The Cleveland Guardians are over-achieving and Record Store Day is Saturday.

What could be better?

Record Store Day was started to celebrate independent music retailers at a time when physical music sales were waning and big chain stores like Walmart and Best Buy were getting the bulk of the business.

It drove customers to the independents by offering limited edition releases that couldn’t be found anywhere else.

Local record buyers have more RSD options than ever before. The Record Connection in McKinley Heights has been involved with the event since its inception in 2008.

The Exchange outlets in Niles, Boardman and Hermitage, Pa., all get some RSD products. Fat Hippy Records in Brookfield, which opened about 18 months ago, is doing its first RSD event, and Melusina Records in Sharon, Pa., also is participating.

“This is my first time being approved,” Fat Hippy owner Zac Younkins said. “I really like the fact they’ve interested a younger generation with a lot of these releases. I’ve gotten a ton of calls about the Olivia Rodrigo and Noah Kahan single. That means very little to me but it’s really cool to see a younger generation connecting with albums the way I did.”

Record Connection owner Jeff Burke also has been getting calls about the 7″ single where Rodrigo covers one of Kahan’s songs and Kahan does one of hers.

He expects live releases by The Doors and Grateful Dead to

be popular with his customers along with everything from Nat King Cole to Chet Baker to Paramore.

“All in all, I think it’s a pretty good list, not a great list, but a pretty good list,” he said.

For his first time, Younkins said he tried to get a wide variety of titles, but his store is known for its selection of hip-hop and underground psychedelic rock, so he tried to stock up on those genres.

Both Record Connection and Fat Hippy will be providing a live soundtrack for those record buyers.

At Record Connection, Candace Campana and her band will be playing shortly after Record Connection opens at 10 a.m., followed by the Labra Brothers at 12:15 p.m. and Angela Perley at 2:15 p.m.

Burke said he originally considered doing a “girl power” themed lineup for Record Store Day and joked that maybe he’d have the Labras wear dresses or wigs.

“Candace, I like what I’ve heard,” Burke said. She’s full of energy, pretty decent writer, nice voice. Everybody knows the Labra Brothers, just a solid band. And Angela is just a firecracker. She can rock with the best of them. I’m just looking forward to a good rock show full of passion.”

For the first time, Burke will have a coffee trailer (Pick Me Up Coffee Company) and a food truck (Babcia’s Lunch Box) along with Modern Methods Brewing Company and its afternoon pizza party.

Fat Hippy, opening at 10 a.m. Saturday, will have Larry Infante, Danny Lopez, Rick Hartley and Mark Jameson performing as the Fat Fest Band at 2 p.m. The store also is partnering with Jimmy Neno’s Pizzeria & Taproom next door, which will have a Penguin City tap takeover and live music that evening.

“I just wanted to provide some entertainment and give people a reason to come out to Brookfield,” Younkins said. “There aren’t a lot of live entertainment options for people in Brookfield.”

Burke is optimistic about Saturday, but he worries the vinyl boon has plateaued and a different set of obstacles threaten independent retailers, from rising vinyl prices (when it already was the most expensive physical media) and multiple color variants for vinyl releases that drive consumers to artists’ websites (or chains like Target and Barnes & Noble) instead of independent stores.

“Whenever I see the total (vinyl) sales numbers, all I think about is Taylor Swift,” Burke said. “She sold three million plus by herself. Take her out of the equation and the gains are very small.”