Buying
If you can, buy your oysters unshucked (in unopened shells) or order them in advance from your fishmonger. To ensure you’re getting the best and freshest, choose local and what’s in season. Buy your oysters as close as possible to serving day, to minimise storage times.
If you do buy shucked oysters, ask when they were opened. If it was that day, then buy them, but you need to eat them on the day.
Storing
Wrap unshucked oysters in a damp tea towel or cloth and put them in the bottom of the fridge. In cooler climates you can leave them out of the fridge, wrapped in a tea towel - 12°C-14°C (54°F-57°F) is an ideal temperature in the pantry - but here in Oz, your kitchen at home is never that cool, so keep them in the fridge.