Record stores in Erbil

Zero mapped record stores in Erbil, Kurdistan Region — for now. We checked OpenStreetMap within about 40 km of Erbil for record stores. No hits yet, which most often means the places are there but unmapped, not absent. This page refreshes daily from the latest map data, so a blank today can be a full guide tomorrow.

The digger's playbook

Until Erbil has mapped record shops, here's how to work any bins. Hit new arrivals first. Learn the grading — visual versus play-grade matters. Check the vinyl in good light, not just the sleeve. Ask to play anything questionable. Bring a want-list, bring cash for the small shops, and flip through the whole dollar bin — the joy-per-dollar ratio is unbeatable.

Erbil sits about 36° north of the equator, so it gets proper seasons. Winter is peak digging season: dark evenings, the new-arrivals bin fresh from the autumn collection sell-offs, and nowhere better to spend a Saturday.

And genre-hop. The best finds live in the sections you don't know — jazz collectors find gold in classical bins and vice versa.

Digging smarts for Erbil

No mapped record shops yet, but the digging skills work anywhere. Four worth knowing:

• Go often, dig briefly. Short frequent visits beat rare expeditions. Fifteen minutes twice a week outperforms a monthly dig.
• Hit the new-arrivals bin first. That's where fresh stock lands before anyone else sees it. The good stuff rarely survives the week.
• Check the vinyl, not just the sleeve. Slide it out (carefully, by the edges) and look at it in good light. Sleeves lie; vinyl doesn't.
• The dollar bin is honest work. Nobody's getting rich off the dollar bin, but the joy-per-dollar ratio is unbeatable. Flip through all of it.

The kind of shop that belongs here

Somewhere you can flip through crates: an independent record shop, a used vinyl specialist. Not a department store aisle — a real dig.

When a qualifying record store gets mapped in Erbil, this page updates on the next refresh with its name, address where available, and whatever hours, phone or website the mappers recorded. Nothing here is paid placement and nothing is sponsored — if it's on the map, it's on the page.

This page refreshes daily from the latest map data, so the moment a qualifying record store appears in Erbil's OpenStreetMap data, it shows up here — usually within a day of being mapped.

How Erbil gets on the record stores map

Every listing on Dayfari starts as an OpenStreetMap edit by a local volunteer. If you know a record store in Erbil, adding it to the map (tagged shop=music) is the fastest way to get it listed here — our next refresh picks it up automatically. The most useful details are the record store's name, its street address, and its opening hours — even a name and a pin on the map is enough to get started.