Record Store Day in Santa Barbara, California

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.