Black Friday? More like 'Wax Friday': On Nov. 29, hundreds of worldwide independent record shops that participate in Record Store Day (RSD) -- the annual vinyl-centric shopping event in April -- will also offer even more exclusive titles.
The upcoming national shopping holiday will feature roughly about one-third of the number of releases the official RSD event usually offers, but that’s not to say plenty of sought-after titles won’t be up for grabs at independent record stores.
This year features RSD Black Friday exclusives or "RSD First" releases from: Arcade Fire, Beck, Jeff Buckley, Cardi B, Miles Davis, Jimi Hendrix, Lizzo, the National, Pearl Jam, the Pretenders, Slipknot, Bruce Springsteen, U2, Frank Zappa and many more. For a full list of selections, visit the official Record Store Day website here.
Of course, many of the San Diego shops that typically participate in RSD are gearing up for the Black Friday event -- as well as the following day, Small Business Saturday (which is always a good reminder to shop local when possible). Here's the SoundDiego guide to what's going down.
2019 RSD Black Friday San Diego shops (listed alphabetically)
Cow Records: 10 a.m.-9 p.m. 5040 Newport Ave., Ocean Beach.
FeeLIT Records: 10 a.m.-7 p.m. 909 E St., East Village.
SoundDiego
Music. Community. Culture.
Folk Arts Rare Records: 9 a.m.-7 p.m. 3072 El Cajon Blvd., North Park.
Lou's Records: 10 a.m.-9 p.m. Numbers handed out to those in line at 9 a.m. 434 N. Coast Highway 101, Encinitas.
M-Theory Records: 10 a.m.-8 p.m. 827 W. Washington St., Mission Hills.
Normal Records: 9 a.m.-8 p.m. They’ll be posting a list online of the titles soon that they’ve received in stock. 4201 30th St., North Park.
Re-Animated Records: 7 a.m.-7 p.m. First 25 customers in line will receive a free “Re-Animated RSD Black Friday Barf Bag” with mysterious goodies. Free snacks and drinks, and 20 percent off storewide (excluding RSD titles). 8320 La Mesa Blvd., La Mesa.
Record City: 11 a.m.-7 p.m. 3757 Sixth Ave., Hillcrest.
Spin Records: 10 a.m.-9 p.m. 370 Grand Ave., Carlsbad.
Vinyl Junkies Record Shack: 9 a.m.-10 p.m. Vinyl Junkies is celebrating its 2-year anniversary on Friday and Saturday with live bands (Low Volts on Friday; the Slashes and Scary Pierre on Saturday) and tons of DJs (Tim Pyles, Robin Roth, Mario Rubalcaba and others on Friday; Mike and Anja Stax, Camilla Robina, Carrie Gillespie-Feller and others on Saturday). Free. 2235 Fern St., South Park.
Of course, not every participating record shop will be carrying all the titles scheduled to be released for RSD Black Friday. Quantities are spread out the world over and often shops don't know what they'll be receiving until the shipments show up at their door. Such is the beauty of first come, first served! Happy diggin', folks.
Note: If you’re a local record store participating, or have a special event planned that’s not listed here, please email us.
