Record Store Day in Edinburgh, United Kingdom
Two dates to know: Record Store Day Black Friday is Friday, November 29, 2026, and the next main Record Store Day is Saturday, April 17, 2027.
What is Record Store Day?
Record Store Day is an annual event built around independent record stores. The main event traditionally lands on the third Saturday of April each year; Record Store Day Black Friday is traditionally held the day after US Thanksgiving. Both days bring exclusive, limited-run vinyl and CD releases sold only at participating independent shops — not big-box retailers, and not mail order until the in-store exclusives sell through. Because pressings are limited, popular titles can sell out within the first hour, which is why a line-early culture has grown up around the day even at shops that are otherwise quiet on a weekday morning.
Tips for the day
- Arrive early. At busy shops, lines for popular titles can start well before opening.
- Bring cash. A cash line often moves faster than card on a shop's highest-volume day of the year.
- Check each shop's own site or Instagram in the week before the date — participating shops post their own opening time, line policy, and which exclusive titles they've ordered in.
- Release lists are first-come, first-served and vary store to store. A title in stock at one shop may not show up at another, even across town.
- Expect one-per-customer or per-household limits on the most in-demand titles.
- Not every independent record store participates every year, and allocations vary shop to shop — confirm directly with the shop rather than assuming based on a past year.
Shops to check in Edinburgh, United Kingdom
Independent record shops open in Edinburgh, United Kingdom right now. We don't yet track which specific shops participate in Record Store Day or what they've ordered in for a given year — check each shop's own site or Instagram close to the date for their exclusive-release list, opening time, and line policy.
- Almond River Records
Corstorphine second-hand record shop specialising in indie, classic rock, punk, blues and alternative vinyl; started online in Dec 2020 before opening its physical shop a year later.
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- Assai Records
Sister store to Assai Dundee, selling new vinyl across genres near Usher Hall in Edinburgh's city centre, plus turntables, speakers and band merch.
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- Avalanche Records
Edinburgh vinyl institution since 1983 that invested over GBP100k to move into a bigger unit at Waverley Market in Nov 2025 following a record-breaking year; sells vinyl, CDs, posters and merch.
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- Backbeat Records
Newington record shop open since 1981 with a collection of 65,000+ records across nearly every genre except easy listening and country; owner Dougie McShane will source wishlist items.
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- Backtracks Music Film & Games
Second-hand media shop in Tollcross trading since 1989 with 20,000+ vinyl LPs, 7-inches and 12-inches across rock, soul and soundtracks, alongside CDs, DVDs and retro games.
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- Elvis Shakespeare
Leith Walk shop combining new and used vinyl with second-hand books and comics, a long-running fixture of Edinburgh's independent record scene.
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- Fopp
Music/film/book chain store that relocated to a larger two-storey Shandwick Place unit in February 2023 after 20 years on Rose Street; stocks over 6,000 vinyl titles.
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- Good Vibes Neighbourhood Store
Independently owned Leith records-books-and-objects shop in a renovated Victorian building, home to the Lost Map label and stocking curated new and reissue vinyl across rock, folk, jazz and electronic.
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- Greenhouse Records
Independent record shop and radical bookstore on Barclay Terrace specialising in underground dance, leftfield and experimental music from around the world, plus community events.
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- Heliocentric Records
Independent Newington record shop on Causewayside selling vinyl.
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- HMV
Three-storey flagship that returned to Princes Street in March 2022 with a vinyl-forward relaunch stocking around 4,800 different albums on vinyl alongside CDs, film and pop-culture merch.
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- Slow Progress Records & Coffee
Old Town vinyl-and-coffee shop opened in 2022 on Blackfriars Street, stocking new indie-rock, alt-rock, punk, emo and hip-hop vinyl alongside coffee and vegan-friendly snacks.
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- Thorne Records
Family-run new-vinyl specialist in Bruntsfield opened in 2022 by Mark Thorne, noted for strong jazz, folk and world sections and named among the FT's go-to Edinburgh vinyl spots.
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- Umbrella Vinyl
Second-hand record shop in Bruntsfield specialising in global sounds - jazz, blues, soul, Latin, Afrobeat, dub and library music - with in-store turntables for previewing records.
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- Underground Solution
Edinburgh's longest-surviving specialist record shop, trading on Cockburn Street since 1996 with a curated selection of house, techno, funk, jazz and reggae vinyl plus DJ and audio gear.
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- Vinyl Villains
Punk-flavoured collectible-vinyl shop at the top of Leith Walk, trading under the same ownership since 1983 with an eclectic mix of soul imports, punk 7-inches and band merch.
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- VoxBox Music
Boutique Stockbridge record shop open since 2011, mostly pre-owned rock, jazz, blues and indie vinyl, plus a bargain back room of records priced at GBP1.50 and a vintage Dansette to try before you buy.
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See the full record store listing for Edinburgh, United Kingdom.