If you see Chris Gibson riding his bicycle around Toronto wearing a 100-litre hiking backpack, he’s not heading out into the wilderness – he’s on the hunt for more records. Either that, or he’s transporting his latest finds.
That’s how he’s accumulated a personal collection of some 4,500 slabs of wax, and, since January of 2015, has stocked his west-end record store Parkdale Platters. Cycling to sales or directly to sellers’ homes – wherever he can pedal to, really – is all in a day’s work for this vinyl junkie. It's about the thrill of the chase for Chris. "It’s kind of like endorphins get released when you find records,” he says.
Considering Chris exerts so much effort discovering music in its tangible form, it’s no surprise he's trying to make a living out of it with Parkdale Platters. He didn't jump into the business full on right from the start, though. First he tested the waters with pop-up shops in a furniture store and a health food retailer before deciding on a new name borrowed from the neighbourhood he chose to settle in.
“I knew that the area had a void of a record store,” says Chris, a former film-industry worker, adding he just wanted to be cautious and make sure his venture would ultimately pan out.