By Gagandeep Ghuman
Published: Feb. 27, 2014
In this age of iTunes and iPods and non-stop music channels, a new store is turning back to the old ways.
Kelly’s Eclectibles hopes to attract customers who want to touch and feel their music, not just click and store it on their laptop.
On the corner of Winnipeg and Cleveland, Kelly’s Eclectibles sells vintage vinyl records, new vinyl records, record players, guitars, and other audio instruments.
“You hear new sounds, you hear instruments you have never heard before.” Kelly Neufeld.
The owner is only 19, but like her store, an old spirit imbues her. Kelly Neufeld is passionate about the product she sells: Vinyl records.
“You hear new sounds, you hear instruments you have never heard before,” Neufeld said.
If you are a music lover, you also get to support artists when you buy a new vinyl, she adds.
It was Kelly Neufeld’s dream to own a music store that would sell the kind of music she grew up listening to.
Her father, Rod Neufeld, owns an eclectible music store in Vernon and she has been listening to Beatles and Elton John since she was three.
About two years ago, while visiting her sister in Squamish, Kelly realised there was no music store in Squamish.
Her father was happy to part with his collection, and she moved to Squamish with 3,000 vinyl records and other musical instruments.
The store is a wistful ode to the musical past, starting from the posters on the wall.
Bob Dylan shoots off a defiant look and Neil Young smiles at you from the wall in a 70s picture, his face enveloped by enormous sunglasses.
The musically nostalgic can pick up new and old vinyl records, reasonably priced, anywhere from $7 to $19.
Neufeld is proud of her Beatles collection: There is the famous Abbey Road and Love Songs of Beatles among others.
She also has a good collection of Rolling Stone, and there is lots of rock and classic rock. Kelly’s Eclectibles also sells vinyl record players, harmonica, guitars and jazz cds.
Setting up the shop, she jokes, was cheaper than a college education. Kelly also sees her store as a service to the youth, in that she is reconnecting them with an older and more timeless music.
She now sees young people in the age range of 15-30 who are buying to build their collection.
Then she gets the baby boomers who have lost or sold the records and are now trying to build their collections.
Squamisher Allan James often finds himself browsing through the collections.
He had bought several records from Johnny’s TV, a music store on Cleveland Ave in the 1970, but lost them along the way.
“This is a great shop,” he said, recently looking at all the different titles.
“They have still got the same prices as back in the 60s.”
Some customers, Neufeld say, will buy an album because it reminds them of their youth.
“For some, it’s just memories that make them feel young,” she said with a smile.
Eric Andersen says
This is an amazing store! Recommended! Lots of depth, excellent quality, and very fair prices in very genre and era of music recordings. Jazz and folk collections are outstanding. Great addition to the Downtown of Squamish!