A local record store is closing after the owner faced an astronomical rent increase.
Vinyl Vibes, a staple on 176th for more than eight years, is closing near the end of January because of a $4,300 increase in rent.
Owner Adrian Clements said t0 sign his new lease, he had to agree to a 172 per cent increase. He was paying $2,500 a month and was notified at the beginning of December his rent would increase to $6,800 per month.
“The lease came up and the landlord wanted to almost triple the rent,” Clements said. “They said it was way below market value.”
Clements explained that he doesn’t even make that in a month and can’t possibly pay it. As such he’s shutting down the record shop sometime around Jan. 26.
“I was prepared to go up to $4,500, but they wanted more.”
For Clements, it’s bittersweet. He’s a glass-half-full guy and sees this obstacle as an opportunity.
“I’m leaving retail,” he revealed. “I’ve been doing retail for most of my life and with the way rents are getting, there’s just not enough income for us retailers anymore.”
About six months ago, Clements opened an online auction site—Ace Auctions—to help supplement his income. Now, he says he’ll be throwing all his energy into that business now that he’s leaving the retail game.
And rather than dwell on the enormous rent increase and the loss of his business, he’s come to terms with his new reality and is excited to start a new chapter of his life.
“We’ve decided to go to a warehouse, much cheaper rent, and we’ll just be doing online auctions.”
With Ace, he’ll throw all of his record inventory up there at different times and auction it all off.
“The auctions are all timed auctions,” explained Clements. “We have a weekly auction that starts ending at 5 o’clock and then every 30 seconds a new lot ends.”
He said all the bidding starts at $10 for each “lot.” Sometimes a lot represents a single item and sometimes it is a big group of items.
Clements has many antiques and other collectibles along with general items, such as liquidations, overstock, store closures, among many other things.
He said it’s been an emotional experience for him going through the process of deciding to close down the recond shop.
“It feels like home here,” he added. “I spend just as much time here as I do at home. It’s a home away from home. But, I guess, it’s time to move on.”
For more info on Ace Auctions, visit aceauctions.ca, or email Adrian at contact@aceauctions.ca.