Kichijoji Record Shops: 4 Stores, Two of Them in the Same Basement

Kichijoji is a record town that does not look like one. There is no street of shops the way Shibuya or Shimokitazawa has one. Instead there are four stops worth your time, and two of them are in the same department-store basement — along with the shop that sells the turntable to play the records on. No English guide we have found mentions that last part.

Everything below was checked against the shops’ own pages in September 2026: addresses, floors, opening hours and closed days. Kichijoji is 15 minutes from Shinjuku on the Chuo line, so this pairs naturally with a Shinjuku digging day — or with the Kichijoji vintage clothing shops, which are a five-minute walk from all of this.

1. Disk Union Kichijoji — Parco B1F, and three counters inside it

吉祥寺パルコ B1F, 1-5-1 Kichijoji Honcho, Musashino-shi. 10:00–20:00. Tel 0422-20-8062.

This is the anchor, and the first thing to know is that it is not a street storefront. It is the basement floor of Kichijoji Parco, and if you are looking for a Disk Union sign at pavement level you will walk straight past it. Go into Parco, go down.

The main floor carries around 60,000 items — new and used records, CDs, DVDs and Blu-ray, all genres. That is a general shop, and for most visitors it is enough. But the reason to come here rather than to a bigger Disk Union is that two specialist counters sit inside the same basement.

Kichijoji Jazz-kan — inside the same B1F

A dedicated jazz shop-within-a-shop, relocated and reopened on 19 March 2025, so it is newer than anything written about it in English. New CDs and records alongside used vinyl that runs from cheap filler to rare out-of-print pressings, centred on modern jazz, and the room is fitted with JBL speakers so you are listening to jazz while you dig through it. Same hours, own phone line: 0422-23-3533.

Kichijoji Film Store — also inside the same B1F

The third counter, specialising in film: soundtracks and film-related discs. Small, and worth two minutes if you collect scores.

2. Audio Union — the same basement, the other half of the hobby

吉祥寺パルコ B1F (same floor as Disk Union). 10:00–20:00; listening room 12:00–19:00. Tel 0422-23-3521.

Disk Union’s audio sister chain, and the single best reason to choose Kichijoji over another record neighbourhood. Amplifiers, speakers, CD and SACD players, turntables and analogue gear, network audio, DJ equipment and accessories, with over 1,000 used items in stock and five specialist staff — one of whom handles vinyl specifically. There is a listening room, on shorter hours than the shop.

If you have ever wanted to buy a Japanese cartridge or a used deck and had no idea where to start, this is the room, and it is fifty steps from where you just bought the records. It is not in the English record-shop lists at all.

One practical note the shop makes itself: the floor is underground, which affects testing anything with a radio tuner in it. Not a problem for turntables.

3. HMV record shop Coppice Kichijoji — one of only four in Japan

コピス吉祥寺 A館 2F, 1-11-5 Kichijoji Honcho. 10:00–20:00, and 10:00–21:00 on Fridays, Saturdays and the day before a public holiday. Tel 0422-29-1130.

Guides that mention this one call it “HMV”, which is misleading. HMV record shop is a separate vinyl-format chain with only four branches in the whole of Japan — Shibuya, Shinjuku, Coppice Kichijoji and Shinsaibashi. Three of the four are in Tokyo, and this is one of them. Used vinyl, new vinyl, CDs and cassettes, in a room laid out to be browsed slowly rather than mined.

It is also the one to aim for on a Friday or Saturday evening, because it stays open an hour later than the Parco basement.

4. Coconuts Disk Kichijoji — the independent, and the one open latest

2-22-4 Kichijoji Honcho. 12:00–21:00 (the shop’s own words: 正午から夜9時まで).

The independent, a few minutes north-west of the station and away from the department stores. Used vinyl across genres, and the depth is in Japanese indie and self-released records — the kind of pressing that never reaches a chain’s bins. Opens at noon and closes at nine, which makes it the only one of the four you can still be in after the Parco basement has shut.

The detail worth planning around: the shop runs free in-store live shows after closing. They start just after 21:00, entry is free, and the shop announces them on its own blog rather than anywhere in English. If you are in Tokyo for a while, it is worth checking that blog before you pick your day — a record shop gig in a room the size of a record shop is not a thing you can arrange from abroad.

One more, if you have an extra half hour

RARE Kichijoji — けやきビル 1F, 1-1-8 Kichijoji Minamicho. 10:00–20:00, closed Tuesdays. Tel 0422-46-6181.

The only one of the five on the south side of the station, towards Inokashira Park, while everything above is on the north side. Secondhand records and discs, a small independent floor, and the only one here with a fixed closed day — do not build a Tuesday around it. If you are already walking to the park, it is on the way.

What the listing sites get wrong

• They give Disk Union Kichijoji a street address and leave it there. It is a Parco basement. Visitors look for a shopfront and give up.
• They treat the Jazz-kan as a separate destination with its own address. It is a counter inside the same B1F, and it moved and reopened on 19 March 2025 — the older listings describe the previous location.
• They leave Audio Union out entirely, even though it is on the same basement floor as Disk Union and is the one genuinely unusual thing about digging in Kichijoji.
• They call the Coppice shop “HMV”. HMV record shop is a four-branch vinyl chain, not the general HMV; what is on the racks is completely different.
• They quote one set of hours for the whole neighbourhood. Three of these shops shut at 20:00, HMV runs to 21:00 on Friday and Saturday, and Coconuts Disk does not open until noon.

A route that works

Start at Coconuts Disk at noon, when it opens and the others have been going for two hours — you want the independent while you still have money and space in the bag. Walk back towards the station and do Coppice (HMV record shop, 2F of A-kan) next, then finish in the Parco basement, where Disk Union, the Jazz-kan, the film counter and Audio Union are all on one floor and you can lose two hours without noticing. If it is a Friday or Saturday, flip the last two so you finish at HMV, which is open until 21:00.

Total walking: under fifteen minutes end to end. Add RARE only if you are heading to Inokashira Park afterwards.

Which one, in one line each

• Disk Union Kichijoji — volume and range, 60,000 items, all genres. Start here if you only have one stop.
• Kichijoji Jazz-kan — modern jazz, new and used, played through JBLs.
• Audio Union — the turntable, the cartridge, the used deck. Nothing else in this list sells hardware.
• HMV record shop Coppice — new vinyl, cassettes, and the latest closing time on Friday and Saturday.
• Coconuts Disk — Japanese indie and self-released, and the gigs after closing.

Getting the records home, and tax-free

Used records qualify for tax-free purchase — secondhand goods are not excluded, whatever else you have read — but only at registered tax-free retailers, which in practice means the chains rather than the independents. Assume you are paying tax at Coconuts Disk and at RARE unless you see the sign. From 1 November 2026 Japan moves to a refund system: you pay the tax-inclusive price in the shop and reclaim it at the airport, and the goods have to leave with you as carry-on. Full detail in our guide to the November 2026 changes.

Records are heavy, and Kichijoji is easy to over-buy in because the four stops are so close together. If the bag is already at its limit, Buyee bids and buys on Yahoo! Auctions and Mercari on your behalf and forwards the parcel abroad, which is the honest answer for the pressings you find here and cannot carry.

One more practical thing: the Jazz-kan’s stock notes, Coconuts Disk’s gig announcements and Parco’s own floor hours are all published in Japanese and change without warning, so it helps to be able to check on the day. A prepaid Japanese eSIM is the least painful option if your carrier does not roam here.

Nearby

Kichijoji pairs best with the four vintage clothing shops here — same station, opposite ends of the same afternoon. For more digging, the Shinjuku Disk Union floor guide covers eighteen shops across four buildings fifteen minutes down the Chuo line, and the Shimokitazawa guide covers the four still open there. The Ikebukuro three include a Disk Union that moved in August 2026, and our Tokyo record shop guide explains obi strips, price tags and what to look up before you fly. If you want density instead, the Shibuya seven are the opposite of Kichijoji.