Some collectors will be lining up outside their favourite record store before the doors open on November 27.

Others will be happily avoiding the crowds, hoping to find something interesting once the excitement has settled down.

And some won't bother with Record Store Day at all.

That's the interesting thing about Record Store Day Black Friday 2026. Nearly two decades after the event began celebrating independent record stores, collectors still have very different ideas about what makes it worthwhile.

Is it the limited releases? The atmosphere? Supporting a local shop? Or simply the possibility of discovering something unexpected?

With Black Friday approaching, I reached out to independent record store owners and collectors to hear what they think about Record Store Day today.

The responses ranged from genuine enthusiasm to questions about prices, exclusives and unsold stock.
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I also looked at how collectors are reacting to this year's release list.
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Whether you're planning to line up early, browsing the releases for the first time or wondering if the event is worth attending, here's what you need to know — and what the vinyl community is saying.

Every major music city has places around it where culture grows quietly, just outside the noise, just beyond the spotlight.

New York has Jersey City.

Manchester has Bolton.

Toronto has Oakville.

And in Oakville, that place became PCV Records.

It didn’t start with confidence or a grand plan. It started with trepidation: a small shop called Pop Culture Vulture opening its doors without knowing if anyone would care.
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John, the owner, puts it plainly:

Yes, rice-paper inner sleeves are worth considering if you want to protect your vinyl from paper dust, unnecessary friction and static buildup. A well-made sleeve with a high-density polyethylene (HDPE) lining provides a smoother surface against the record than traditional paper.

That doesn't mean every record needs an expensive sleeve. And it certainly doesn't mean a new sleeve will fix an old scratch.
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But after years of collecting, I've come to appreciate how much difference the smallest details can make.
Especially when it comes to records I wouldn't want to replace.

Three thousand records. A two-bedroom apartment. And the possibility of a vinyl avalanche.

Ben Riggin jokes about that last part, but there came a point when his growing collection raised a serious question. How much music could one person realistically listen to?

He did the math. At three albums a day, every day of the year, it would take nearly three years to hear everything he owned. And that was without buying another record or returning to an old favourite.

For someone who had spent years digging through bins, it was enough to make him reconsider what collecting meant. Not because he'd lost interest in music, but because he wanted to spend more time enjoying what he already had.
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And much of that passion could be traced back to one Alice Coltrane album.

A few years ago, a friend of Zack’s sold his record collection to a record store in Toronto for a substantial amount of money.
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Naturally, Zack wondered what his own collection might be worth. But then he started thinking about what selling it would actually mean.

That's the problem.

Zack has been buying records since he was young. These days, collectors may know him through Zack’s Records on Instagram or as one of the voices behind Groove Daddies, a new project coming soon where five dads talk about records, music and everything that tends to come with it.

He buys less than he used to. Partly because he already has a lot.

Then something catches his attention and he's off again.

“So why am I still buying more? I don’t know if I have a great answer. I hear something I really like, and I want the record.”
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Fair enough.

A little warning before we begin: Strong language, provocative ideas and an artist who isn't particularly interested in playing nice. Good. Independent music needs more of that.

— Art d'Ecco, The Death of Indie

Well, that got my attention.

It's been a while since a Canadian artist grabbed my attention quite like this.

There's something about Art d'Ecco's attitude that brings to mind Carole Pope and Rough Trade's High School Confidential, a wonderfully provocative Canadian gem from the 1980s that wasn't afraid to challenge convention.

Plenty of artists have pushed boundaries since, but there's a similar spirit here.

Those familiar with Rough Trade will know what I'm talking about.

And if you're not? There's a terrific little rabbit hole waiting for you. Go digging.

Different decade. Different target. Same glorious refusal to behave.

Art d'Ecco has his own conventions to challenge. He's got AI, tech billionaires and the future of independent music in his sights, and apparently seven minutes isn't too long to tell us exactly what he thinks.

Good. Sometimes music needs to do more than entertain us.
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Sometimes it needs to piss us off.

The Specials started it.

Robyn, originally from Liverpool, was 12 when she got her first turntable for Christmas, along with the band's self-titled debut. The Smiths' Louder Than Bombs, purchased with Christmas money, followed soon after.

“I was so excited to get home and play it on my new record player,” she remembered. “I can still remember being that excited!”

Like most collectors, plenty more records followed. But some of the ones that matter most to Robyn today have little to do with rarity or value. One takes her back to two hours spent outside a concert on a cold October night with her nan.
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It happens to be signed by Elkie Brooks, but the signature isn't the reason it means so much.

I first came across Robyn through The Record Collectors Club, where she appeared as Collector No. 15. The project looked beyond photographs of vinyl collections to tell the stories of the collectors themselves.

A few years later, I was interested in what had changed.

“Collecting records has definitely expanded my music taste,” she says. “I feel like I’m more open to all kinds of different genres and recommendations than I would have been had I not started. I’ve discovered so many new artists and styles of music that have definitely changed my life!”

At 12, Robyn generally bought records she already knew she liked. Today, she's more willing to take a chance.
“I suppose I used to just collect records that I knew I liked at the time, but now I find myself picking up music that shop owners tell me to try or buying albums on a whim.”
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She still goes back to the classic albums and artists she loved at that age, but record collecting has taken her well beyond them.

Put a room full of record collectors in front of thousands of records and something happens.

People dig faster. Records change hands. You spot something, put it back, change your mind — and it's gone.
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Speed City Records owner Michael Todd has a name for it.

On October 25, collectors get another chance to experience it when the London Record Show returns to London, Ontario.