Nominations are in for CBC Radio 3's #1 Independent Record Store in Canada. Of the 47 stores repping St. John's to Victoria, Toronto holds a tidy seven spots. Best city odds of the competition. Drumroll: Penguin Music, Criminal Records, Monster Records, Slinky Music, Rotate This, Sonic Boom, and Soundscapes.

Sounds about right. First round voting kicks off today and goes until next Wednesday, when the list is whittled to 20, and so forth for however many weeks it is until April 18 (the day before International Record Store Day) when a final five is reached. Then, on said Record Store Day, a winner will be crowned. And the rest of indie rock Canada will collectively "pfft..." at whoever it turns out to be. It'll be great.

Nominees for the rest of Ontario (and all those other provinces you always hear about too) are listed on the Radio 3 vote page.

Photo by roboppy.