. He screens all his own merchandise, puts out little to no advertising, carefully cleans each record by hand and handwrites every price tag.

“You have to understand, the inventory (hundreds of thousands of albums) is all in his head!” she says. “We are a mom-and-pop shop, and that’s how we like it.”

The two have been married for 15 years and opened Total Drag in 2014. Liz Nissen is a full-time massage therapist out of her home, but they needed music in their lives more than just putting on records in their living room.

What did he have crackling the morning we met? Dan Nissen says he put on British psych rock band 10,000 Russos for breakfast.

But to open Total Drag was just fate. Dan has been biking to record shops since he was 10 years old and going to basement punk rock shows since the ’90s.

“Music has always been the most important thing,” he says. He also is a prolific musician in town who currently plays keys with Meriwether Raindelay and the Original Star Band. “It is a universal language, and everybody is touched by music in different ways, even if they don’t notice it.”

Dan and Liz met while they lived together in what was then called the 605 House in Sioux Falls, booking their own basement shows as roommates.

Total Drag is their new basement now, a record store that also hosts all-ages, alcohol-free live shows every month. It’s an intimate corner of Total Drag with no chairs and can hold less than 100 people.

And it’s the place to be.

“I have met every friend I have in Sioux Falls today through Total Drag,” says Rotert, who also met his wife, Tianna, there and in 2023 performed an album release show at Total Drag with his band Thought Patrol. “Total Drag has been totally influential to the way my life has gone.”

Local concert promoter Andy Howes has gone to Total Drag every week since it opened and “looks forward to browsing” on Saturday.

“I have visited record stores around the world and would put Total Drag up there as one of the best record stores I’ve ever been to,” Howes says. “Dan does a fantastic job getting a real diverse sampling of what’s out there. You never know what is going to be in those crates.”

Whatever’s in there will dwindle down in a hurry on Saturday, but the Nissens are just excited for the family reunion.

“People tell me how Total Drag has changed their lives, and that means we’re doing what we’re supposed to be doing,” Liz Nissen says. “We are so thankful for our community and the experiences that have come from this little store.”

What are you buying on Record Store Day? Let’s get out there.