A Montreal music institution celebrates a landmark milestone this month
Cheap Thrill's location on Metcalfe St. is an oddity in a downtown Montreal now dominated by modern chain stores.
The rickety stairs to the shop, a flashback to a bygone architectural past.
And inside the store, one could be forgiven for thinking they've boarded a time machine.
“It's amazing. I think it's a lot of good luck on our part, we just stood the test of time and we're the last one standing downtown,” says owner Gary Worsley, who bought the store from its original owner four years ago, after working there for two decades.
There was a time, 30 years ago, when people couldn't give away their record collection because CDs were all the rage.
But Cheap Thrills weathered the storm and now celebrates its 50th anniversary. The original store, on Bishop St., closed its doors in the 90s.
“We kept vinyl but it was hard to get new ones,” Morsley explains. "People weren't coming in with them used, they were coming with tons of used CDs."
But when consumers abandoned CDs and turned to digital streaming, something unusual happened.
A few customers started asking for vinyl records that were still manufactured on a smaller scale in Europe.
“It made a comeback here I'd say a decade ago. And it's really strong right now,” observes Morsley, who was just a teenager when record companies started phasing out vinyl records.
At first, most stores and record companies thought it was a fad.
But it turns out a new generation wanted to discover what it's like to hold a physical copy of recorded music -- packaged the way their parents bought music.
Fernando Diaz, 36, grew up with CDs, but now buys vinyl.
“The sound, the way you feel the music, it's different,” says Dias while holding a copy of Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon, a classic record that came out 48 years ago.
According to the record industry, the average vinyl record buyer is now between the ages of 25 and 34.
This has led to the opening of many new, millennial-oriented stores.
But Cheap Thrills always remained close to its 1960s hipster roots, as it enters its sixth decade in business.
It's still stocking used books from beat writers, along with musical classics from a bygone era, but adapts to its new clientele.
"We have to stock Taylor Swift and Lorde and Billie Eilish because these records are selling and they help sell the other records,” says Worsley.
And if the past is any indication, the obituary of vinyl records has yet to be written at Cheap Thrills.
Correction
A previous version of this article said the record shop was on Mansfield, not Metcalfe.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
'They needed people inside Air Canada:' Police announce arrests in Pearson gold heist
Police say one former and one current employee of Air Canada are among the nine suspects that are facing charges in connection with the gold heist at Pearson International Airport last year.
House admonishes ArriveCan contractor in rare parliamentary show of power
MPs enacted an extraordinary, rarely used parliamentary power on Wednesday, summonsing an ArriveCan contractor to appear before the House of Commons where he was admonished publicly and forced to provide answers to the questions MPs said he'd previously evaded.
Leafs star Auston Matthews finishes season with 69 goals
Auston Matthews won't be joining the NHL's 70-goal club this season.
Trump lawyers say Stormy Daniels refused subpoena outside a Brooklyn bar, papers left 'at her feet'
Donald Trump's legal team says it tried serving Stormy Daniels a subpoena as she arrived for an event at a bar in Brooklyn last month, but the porn actor, who is expected to be a witness at the former president's criminal trial, refused to take it and walked away.
Why drivers in Eastern Canada could see big gas price spikes, and other Canadians won't
Drivers in Eastern Canada face a big increase in gas prices because of various factors, especially the higher cost of the summer blend, industry analysts say.
Doug Ford calls on Ontario Speaker to reverse Queen's Park keffiyeh ban
Ontario Premier Doug Ford is calling on Speaker Ted Arnott to reverse a ban on keffiyehs at Queen's Park, describing the move as “needlessly” divisive.
'A living nightmare': Winnipeg woman sentenced following campaign of harassment against man after online date
A Winnipeg woman was sentenced to house arrest after a single date with a man she met online culminated in her harassing him for years, and spurred false allegations which resulted in the innocent man being arrested three times.
Woman who pressured boyfriend to kill his ex in 2000s granted absences from prison
A woman who pressured her boyfriend into killing his teenage ex more than a decade ago will be allowed to leave prison for weeks at a time.
Customers disappointed after email listing $60K Tim Hortons prize sent in error
Several Tim Horton’s customers are feeling great disappointment after being told by the company that an email stating they won a boat worth nearly $60,000 was sent in error.