Record/CD stores in Toronto

Hehe, can't forget the wood plank floors

I remember when the semi-annual arrival of LP's from Japan came in - drooool...

Oh, and the RP & City were neighbours.

 

Micheal Warren! (ie. the leather-pant frenchman)
I worked for him for 2 years in that store (late 95 to late 97)
I may have met some of you guys while I was there.
Good times for sure; unfortunately, said owner was a jerk!
(He's now running a little place on Queen St East and still complaining about the world in general...)

 

I worked at "Discus Megastore" for three months, in the summer of 1989. It was at the northwest corner or Yonge and Edward. There was a small area downstairs with an escalator bringing you up to the main store, upstairs.

The place had a high employee turn-over rate and lots of employee theft, also. The owners and the manager were such d*ckheads. :thumbsdn:

I think it was a large Cheapies that was there before. Anyone know how many Cheapies there were, in their heyday?

Either way, Discus Megastore didn't last long, even though the daily register totals used to add up to the tens of thousands.

 

I remember a "cheapies" being located on the east side of Yonge about three blocks north of Eglinton in the late 1980s. It was a store with a yellow sign, right?

 

There was another Cheapies down by Dundas on Yonge.

My Saturday trek was get off subway at Bloor. Head down Yonge.

Hit:

Cheapies, Incredible Record and Book Store, Records On Wheels, A&A's, Vinyl Museum, Sam's, Music World, Sunrise, and Cheapies again. Then go to Vortex. Any money left.....John Anderson's for a burger.

 

Was the owner's name Lispsin? If so, his brother runs a store here in town, Brian's Record Option.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kmQz7J5I_dk

Was this upstairs, opposite Pizza Pizza??
Dave

 

Can't remember. Sorry.

 

I occasionally see him at the Black Eagle.

 

Am I the only one who remembers Record Peddler on King St. East, c.1977? South side, you had to go in the door off the street, walk up a flight of stairs, and it was on the left. I'm almost certain it was Peddler. I think they had the Vitamin Z album playing when I was in ...

There was a Round Records on the north side of Bloor between Bay and Yonge, and a Record Wherehouse somewhere along Eglinton West (that didn't last long, although I bought a pile of deletes one day in 1974).

 

I think I do. I bought Genesis' Duke on JPN vinyl there. They moved to Carlton later, no?

 

Okay, obviously it's possible my recollections are inexact, after all it's been 30 years. But I was pretty sure there was a church and/or park on the north side, which is what you find along King E. between Church and Jarvis.

Anyway, it was somewhere in the area ...

 

Yes, Just For The Record was upstairs, on the west side of Yonge, right "ahead" of The Delta/Chelsea Hotel.
There was an Elvis on the post outside the door directing you up the stairs for a record/CD buying experience you'd likely never forget.
The 2 guys who owned this place were clowns right out of a sitcom; you had to witness their behaviour to believe it.
Had many good times working there (especially when I was in charge and alone and the good music was playing...)

 

I used to go there a lot, but only to look. He was way overpriced for the condition of the stuff he sold. He did have a lot of cool old newspaper clippings and rare stuff but they were priced double or triple what Vortex would have sold them for. Vortex is always the gold standard in Toronto.

 

That was Queen Street East...

 

Here's a page I found!

http://images.google.ca/imgres?imgu...firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&sa=N

 

Jonathan Lipson (Incredible Record store) was a self absorbed idiot and a con man to boot; his father however was a nice old fella.

 

I'm glad you said it.

 

Here's a view of Soundscapes by some blogger...

http://www.blogto.com/music/2008/02/the_best_music_store_in_toronto/

 

His records were in terrible shape and overpriced as well; I took issue with him conning kids who were buying vinyl and knew no better; we'd tell them to go to Vortex!
Remember he had a whole wall of photos and clippings of himself? (We used to point at that wall & yell out "hey everyone, dig me!" and he'd look up and then throw us out!...fun times!)

 

A really good shop and I always take a trip down when I visit Toronto. I usually have most of the stuff on their walls since I live in London but I take my TO friends down there to buy up stuff I think they might like.

A really good selection of music.

My only gripe is no vinyl!! Well its not really a gripe but I think that is the one thing missing from the shop. They don't have the room though.

Eddie

 

Anyone ever go to Open City (1374 Danforth Avenue)?? I've been a couple of times - used to have a lot of vinyl.
Dave

 

Now that Sam's is gone, Soundscapes is the place to buy Jazz reissues on CD at a very reasonable price.
Nice staff too!
I got 10 % off a Sonny Clark CD just before Xmas for no other reason than the girl there decided it was a nice thing to do for me; very cool place indeed!

 

Sadly, Open City is no longer with us. I always liked it. It was a pleasant place to browse the bins for a half hour or so, and I found more than a few very nice records for reasonable prices (like a first press 'i' UK Chrysalis of Tull's Aqualung, a UK Track Who Odds & Sods, Neil's Harvest Moon, and more).
As someone who has shopped Toronto record stores for 30 years (gah!) it has been fun to look at this thread. I never could figure out that leather pants guy with all the three-figure LPs on the wall that never sold. I confess that these days I don't spend the time in the shops that I used to, but my general experience is that Rotate This is good for new and interesting vinyl, generally Queen West is vastly overrated with many shops asking way too much for way too little (except Cosmos for some jazz titles), and Vortex rules, as it has ever since I started.

 

Neither could I, my friend, neither could I...

(I remember him not taking $50.00 cash for a Golden Earring orig. Moontan LP with the nude cover that he had on the wall for 6 months and paid about $1.00 for) He probably still has it...