Data & Methods
How we verify record store listings
Every listing here is built from dated, named sources — not imported from a review platform. This page explains where the data comes from and what our confidence tiers mean.
Where the listings come from
We compile each listing from open-web sources: press coverage and local write-ups, a shop's own website and social accounts, Record Store Day participant lists, and public listing status. Every fact we publish — an address, an hours block, a status — carries the source and the date we saw it, not just today's date stamped on everything.
The Verified standard
A shop is stamped Verified only when at least two independent, dated sources — for example a news writeup and the shop's own site — corroborate the listing within roughly the last 14 months. Everything else stays visible with whatever sourcing we have; it just isn't stamped Verified until it clears that bar.
Closures stay listed
When a shop closes, we don't delete the page. The listing stays up, marked closed with the date we confirmed it, so a link that pointed at a real shop keeps meaning something instead of turning into a dead page.
Named, dated sources — including some Google Business listings
Most listings draw from press coverage, a shop's own site and socials, Record Store Day rosters, and public directories. For some international listings where those weren't available, a shop's own Google Business/Maps listing is cited as one named, dated source — visible on the listing's own page, never used silently, and never counted toward the two-source Verified bar on its own.
Spot something out of date? Report a change.