Record Store Day in Okayama, Japan
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 Okayama, Japan
Independent record shops open in Okayama, Japan 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.
- Groovin' Okayama Omotecho
Okayama branch of the regional Groovin' used-media chain in Omotecho, dealing used CDs and records across all genres with a particular focus on 1960s-70s Western rock.
2 sources
- HARIOTO RECORD STORE
All-genre used-record and CD shop that opened October 1, 2021 in Seikibashi, sister store to Kurashiki recycle shop Monos Okayama, with roughly 5,000 records and CDs on the floor.
2 sources
- HMV Aeon Mall Okayama
HMV's Okayama branch inside Aeon Mall Okayama, carrying CDs, DVDs/Blu-rays, books, merchandise, and vinyl records; about a 4-minute walk from the Shinkansen exit of Okayama Station.
2 sources
- Jamaican Taste
Reggae specialist a 10-minute walk from Okayama Station, stocking roughly 5,000 original Jamaican-pressed 7-inch and 12-inch records spanning reggae, dub and soul.
2 sources
- King Biscuit Records
Independent used-record and CD specialist in Togiyacho trading since 1984, spanning old rock, jazz, soul/blues, reggae, prog and classical across CD, vinyl and even SP-record formats.
2 sources
- MEDEL MUSIC
Renamed from Greenhouse Okayama in April 2022, a five-minute walk from Okayama Station's west exit, dealing used and select-new vinyl/CDs across club music (hip-hop, R&B, reggae, house), rock, J-indie and pop.
2 sources
- orab record
Eclectic record shop in Omotecho run by a collector with 40+ years' experience, mixing internationally sourced vinyl with vintage clothing and miscellaneous goods.
2 sources
- Power Plant Records
Used-record specialist in Nodayacho focused on Western heavy rock, heavy metal and jazz vinyl and CDs, trading over 40 years.
2 sources
- SAYAMA HOUSE
A record shop near Okayama's Haremachi-dori dealing in a wide sweep of genres -- jazz, soul, funk, disco, house, hip-hop, rock, dub, reggae, ambient -- plus a record/CD buy-back service.
2 sources
See the full record store listing for Okayama, Japan.