For many, vinyl records are seen as a retro relic tied to nostalgia for past decades. In Cyprus, however, that perception has changed over the past decade, following a trend that began earlier abroad. Vinyl records have returned in full force to record store shelves, drawing in teenagers and young adults aged 20 to 30, even though they grew up in the digital music era.

The dominance of CDs in the mid-1990s, followed by the rapid rise of digital music files, had relegated vinyl records to the collections of older music enthusiasts or, worse, to dusty boxes in storage and antique shops.

Around 2010-2011, some collectors in Cyprus noticed a growing interest among younger people to reconnect with vinyl records. They dusted off the old records, brought them out of storage, and began attracting public attention through emerging record fairs. Soon, the first record stores specializing in selling vinyl emerged, initially focusing on second-hand records.

Early sellers of used vinyl told the Cyprus News Agency that the regular second-hand record fairs, mainly in Nicosia and Limassol, attracted interest from both older collectors who had long collected records and younger people discovering them for the first time, along with an entire musical tradition.

Over the past decade, the crowd that frequented record fairs started visiting the record stores that gradually opened across all cities in Cyprus. At the same time, the global music industry began releasing more vinyl records, leading to a resurgence in demand for both used and new releases across contemporary music genres.

"Sales of new releases and reissues of older albums have increased significantly in recent years," store owners told the Cyprus News Agency, noting that this trend coincides with a rise in the number of teenagers and young adults buying vinyl records.

Additionally, record sellers said that the growth in the vinyl market has resulted in increased sales of turntables, amplifiers, and speakers. Younger generations who grew up without record players now seek out audio equipment to play their vinyl. For example, a store in Nicosia specializing in audio systems for 20 years noticed a boost in equipment sales when it started selling vinyl records.

The global music industry's return to vinyl has also led to the establishment of World Record Store Day, held on the third Saturday in April. This initiative, launched by independent record stores in the United States in 2008, now includes vinyl record stores in Cyprus, receiving significant interest from music enthusiasts each year. It seems that a trend once considered a fleeting moment might be here to stay on the island.