Record Store Day in Milwaukee, Wisconsin
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 Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Independent record shops open in Milwaukee, Wisconsin 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.
- Acme Records & Music Emporium
Bay View staple opened by longtime collector and WMSE DJ Ken Chrisien, built out in reclaimed materials with a pipe-organ stage. Curated new & used vinyl and CDs, jazz through psych and post-punk.
3 sources
- Blast Radius Record & Video
DIY punk/hardcore/metal/noise record and VHS shop, now in Riverwest, that started as a pop-up before opening its first storefront in Walker's Point in 2022. Also stocks zines, cult films and second-hand band merch.
3 sources
- Irving Place Records
East Side shop that took over the beloved Bullseye Records space, relaunched by veteran record-store staff Terry Hackbarth and Don Kurth on Record Store Day 2024. Doubled its floor space in 2025.
3 sources
- Lilliput Records
East Side shop that replaced the shuttered Exclusive Company at its longtime Farwell Ave location, launched by former Exclusive Company staff Tanner Musgrove and Brian Kirk via a community GoFundMe. New releases plus a growing used section and in-store DJ stage.
3 sources
- Musical Memories
Downtown lower-level vintage record shop established in 1984, packed floor-to-ceiling with used LPs, 45s, CDs, tapes and memorabilia; a longtime source for rare and UK pressings.
3 sources
- Record Head
West Allis record and media store operating since 1972, selling new and used vinyl, CDs, retro video games, musical instruments, and turntables/stereo gear.
2 sources
- Rush-Mor Records
Milwaukee's longest-running record shop, in Bay View since the early '90s under current owners. Deep punk, hardcore, metal, prog/Euro-rock, rockabilly and imports, plus new & used vinyl, CDs and DVDs.
3 sources
- The Deep Groove
A vinyl listening lounge and cafe on Brady Street in a former 1875 tavern building, pairing hundreds of spinnable records and a used-vinyl boutique with coffee by day and cocktails by night, plus live jazz and blues programming.
3 sources
- The Wiggle Room
Milwaukee's first dedicated vinyl listening lounge in Bay View, built around a roughly 5,000-record collection, sound-engineered acoustics with bass traps and soundproof panels, Japanese whiskey, and nightly local and national DJs spinning vinyl.
3 sources
- Volta Records
Independent, woman-owned Greenfield, WI record store that took over the former Exclusive Company location in July 2022 after that chain closed; sells new/used vinyl, CDs, cassettes, and turntables.
2 sources
- We Buy Records
Riverwest shop run by musician Andy Noble (formerly of Lotus Land) with a fast-turning, buy-first inventory of 17,000+ LPs and 45s spanning funk, soul, jazz, rock and R&B.
3 sources
- We Buy Records (Cedarburg / inside The Fermentorium)
Retail vinyl outpost of Milwaukee's We Buy Records, set up inside The Fermentorium Brewery & Tasting Room in Cedarburg. Thousands of used LPs (classic rock, jazz, soul, indie, metal, hip-hop) plus curated new releases, browsable while drinking a beer.
4 sources
See the full record store listing for Milwaukee, Wisconsin.