Amazon stops stocking vinyl and CDs to make room for essential items

Amazon is making the call to cease stocking items like vinyl to make room on their warehouse shelves for essential items only amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The company is planning to keep selling what they have in stock until it’s sold out. Once that happens they won’t be stocking any more until further notice.

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The company is clearing shelf space for items including hand sanitizer, face masks, toilet paper, medical supplies and more.

In a statement to third-party sellers (via Variety), the company gave a heads up on the changes.

“We are seeing increased online shopping, and as a result some products such as household staples and medical supplies are out of stock,” the statement reads. “With this in mind, we are temporarily prioritizing household staples, medical supplies, and other high-demand products coming into our fulfillment centers so that we can more quickly receive, restock, and deliver these products to customers. For products other than these, we have temporarily disabled shipment creation. … We understand this is a change for our selling partners and appreciate their understanding as we temporarily prioritize these products for customers.”

Vinyl sales have been skyrocketing over the past few years so this is another massive hit to the music industry.

Last Friday, Record Store Day revealed they would be postponing their 2020 event due to COVID-19. With Record Store Day bringing in the most vinyl sales all year, the rising stats are likely dropping in 2020.

The event was originally set for April 18 but is currently scheduled for June 20.

“At the risk of stating the obvious, no one knows what things will look like in any given place over the next five weeks, but it is imperative that hard decisions for that time period need to be made right now, using current facts. There is no perfect solution. There is no easy answer,” Record Store Day organizers say in a statement.

What do you think of Amazon’s decision to stop stocking non-essential items? Let us know in the comments below.

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